“Don’t be afraid;  just believe.”

『Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move mountains.』

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

2 Samuel  18:9-10, 14b, 24, 25a, 30 – 19:3

  Ps 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Listen, Lord, and answer.

 ＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊   

Mark 5:21-43

 Jesus then crossed to

The other side of the lake and while he was still on the shore, a large crowd gathered around him. Jairus, an official of the synagogue, came up and seeing Je­sus, threw himself at his feet and asked him earnestly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may get well and live.”

 Jesus went with him and many peo­ple followed, pressing from every side. Among the crowd was a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a lot at the hands of many doctors and had spent everything she had, but instead of getting better, she was worse. 

Since she had heard about Jesus, this woman came up behind him and touched his cloak think­ing, “If I just touch his clothing, I shall get well.” Her flow of blood dried up at once, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her complaint.

 But Jesus was conscious that heal­ing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” His disciples answered, “You see how the peo­ple are crowding around you. Why do you ask who touched you?” 

But he kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the wo­man, aware of what had happened, came forward trembling and afraid. She knelt before him and told him the whole truth.

 Then Jesus said to her, “Daugh­­ter, your faith has saved you; go in peace and be free of this illness.”  While Jesus was still speaking, some people arrived from the official’s house to inform him, “Your daughter is dead.

Why trouble the Mas­ter any further?” But Jesus ignored what they said and told the official, “Do not fear, just believe.”  And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James and John, the brother of James.

 When they arrived at the house, Jesus saw a great commotion with people weep­­­ing and wailing loudly. ­ Jesus entered and said to them, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”

 They laughed at him. But Jesus sent them outside and went with the child’s father and mother and his companions into the room where the child lay. Taking her by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha kumi!” which means: “Little girl, get up!”

The girl got up at once and began to walk around. (She was twelve years old.) The parents were astonished, greatly astonished. Jesus strictly ordered them not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.

  

Gospel Reflection：

The Other Side

“Jesus then crossed to the other side of the lake.”It is on this “other side” he meets with Jairus, raises his daughter, and heals the bleeding woman. George Valliant, a psychiatrist, writes in his book Spiritual Evolution:

“All forms of spiritual healing have in common empathy, healing within a circle of caring persons, permission to feel and express emotion, shared responsibility for pain, and reverence for life rather than for self.

” Only empathy can cross over to “the other side” and connect with those who live there. By empathy, we extend our circle of self to include the other as integral part of our own being.

Without empathy, we separate, exclude, dehumanize, and demonize those on the other side. This is also why when his military, schooled in the art of othering, rejoiced at the elimination of Absalom, David grieved, seeling Absalom as an extension of himself.