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In these verses, Mark tells two different stories, one wrapped around the other. Some of us might wonder whether Mark was asleep at the keyboard of his word processor program.
Mark does give us some deeper meanings by weaving these two stories together. We can look for connections between them.
To start at the text level, we see that the woman had been bleeding for twelve years; the girl was twelve years old. TWELVE - twelve tribes of Israel; twelve apostles. Twelve is a great scriptural number!
According to Hebrew custom, the girl is not “little” anymore. Yet there are several times when she is identified as “little” or “child” or “little girl”. At age twelve, she’s right at the turning point. She could be counted by some as a woman, to be considered as a potential bride, to become a mother. Since the most common place for a woman in that culture is to be a wife and mother, she is about to become a real member of society, truly alive. She dies before that can become a reality.
For that same time period – the twelve years – this unhappy woman has been bleeding. Obviously, she is in pain – physical and emotional pain. Because of the bleeding, she is ritually unclean; she is “untouchable”. She is lonely. She is undesirable as a wife. She cannot become a mother. By the harsh standards of her culture, she might as well be dead.
What does Jesus give to each of these women? He gives life! Figuratively and literally. By doing that, He gives them back their proper place in society where they can give life to another generation. Neither of them could have done that without His miraculous cure.
It’s useful in the twenty-first century to compare and contrast these life-giving actions of Jesus with the Culture of Death that seems to be all around us.
The main characters in the two stories had total faith in Jesus as the Lord of Life. When we look at the Culture of Death surrounding us, and wish we could reverse that course, how many times might we be tempted to join the crowd, as they tell Jesus not to bother; it’s too late; she’s dead.
We might be tempted to join those who say on or another of these things: “Let’s not bother, we can’t change it.” or “It’s too late.” or “It’s over with the Supreme Court decision 2 years ago.”
Brother and Sisters in Christ, none of those is true. It’s not over; it’s just spread out over 50 states instead of one nation.
It’s getting worse – not better.
At one time, contraception was prohibited; now it’s permitted; when a patient requests it, it’s mandated. Abortion has moved along with those same steps. So has “Gender Affirmation” (Pause a moment and think about that terminology) therapy. In some states here in the USA, assisted suicide, under the name of “Death with Dignity”, has started that same progression.
Some of us may remember the TV program featuring Bishop Fulton Sheen. (Try to get a Catholic Bishop on national broadcast TV for a regularly scheduled program in the 21st Century!). He wrote this about EVIL: “First we overlook evil. Then we permit evil. Then we legalize evil. Then we promote evil. Then we celebrate evil. Then we persecute those who still call it evil.”
Pray! Act! Vote! Nothing is too big for God. It isn’t too late for God. Jesus told the little girl’s family, “Do not be afraid: just have faith.”
Let’s Pray:
My compassionate Lord, You responded to the faith of this loving father, Jairus, with mercy and compassion. You responded to the faith of the bleeding woman with mercy and compassion. Please give us a similar faith so that I will never despair in life but always keep our hope in You. Jesus, I trust in You.
