The liturgical reading for this Sunday includes Mark 5:21-43.
Here’s my summary and reflection on it:
There’s a story of Jesus caring for a 12-year-old girl in the Gospels.
When her father comes to Jesus in desperation, she is dying.
On the way to care for her, Jesus stops on the road and ministers to a woman who has suffered for 12 years of bleeding.
This woman has suffered for as long as the young child has been alive. In one day, Jesus will fully restore them.
This socially outcast woman is healed from her affliction, honored for her faith, and sent away in peace.
This ‘interruption’ causes a problem.
Because by the time Jesus gets to the twelve-year-old girl… she is dead.
Adding to the family’s misery…
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The religious leaders lack concern.
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The professional mourners are making a scene.
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The crowd laughs at Jesus.
Yet Jesus presses on.
He takes the few people who care about this girl into her room, holds her hand, and raises her from the dead.
To avoid turning the girl into a spectacle for his own fame, he asks that the matter be kept quiet… and, as a practical matter, that they give her something to eat.
This is how Jesus treats vulnerable women: honor, care, healing, and purity.
May we do the same.