God's Why

There’s a lot going on in this Gospel, and the quick pace makes it seem like Jesus’s life is an action-packed adventure with lots of people who need help. A large crowd again gathers around him, and while he’s trying to avoid getting into it, a man named Jairus begs him to come and heal his daughter. On the way, unbeknownst to Jesus, he’s followed by someone else in need of healing, a woman with a hemorrhage. She receives what she seeks, and, after a short conversation with her, Jesus is off again to Jairus’s house, where he heals his daughter. Are these two stories just a random series of events, a busy day in the life of Jesus? I don’t think so. I think these encounters are put together to tell us something about the healing ministry of Jesus – for those in the story and for us too.

First, let’s look at Jairus and his daughter. Jairus is scared sick about his child, and Jesus responds by coming with him to heal her. Maybe it’s because they’re interrupted along the way, or maybe it’s inevitable, but the child dies while Jesus is en route. The people who come to tell Jairus don’t express any sympathy or compassion at all. Instead, they say, “Why trouble the teacher any longer?” What a heartless thing to say when a child has died, as if the worst thing about it is troubling Jesus. Would they have said this if it was an adult, someone of renown? Would they have said this if it was a boy? In any case, Jesus presses on to the house, assures everyone that the child is simply asleep, takes her by the hand, and heals her. Everyone is astounded, maybe because he’s brought someone back from the dead or maybe because he cared enough to heal this child.

Now let’s take a look at the incident that interrupts his journey to Jairus’s house (which, of course, is more than just an interruption). We get quite a bit of backstory for this woman whose name we’re never told. Somebody knew something about her, and yet they didn’t bother to remember her name or to even ask it of her. Curious. Rather than make a request like Jairus does, she surreptitiously slips behind Jesus in the crowd and touches his cloak. She hopes for healing, and she receives it. However, Jesus doesn’t like to heal that way. He likes to look people in the face, and he usually touches them too. He often asks them what they need. For Jesus, healing is not transactional. It’s relational. And I think that’s why he turns and asks who touched him. He doesn’t want a flyby healing; he wants an encounter, and he receives one. He has an exchange with the woman, which connects them and heals her body, mind, and spirit.

Both the unnamed girl and the unnamed woman experience a relational encounter with Jesus. The girl is important to her family but seems to matter to no one else. The woman seems to matter to no one at all. And yet, both are important to Jesus. He stops everything to not only heal them, but to look them in the face and connect with them. No one is a bother to Jesus. No one is too much trouble. Jesus turns his full attention on these two unnamed people as he heals them. They’re not items on his To Do list or interruptions in the day; healing them is part of his purpose. They’re part of his Why, the reason he does what he does and is who he is.

I also noticed that neither of them asks for help. The daughter clearly can’t ask for herself, but she has a father who loves her enough to speak up for her. The woman, though, has no one to advocate for her. And she doesn’t ask for help for herself either. She’s sneaky about getting what she needs, and I don’t mean that in a judgmental way. She has probably learned the hard way that she has to take what she needs.

There’s a lot in this story that can speak to us. For one thing, it can be hard to ask for what we need, even from our loved ones, even from God. I, too, am not super good at asking for what I want and need. I’m not sure why. It’s not like I’ve lived a life in which I don’t have what I need. I haven’t had to be scrappy and bold like the woman in the Gospel. Maybe I think my needs aren’t important enough or that I’m not important enough. Sometimes I’d rather believe I’m self-sufficient and don’t have any needs. Hm. That’s a little arrogant and very unrealistic. Everyone has needs, and everyone needs God.  

Also, like the woman and the girl in the Gospel, Christ doesn’t want a transactional relationship with us either. God is not a genie in a bottle who exists to grant our wishes. When we ask God for something, especially something near and dear to our hearts, the act of asking invites encounter. I hope it brings us to an encounter with God. God loves and cares for us. When we share what’s important to us with God, we deepen that relationship. For whatever reason, the Creator of the Universe wants to be in relationship with each one of us. How can we not love God in return?

And also, knowing God’s love for us and for everyone else, how can we not make other people part of our Why? There are plenty of people in our context today who don’t seem to matter, who seem invisible. How many people are too poor, too marginalized to ask for what they need? How many people’s requests fall on deaf ears in our society? But we know that an encounter with God is not for the privileged few but for everyone, and each person is significant before God. We can respond like Jairus, advocating for the ones who seem like too much trouble to the world. In serving them, we make them part of the Why of our faith and relationship with God.

No matter how insignificant or downtrodden or weak we feel, Christ says to each of us, “Little one, arise. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affiliation.” I hope we can be as brave as these two were. Like the little girl, may we allow Christ to take us by the hand, and raise us up. Like the woman with the hemorrhage, I hope we can seek out what we need, especially from God. And may we all listen out for those who need us to advocate on their behalf, because we know we’re all important to God.

For reflection:

• Is it ever hard for you to ask for what you need? Why do you think that is? What helps you to draw near to God when you’re in need?

• Have you ever felt insignificant, unimportant? What made you feel that way? Where was God in that?

• What call or invitation do you hear in this reading? Maybe spend some time talking with God and see what God has to say.

By Sister Leslie Keener, CDP

Sister Leslie Keener, CDP is the director of God Space, a community-building spirituality ministry in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. She’s a Sister of Divine Providence with a Masters in Ministry and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Retreats from Creighton University. She directs retreats, meets with people for spiritual direction, and serves as the vocation director for her community. She enjoys music, meaningful conversations, and dancing.