Have FAITH
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June 29, 2024This weekend in our Gospel, we are presented with two stories of healing – the healing of the daughter of Jairus and the healing of the hemorrhaging woman. Scholars infelicitously call this as the “Markan Sandwich” because Mark begins with the first story and then he switches to another story and then he finishes with the account of how the first story ends.
It is an interesting juxtaposition because in both cases, the suffering that is involved is linked to the number 12 (the little girl is 12 years old, and the woman has been hemorrhaging for 12 years). In addition, the juxtaposition could have been that the story happened at the same time(one miracle happens on the way to the performance of another miracle).It will be to our benefit to compare or contrast the two stories.
The first is their social standing. Jairus is a synagogue official. A synagogue is a gathering place for prayer and the reading of the Scripture. Synagogues were frequently funded by wealthy Jewish individuals. They were the elite and esteemed members of the society. They were also the rulers of the synagogue. In this case, Jairus was the ruler of the synagogue. He was a very prominent man and would have been well respected in the community. On the other hand, the hemorrhaging woman was not named. She was an unnamed woman in a highly patriarchal society.
The second is how they came into contact with Jesus. Jairus went to Jesus in the midst of a crowd and publicly begged for Jesus to heal his daughter. On the other hand, the hemorrhaging woman surreptitiously touched Jesus’ cloak with the hope that she would be cured. Joel Marcus makes this observation: “The story does not indicate that the woman … is regarded as impure or suffers isolation. The surreptitiousness of the woman’s approach to Jesus,however, is probably an indirect indication that she is ritually unclean and is violating a taboo by being out in public.”
The third is their age. Mark does not mention the age of Jairus’ daughter. It is Luke who says that Jairus has “an only daughter about twelve years old, and she was dying.” (Lk. 8,42) Mark uses the description “little girl” which connotes avery young girl, as opposed to “woman” who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years, which connotes a fully grown lady.
The fourth is the gravity of their condition. There is no mention of the illness of Jairus’ daughter. We can only sense the desperation in the words and actions of Jairus himself. It suggests the urgency of miraculous healing as the little girl is already at the point of death. Indeed, because the arrival of Jesus is somehow delayed by the unavoidable stop to heal the hemorrhaging woman, Jairus receives news that his daughter has already died. On the other hand, the woman has been hemorrhaging for twelve years. She has endured long and painful treatment under many doctors. She has already spent all that she has and there has been no improvement in her condition. It is only getting worse.
Despite the differences in social standing, in the manner of approaching Jesus, in age and in the gravity of condition,the little girl and the hemorrhaging woman received miraculous healing. Jesus does not discriminate. He heals us all.What is needed is faith, and always faith.
