JUNE302024

According to the lectionary the gospel assigned for this Sunday can be shortened, eliminating the story of the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage and concentrating solely on the raising of Jairus’ daughter. I imagine St. Mark protesting: “I sandwiched those stories together for a reason. You will miss an essential lesson by using the shortened version.” Look at the text. Jairus is desperate. His little girl, his Talitha, is close to death. Jesus responds to his earnest plea. On the way, Jesus is stopped by another desperate case, a sick woman. Put yourself in Jairus’ shoes. He must have been screaming inside. “You have been sick for twelve years. Can’t you wait another day. My daughter is dying now.” He must have been angry at the woman and frustrated at Jesus. Imagine his heart sinking when he heard the news: “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Jesus stopping for that woman killed my daughter! Now put yourself in Jesus’ shoes. Jairus was desperate. He would respond to his needs. The woman was desperate. He would respond to her needs. Talitha was desperate. He would respond to her as well. Jesus met every situation with serenity and with kindness. St. Mark bracketed the story of Jairus’ daughter with the story of the hemorraghic woman to warn us against compassion fatigue. We can’t rest on our laurels after doing one good thing. The next situation also has a claim on us. In our time of instant communication we can become overwhelmed by the desperate situations which claim our attention: war in Ukraine, genocide in Gaza, ongoing conflict in Sudan, violence in Chicago, hungry people using the pantry, immigrant families at the border, searching youth, racism and poverty and homelessness and inadequate health care and broken families and … the list goes on. Jesus demonstates in the gospel that all we can do is reach out to help in whatever way  we can to the desperate need before us and then move on to the next.