TEXT
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ So he went with him.
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’
While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
- Concerning the haemorrhaging woman: The CDC has a program called Healthy People 2020, a set of national health improvements to reach by the year 2020. One of those improvements concerns von Willebrand Disease, a blood disorder which is particularly dangerous to women. (Other Women’s Health Objectives)
- The Healing Power of Touch
- Psychology Today’s collection of articles on fear
- That time Peter one-upped Jesus in the Awesomely Nonchalant Healer game.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- What ‘suffering’ (broadly defined) has stayed with you the longest?
- In what ways has modernity affected the way you hear healing stories?
- What does it mean to ‘touch the Lord’?
- “Do not fear, only believe”? What does this mean to you?
IMAGE
Image: “Curandera – Traditional Healers” by Larry Lamsa (cc)
SOUNDTRACK
YouTube Playlist || Spotify Playlist
- Too Many Miracles, Badly Drawn Boy
- I Dream a World, by San Francisco Girls Chorus
- Strangers, by The Kinks
- U Saved Me, by R. Kelly
- Too Late Too Slow, by Shout Out Louds
- Lucky Dime, by Calexico
- The Miracle, by Queen
- Uf Dem Anger: Tanz, from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff
- Une Annee Sans Lumiere, by Arcade Fire
- It’s Too Late, by Carole King
HAIKU
To be healed / To be touched, eyes meet / “What power!”
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