JAIRUS AND TALITHA KUM (13th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B)

Homily for the 13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

Based on  Mk 5:21-43 (Gospel),  Ws. 1:13-15; 2:23-24 (First Reading) and 2 Cor 8:7,9, 13-15 (Second Reading)

From the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”

JAIRUS AND TALITHA KUM

The gospel reading is taken from Mk 5:21-43, with the title “Cure of the woman with hemorrhage. The daughter of Jairus raised to life.”

The parallel texts are:

a.       Mt 9:18-26 - While he was speaking to them, up came one of the officials,^k who bowed low in front of him and said, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved’ (v. 18). Jesus rose and, with his disciples, followed him (v. 19) Then from behind came a woman, who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years, and she touched the fringe of his cloak (v. 20), for she said to herself, ‘If I can only touch his cloak I shall be well again’ (v. 21). Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, ‘Courage, my daughter, your faith has restored you to  health’. And from that moment the woman was well again (v. 22). When Jesus reached the official’s house and saw the flute-players, with the crowd making a commotion^l he said (V. 23), ‘Get out of here; the little girl is not dead, she is asleep’. And they laughed at him (v. 24). But when the people had been turned out he went inside and took the little girl by the hand; and she stood up (v. 25). And the news spread all round the countryside (v. 26). Footnote ^k says: “The head of the synagogue, called Jairus in Mk and Lk”; and footnote ^l says “The loud wailing of the oriental mourner.”

b.      Lk 8:40-56 - On his return Jesus was welcomed by the crowd, for they were all there waiting for him (v. 40). And now there came a man named Jairus, who was an official of the synagogue. He fell at Jesus’ feet and pleaded with him to come to his house (v. 41), because he had an only daughter about twelve years old, who was dying. And the crowd were almost stifling Jesus as he went (v. 42).  Now there was a woman suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years whom no one had nee able to cure^e (v. 43). Footnote ^e says: “Var. ‘a woman who, having spent all she had on doctors, could be cured by no one’. Cf. Mk 5:26.”

Verses 21 to 25 say: When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered round him and he stayed by the lakeside. Then one of the synagogue officials came up, Jairus by name, and seeing him, fell at his feet and pleaded with him earnestly, ‘My little daughter is desperately sick. Do come and lay your hands on her to make her better and save her life.’ Jesus went with him an a large crowd followed him; they were pressing all round him. Now there was a woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years.

Parallel text is  Mk 2:13 that says: He went out again to the shore of the lake;^a and all the people came to him, and he taught them. Footnote ^a says: “The ‘Sea of Galilee’ (Lake of Tiberias’).

Verse 26 says: After long and painful treatment under various doctors, she had spent all she had without being any better for it, in fact, she was getting worse.

Parallel text is  Tb 2:10 that says: I did not know that there were sparrows in the wall above my head; their hot droppings fell into my eyes. White spots then formed, which I was obliged to have treated by the doctors. But the more ointments they tried with me, the more the spots blinded me, and in the end I became blind altogether. I remained without sight four years; all my brothers were distressed; and Ahikar provided for my upkeep for two years, till he left for Elymais.^a  Footnote ^a - A Vulg. Addition, vv. 12-18,  compares the patience of Tobit with that of Job. Tobit replies to the reproaches of his kinsfolk: ‘Do not talk like that, we are sons of the holy one and we await the life that God will grant to those who never withdraw their faith in him.’

Verses 28 up to 33 say: She had heard about Jesus, and she came up behind him through the crowd and touched her cloak. ‘If I can even touch his clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well again.’

And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt herself that she was cured of her complaint. Immediately aware that power had gone out from him,^b Jesus turned round in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ His disciples said to him, ‘You see how the crowd is pressing round you and yet you say, “Who touched me?” But he continued to look round to see who had done it. Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling^c because she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. Footnote ^b says: “The power is regarded as a physical emanation that heals, cf. Lk. 6:19, by contact: cf. Mk. 1:41; 3:10; 6:56; 8:22”; and Footnote ^c-  says: “Not only from a sense of shame but also because the complaint involved legal impurity, Lv 15:25.”

Verse 34 says: ‘My daughter’ he said ‘your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free from your complaint.’

Parallel  text is Mt 8:10 that says: When Jesus heard this he was astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell you solemnly, nowhere in Israel have I found faith^b like this. Footnote ^b says “The faith that Jesus asks for from the outset of public life (Mk. 1:15) and throughout his subsequent career, is that act of trust and self-abandonment by which people no longer rely on their own strength and policies but commit themselves to the power and guiding word of him in whom they believe (Lk. 1:20,45; Mt. 21:25p,32). Christ asks for this faith especially when he works his miracles(8:13; 9:2p; 22p, 28-29; 15:28; Mk 5:36p;10:52p; Lk 17:19) which are not so much acts of mercy as signs attesting his mission and witnessing to the kingdom (8:3+; cf. Jn 2:11+), hence he cannot work miracles               unless he finds the faith without which the miracle lose their true significance (13:58p; 12;38-39; 16:1-4). Since the faith demands the sacrifice of the whole man, mind and heart, it is not an easy act of humility to perform; many decline it, particularly in Israel (8:10p; 15:28; 27:42p; Lk 18;8), or are half-hearted (Mk 9;24; Lk 8;13). Even the disciples are slow to believe (8:26p; 14;31; 18;8; 17:20p) and are still reluctant after the resurrection (28;17; Mk 16:11-14; Lk 24;11,25,41). The most generous faith of all, of the ‘Rock’ (16:16-18), the disciples leader, was destined to the shaken by the outrage of the Passion (26:69-75p) though it was to triumph in the end (Lk 22:32). When faith is strong it works wonders (17:20p; 21:21p; Mk 16:17) and its appeal is never refused (21:22p; Mk 9:23) especially when it asks for forgiveness of sin (9:2p; Lk 7:50) and for that salvation of which it is the necessary condition (Lk 8;12; Mk 16:16, cf. Ac 3:16+).”

Verse 35 to 40 say: While he was speaking some people arrived from the house of the synagogue official to say, ‘Your daughter is dead: why put the Master to any further trouble?’ But Jesus overheard this remark of theirs and he said to the official, ‘Do not be afraid; only have faith’. And he allowed no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.^d So they came to the official’s house and Jesus noticed all the commotion, with people weeping and wailing unrestrainedly.

He went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and crying? This child is not dead, but asleep.’ But they laughed at him. So he turned them all out and taking with him the child’s father and mother and his own companions, he went into the place where the child lay.

Parallel text is Ac 20:10 that says: Paul went down and stooped to clasp the boy to him, ‘There is no need to worry,’ he said ‘there is still life in him.’

Verses 41 and 42 says: And taking the child by the hand, he said to her, ‘Talitha, kum!’^e which means, ‘Little girl, I tell you to get up’.  The little girl got up at once and began to walk about, for she was twelve years old. At this they were overcome with astonishment. Footnote ^e says: “Aramaic: Christ’s native tongue”.

Verse 43 says: And he ordered them strictly not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.

Parallel text is Mk 1:34 that says: And he cured many who were suffering from diseases of one kind or another; he also cast out many devils, but he would not allow them to speak, because they knew who he was.ⁱ Footnote ⁱ says “Jesus forbids the news that he is the Messiah to be spread by the devils, 1:25,34; 3:12, by those he cured, 1:44; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26, even by the apostles, 8:30; 9:9. The silence is not to be broken till after his death, Mt. 10:27+. Since the prevailing idea of the Messiah was nationalistic and warlike, in sharp contrast with his own ideal, Jesus had to be very careful, at least on Israelite soil, cf. 5:19, to avoid giving a false and dangerous impression of his mission, cf. Jn. 6:15; Mt. 13:13+. This policy of silence (‘the messianic secret’) is not an invention of Mk’s, as some have claimed, but is in fact Christ’s own, though Mark has given it a special emphasis. With the exception of Mt. 9:30, Mt. and Lk. record the injunction to silence only in passages which are parallel with Mk, frequently omitting it even in these cases.”

The First Reading for this 13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time is from Ws. 1:13-15, 2:23-24.

Going verse by verse, the first verse, 13, says: Death was not God’s doing, he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living.

Parallel texts are:

a.       Ws 2:23-24 - Yet God did make man imperishable, he made him in the image of his own nature;^m  It was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world,ⁿ as those who are his partners will discover. Footnote  ^m – ‘nature’; var. ‘eternity’, ‘likeness’; and Footnote ⁿ–‘devil’ in the LXX renders the Hebr. Satan, cf. Jb 1:6+. Here, the author is interpreting Gn 3, cf. Rv 12:9; 20:2; Jn 8:44; 1 Jn 3:8. The death introduced by the devil is spiritual, with physical death as its consequence, cf. 1:13+; Rm 5:12f.

b.      Ws 11:24 - Yes, you love all that exists; you hold nothing of what you have made in abhorrence.

c.       Ws 12:1 - You whose imperishable spirit is in all.^a  Footnote  ^a – The breath of life infused into the creatures by God, Gn 2:7+, not the spirit; the soul of the world in Stoic philosophy. Vulg. translates inaccurately   ‘How good and kind, Lord, is your spirit in all beings.’

d.      Ezk 18:12 - …who oppresses the poor and needy, steals, fails to return pledges, raises his eyes to idols, engages in filthy practices…

e.      Ezk 33:11 -  Say to them, ‘As I live – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks – I take pleasure, not  in the death of the wicked man, but in the turning back of a wicked man who changes his ways to win life. Come back, come back from your evil ways. Why are you so anxious to die, House of Israel?’

f.        Ho 11:9 - I will not give reign to my fierce anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again, for I am God, not man; I am the Holy One in your midst and have no wish to destroy.^m Footnote ^m says: ‘I have no wish to destroy’ corr.; ‘I shall not come into the town’ Hebr. 

g.       Jn 8:44 - The devil is your father, and you prefer to do what your father wants.

Verse 14 and 15 -  To be– for this he created all;^m The world’s created things have health in them, in them no fatal poison can be found, and Hadesⁿ holds no power on earth; For virtue is undying.^o Footnote ^m says “God, ‘He-who-is’; Ex 3:14+; caused all things to be”; and Footnote ⁿ says:  ‘Hades’; the Hebr. Sheol, Nb 16:33+, here represents not the dwelling place of the dead but the power of personified Death, cf. Rv 6:8; 20:14; and Footnote ^o says “The man who practices ‘virtue’, cf. 1:1+, is assured of immortality. Vet. Lat. adds ‘but injustice (vice) is the obtaining of death’.”

Parallel texts are:

a.       Ws 3:4 - If they experienced punishment as men see it, their hope was rich with immortality;^b Footnote ^b says “This word, appearing here in the OT for the first time, gives the philosophical expression to the hope of the Psalmist who could not resign himself to the loss of intimacy with God through death, Ps 16:10+. The resurrection of the body, 2 M 7:9+, is not envisaged here.”

b.      Ws 3:15 - For the fruit of honest labor is glorious, and the root of understanding does not decay.

c.       Ws 15:3 - To acknowledge you is indeed the perfect virtue, to know your power is the root of immortality.

Verse 23 says: Yet God did make man imperishable, he made him in the image of his own nature;^m

Footnote ^m – ‘nature’; var. ‘eternity’, ‘likeness’.

Parallel texts are:

a.       Gn 1:26 - God said, ‘Let us^h make manⁱ in our own image, in the likeness^j of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts^k and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth. Footnote ^h  says “It is possible that this plural form implies a discussion between God and his heavenly court (the angels, cf. 3:5,22); our text was thus understood by the Greek version (followed by Vulg.) of Ps 8:5 (quoted in Heb 2:7). Alternatively, the plural expresses the majesty and fullness of God’s being: the common name for God in Hebrew is Elohim, a plural form. Thus the way is prepared for the interpretation of the Fathers who saw in the text a hint of the Trinity”; Footnote ⁱ –“Collective noun, hence the plural “Be masters of’”; and Footnote ^j  says  ‘Likeness’, by excluding the idea of equality, weakens the force of ‘image’, a realistic term (‘something carved’) that implies a physical resemblance like that between Adam and his sons, 5:3. This relationship with God marks man off from the animals: moreover, it involves a general similarity of nature: intellect, will, authority - man is a person. It paves the way for a higher revelation: man’s share in the divine nature by virtue of grace.

b.      2 P 1:4 - In making these gifts, he has given us^d the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come: through them^e you will be able to share the divine nature and escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice.^f Footnote ^d says: “‘us’, var. ‘you’. What has been promised is something that concerns the ‘Day of the Lord’, cf. 3:4,9-10,12-13”; Footnote ^e – “I.e. as a result of the glory and goodness of Christ. Var. (Vulg.) ‘through it’”; amd Footnote ^f – says: “Var. (Vulg.) ‘the corruption of the vice that is in the world’.”

Verse 24 says: It was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world,ⁿ as those who are his partners will discover. Footnote ⁿ says: ‘devil’ in the LXX renders the Hebr. Satan, cf. Jb 1:6+. Here, the author is interpreting Gn 3, cf. Rv 12:9; 20:2; Jn 8:44; 1 Jn 3:8. The death introduced by the devil is spiritual, with physical death as its consequence, cf. 1:13+; Rm 5:12f.

Parallel texts are:

a.       Gn 3 - The Fall:  The serpent^a was the most subtle of all the wild beasts that Yahweh God has made. Footnote ^a says:  “The serpent is here used as a disguise for a being hostile to God and an enemy of man: this being is identified with the Adversary or the Devil (Jb 1:6+) in the Book of Wisdom, in the NT and in all Christian tradition.

b.      Jn 8:44 - The devil is your father, and you prefer to do what your father wants.

c.       Rm 5:12 - Adam and Jesus Christ^h Well then, sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death,ⁱ and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned. ^j  Footnote ^h  says “Sin dwells within man, Rm 7:14-24; now death, sin’s chastisement, came into the world as a result of Adam’s fall, Ws 2:24; from this P{aul concludes that sin itself entered into all men through that first fall. We have here the doctrine of original sin. Its interest for Paul lies in the parallel it enables him to draw between deadly work of the first Adam and the more than sufficient compensation of the ‘second Adam’, vv. 15-19; 1 Co 15:21f, 25. It is as the new head of the human race, the great image in which God remakes his creation, Rm 8:29+; 2 Co 5:17+, that Christ is mankind’s savior”; Footnote ⁱ – “Sin divides man from God. This separation is ‘death’, death spiritual and eternal; physical death is the symbol of it, cf. Ws 2:24; Heb 6:1+”;  Footnote ^j – “Meaning disputed. Either by sharing in Adam’s sin, (‘all have sinned in Adam’) or else by their own personal sins, cf. 3:23. In this second interpretation the Greek could be translated ‘for this reason that everyone…’ a phrase introducing a situation actually occurring which allowed (eternal) death to threaten all mankind. Sin’s power which through Adam made its entrance into the world did in fact bring about eternal death by means of personal sin, itself an acquiescence in Adam’s rebellion (Paul is of course speaking of adults). A further translation is possible ‘by reason of which (i.e. of the death-situation brought about by Adam’s sin) everyone has sinned’.”

Second Reading for this Sunday is from 2 Cor 8:7,9, 13-15. Let us go also verse by verse.

Verse 7 says: You always have the most of everything - of faith, of eloquence, of understanding, of keenness for any cause, and the biggest share of our affection^a - so we expect you to put the most into this work of mercy too.  Footnote ^a says “Var. ‘the charity towards us which unites us to you’.”

Parallel text is 1 Co 1:5 that says: I thank him that you have been enriched in so many ways, especially in your teachers and preachers…

Verse 9 says: Remember how generous the Lord Jesus was:^b he was rich, but he became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty. Footnote  ^b – “ says Lit. ‘the generosity (or perhaps ‘grace’) of the Lord Jesus’.

Parallel texts are:

a.       Mt 5:3 - How happy are the poor in spirit;^c theirs is the kingdom of heaven… Footnote ^c  says “Jesus uses the word ‘poor’ with the moral shade of meaning already noticeable in Zp (2:3+) but here made explicit by the phrase ‘in spirit’, absent from Lk 6:20. Because they are destitute and oppressed the ‘poor’, or the ‘lowly’, are apt subjects for the kingdom of God - this is the theme of the Beatitudes (cf. Lk 4:18; 7:22; Mt 11:5; Lk 14:13; Jm 2:5). ‘Poverty’ goes hand in hand with ‘spiritual childhood’ required for entrance into the kingdom, Mt 18:1f=Mk 9:33f, cf. Lk 9:46f; Mt 19:13p; 11:25p - the mystery revealed to ‘little ones’, nepioi, cf. Lk 12,32; 1 Co 1:26f. They are the ‘poor’, ptochoi the ‘lowly’, tapenoi (Lk 1:48, 52; 14:11; 18:14; Mt 23:12, 18:4) and both are the ‘last’ as opposed to the ‘great’ (Lk 9:48; cf. Mt 19:30p; 20;26p- cf. Lk 17:10). Although the formula of Mt. 5:3 stresses the spirit of poverty for the rich as for the poor, Jesus usually has in mind actual poverty, especially for his disciples (Mt 6:1f, cf. Lk 12:33f; Mt 6:25p; 4:18p. cfLk 5:1f) 9;9p; 19:21p; 19:27; cf. Mk 10:28p; cf. Ac 2:44f; 4:32f. He himself sets the example of poverty (Lk 2:7; Mt 8:20p) and of lowliness (Mt 11:29; 20:28p; 21:5; Jn 13:12f; cf. 2 Co 8:9; Ph 2:7f). He identifies himself with the little ones and the wretched (Mt. 25:45; cf. 18:5p).

b.      Mt 8:20 - Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man^h has nowhere to lay his head’. Footnote ^h says “With the exception of Ac 7:56, Rv 1:13; 14:14; this title appears only in the  gospels. There is no doubt that Jesus used it of himself, and indeed preferred it to others. At times he uses it to express his lowly state, 8:20; 11:19; 20:28, especially the humiliation of the Passion, 17:22, etc. At others times it is used to proclaim the definitive triumph of his resurrection, 17:9, of his return in glory, 24:30; of his coming in judgment, 25:31. That this title, Aramaic in flavor, could bring together these seemingly  opposed qualities is clear from the following considerations. The phrase originally meant ‘man’, Ezk. 2:1+, and by reason of its unusual and indirect form it underlined the lowliness of man’s state. But the title suggested glory, too. It was used in Dn 7:13+, and later in the Jewish apocalyptic Book of Enoch, to indicate the transcendent figure, heavenly in origin, who was to receive from God’s hand the eschatological kingdom (the kingdom ‘at the end of times’). In this way therefore the title both veiled and hinted at (cf. Mk. 1:34+; Mt. 13:13+) the sort of Messiah Jesus was. Moreover, the explicit avowal in the presence of the Sanhedrin, 26:64+, should have removed all ambiguity.”

c.       Ph 2:6-7 – His state was divine,^e  yet he did not cling to his equality with God^f but emptied himself^g to assume the condition of a slave,^h and became as men areⁱ…  Footnote ^e says “Lit. ‘Who subsisting in the form of God’: here ‘form’ means all the attributes that express and reveal the essential ‘nature’ of God; Christ, being God, had all the divine prerogatives by right; Footnote ^f says: “Lit. ‘did not deem being on an equality with God as something to grasp’ or ‘hold on to’. This refers not to his equality by nature ‘subsisting in the form of God’, and which Christ could not have surrendered, but to his being publicly treated and honored as equal to God which was a thing that Jesus (unlike Adam, Gn 3:5,22, who wanted to be seen to be like God) could and did give up in his human life”; Footnote ^g says  ‘He emptied himself’; this is not so much a reference to the fact of the incarnation, as to the way it took place. What Jesus freely gave up was not his divine nature, but the glory to which his divine nature entitled him, and which had been his before the incarnation, Jn 17:5, and, which ‘normally’ speaking would have been observable in his human body (cf. the transfiguration, Mt 17:1-8). He voluntarily deprived himself of this so that it could be returned to him by the Father, cf. Jn 8:50,54, after his sacrifice, vv.9-11”; Footnote  ^h says “‘slave’ as opposed to ‘Kyrios’ v. 11, cf. Ga 4:1; Col 3:22f. Christ as man led a life of submission and humble obedience, v. 8. This is probably a reference to the ‘servant’ of Is 52:13-53:12, cf. Is 42:1;  Footnote ⁱ says “Not just ‘a human being’ but a human being ‘like others’; sharing all the weaknesses of the human condition apart from sin. “

d.      2 Co 9:15 - Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!^b  Footnote ^b says “The redemption.”

e.      1 Co 1:5 - I thank him that you have been enriched in so many ways, especially in your teachers and preachers.

f.        Heb 12:2 - Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right hand of God’s throne.

Verses 13 and 14 say:  This does not mean that to give relief to others you ought to make things difficult for yourselves: it is a question of balancing. what happens to be your surplus now against their present need, and one day they may have something to spare that will supply your own need. That is how we strike a balance:

Parallel text is Rm 15:26-27 that says: Since Macedonia and Achaia have decided to send a generous contribution to the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. A generous contribution to the poor among the saints at Jerusalem, as it should be, since it is really repaying a debt: the pagans who share the spiritual possessions of these poor people have a duty to help them with temporal possessions.

Verse 15 says: as scripture says: The man who gathered much had none too much, the man who gathered little did not go short.

Parallel text is Ex 16:18 that says: When they measured in an omer what they had gathered, the man who had gathered more had not too much, the man who had gathered less had not too little. Each found he had gathered what they needed.

An article “Raising of Jairus' daughter” wholly quoted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

“The record of the daughter of Jairus is a combination of miracles of Jesus in the Gospels (Mark 5:21–43, Matthew 9:18–26, Luke 8:40–56). The story immediately follows the exorcism at Gerasa. Jairus, a patron of the synagogue, asks Jesus to heal his dying daughter. However, according to Matthew, his daughter is already dead, not dying. As they travel to Jairus's house, a sick woman in the crowd touches Jesus' cloak and is healed of her sickness. This is called the miracle of Christ healing the bleeding woman.

“Meanwhile the daughter dies, but Jesus continues to the house and brings her back to life, or in his own words, awakens her. In Mark's account, the Aramaic phrase "Talitha Koum" (transliterated into Greek as ταλιθα κουμ and meaning, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!") is attributed to Jesus.

“John Donahue and Daniel Harrington state that this episode shows that "faith, especially as embodied by the bleeding woman, can exist in seemingly hopeless situations".

“The combined stories have been used as an example of intercalation, with one incident inserted within another, and of contrast comparing the older woman with a 12-year ailment and the 12-year-old girl. Michael Keene states that there is a link between Jairus and the woman: "The link between them is faith since both Jairus and the bleeding woman showed great faith in Jesus"

“John Walvoord and Roy Zuck state that: "What appeared to be a disastrous delay in the healing of the woman actually assured the restoration of Jairus' daughter. It was providentially ordered to test and strengthen Jairus' faith." Johann Lange also states that: "This delay would serve both to try and to strengthen the faith of Jairus."