Reading
Matthew 9:18-26
18 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.
Comment
In the two miracles that Matthew tells us in this page of his Gospel, Jesus is presented as the Lord of life. In fact, in the blood is life (Lv 17:14) and the bleeding of the anonymous woman healed by Jesus deprived her not only of her own vital force but also of the vitality of social relations.
Her illness is not only physically serious but makes her religiously impure (cf. Lv 15,19-25; Ez 36,17). This implied her marginalization from the ceremonial worship of the synagogue and the temple, and also from her own family.
The edge of the cloak of Jesus that is touched by the woman probably consists of the phylacteries which remind the wearer of the duty to observe God's commandments.
The woman does not touch Jesus directly for the fear determined by her condition of impurity. What she gets is not only healing (v. 22) but salvation by faith, the literal translation of Jesus' words is in fact "«your faith has saved you»" (v 22).
Jesus finds in the house of the deceased girl the flutists and the crowd "in agitation", that is, she performs the usual lamentations on these occasions. It was customary to pay people to perform this function.
In saying that the girl is sleeping, Jesus does not mean that her death is apparent, but he prophesies that she will come back to life. He will make a similar comment on the occasion of the death of Lazarus (Jn 11:11). Sleep to indicate death is a customary metaphor in the New Testament (1 Cor 11.30; 15.51; 1 Thess 5:10).
The lament for the death of the girl turns into derision towards Jesus in the face of his affirmations. There is a contrast between the "paid" complaints of the crowd in the house of Jairus and the sincere compassion of Jesus, by virtue of which he gives life back to the girl.
Matthew interpolates the story of the healing of the hemorrhaging woman and the resurrection of Jairus' daughter by demonstrating her divine power in accomplishing what is considered impossible: the healing of an illness that has lasted for twelve years and the return of a young girl from the dead.
In both miracles, the power of faith is decisive, as the words of Jairus attest "«My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live»"; v. 18) and those of the woman with the hemorrhage ("«If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed»"; v. 21).
Faced with a fervent faith moved by humility, Jesus "feels compelled" to come to our aid, to make life flow through our bodies and our souls. Thus we participate in the beatitude that belonged to the mother of God: "«Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!»" (Lk 1:45).
Prayer
Strengthen our faith, o Lord, so that in health and sickness we can taste your salvation; you who are the source of eternal life. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
