13th Sunday, Year B: "Sacred Touch"

(Jesus raises Jarius Daughter: Ilya Respin)

"Little girl, I say to you arise!"

Mark 5: 21 - 43

Sunday Word:  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/070118.cfm

Here at our school and other schools as well, the children quickly learn the difference between good touching and bad touching.  Parents should instill in all their children the same basic lesson of course.  Studies have been done on new born infants and it has been established how essential human touch is to a new born child.  Without regular physical affection through holding and touching, the human child will quickly become sick. We also use expressions as: “reach out and touch someone,” “I was touched by that song or movie,” and if we’ve encountered a somewhat overly emotional situation we may even remark about all that “touchy feely stuff.”  The point is that we human beings respond to physical contact and the touch of another can convey support, love, protection, communication, and even healing when done appropriately. 

Our Gospel this Sunday contains two very moving experiences in which the touch of Jesus brought about restoration and new life.  Our Lord is asked by a desperate synagogue official, a man well known and influential in his community, for Jesus to come do something to save his daughter: “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come and lay your hands on her . . .” This official obviously had respect for Jesus, had perhaps heard of or witnessed a healing miracle and now he comes pleading with Jesus to do the same for his child.  We can almost hear him say, “If you just touch her, she will recover.” 

Along the way, a woman suffering for many years with a serious condition, secretly touches Jesus’ garment and is instantly healed.  So large was the crowd around him, that she reached out and touched his garment as he passed in the crowd.  Our Lord apparently recognized this contact, turns and proclaims that her faith in him has brought the healing.  Through a simple touch, healing became. 

Finally, Jesus arrives at Jarius house and despite the din of mourners who assumed the child had died, he approaches the girl: “. . . took the child by the hand and said “Talitha koum,” (Aramaic) and the little girl arose and walked around . . .”  We can only imagine that Jesus likely offered her an embrace as the girl rose from the bed. 

All this tactile, touchable, physical contact between laying of hands, touch of a garment, and the hold of a hand brings us to see God reaches to humanity and the result is life and healing. 

Yet the words of Jesus to the woman, “your faith has saved you,” remind us that these healings are essentially stories of faith and resurrection.  As the woman is healed, she begins a new life as if coming from the darkness of desperation. As the child is healed she “arose immediately and walked around.” So they may have been healed physically but even more importantly, healed within and restored to life. 

These events touch us all deeply because we know of the connection and the power of relationship. In this case, we see the divine/human connection and how God reaches to humanity in moments of darkness, when trust is established. These miracles and others we hear of in the Gospels, bring us to see what our God continues to offer the Church through the Spirit of Christ present among us. 

Think of the sacraments for a moment.  All of them involve some sort of physical connection: anointing in Baptism, Confirmation, and the Anointing of the Sick.  The hand of the priest imposed over the penitent in Reconciliation for the forgiveness of sin, the hands of the priest over the bread and wine during Mass; a calling down of the Holy Spirit.  The hands of the Bishop imposed on the head of the Deacon during the Rite of Priestly Ordination and the couple in Marriage who hold hands as their vows are offered. 

These are not just symbolic gestures that look nice.  Rather the Church sees them as signs of communication and a transfer of the power of God to the person, as the woman simply touched his cloak.

Think of the many generous ministers of our Church who reach out to feed the hungry, defend a position such as the sanctity of life, those who bring Eucharist to the shut in, stand in prayer at abortion clinics and make contact with their neighbors in need or in personal loss and sorrow. 

All of this should be seen in God’s plan.  We encounter this sacred touch and once we’ve been touched by God, received life from him, we are called to offer that same life to others. 

The Eucharist we celebrate is God’s transmission of his life, his own body and blood poured out for us, and should energize us to “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.”

For you have given us Jesus Christ, your Son, 

as our Lord and Redeemer.

He always showed compassion

for children and for the poor,

for the sick and for sinners, 

and he became a neighbor 

to the oppressed and the afflicted.

(Preface: Masses for Various Needs IV)