First Reading
Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, and there is not a destructive drug among them nor any domain of the netherworld on earth, for justice is undying. For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who belong to his company experience it.
Second Reading
2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
Brothers and sisters: As you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also. For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. Not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their needs, so that their abundance may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. As it is written: Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less.
Gospel Cycle Cycle B
Mark 5:21-43
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him. There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But his disciples said to Jesus, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘;Who touched me?'” And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.” While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.
God formed man to be imperishable—at least that is what the Book of Wisdom tells us. Today we can wonder a bit about death and about life as we read from the Book of Wisdom and from Mark’s Gospel
So many people today simply do not believe in God at all, much less in a God who cares about us. For these people, life is simply a passing experience and then the person dies and that is the end. And even though we Christians believe in life eternal and a life in the world to come, often our actions reflect that we have accepted many of the values of our present culture.
We can find ourselves wanting to serve God and Jesus Christ even while our actions are tell others that we don’ t accept the Lord. In fact, most of us live this way regularly. We find ourselves unable to be consistently faithful to God. Most of the time this unfaithfulness is small and hardly even bothers us.
The Gospels invite us to a completely different way of living. We are reminded over and over that God will actually give us the strength to live in another way if we only call on him. In today’s Gospel, Jairus is desperate because his daughter is dying. He pleads with the Lord to give his daughter’s life back to her. The woman with the hemorrhages also was hoping for life. Both of these women received life.
All of us know that people still die. Even when a large group of devout people pray for a miracle for a particular person, generally the person dies. In the Gospel, Jesus does not cure everyone who is dying. The miracles of restoring physical life, both in the time of Jesus and now, seem to be realities that point to a another realm of being. The great danger, according to the Gospel, is not losing one’s physical life but losing one’s soul.
The Book of Wisdom is clear that God did not create people so that they would die and death would be the end. Rather God created people to live for ever. We can and we do die physically. Even the people restored to life in the Scriptures eventually die a physical death. Jesus, as a prophet, as Son of God, as our Master, teaches clearly in the New Testament that there is life after death. He does not teach as a philosopher nor does He give us a handbook. Jesus teaches as the rabbis of His time taught: with stories, with allusions to other Scriptures, with metaphors, with parables. He teaches that the most important reality of this life is spiritual, that the way we live now determines how we shall live in the world to come.
So today we can look at our own lives: Are we alive spiritually? Are we seeking to live spiritual lives? Do we really live for the Kingdom, the life of the world to come? Are we willing to live as the Master teaches us?
Let us renew our faith in Him and allow His word to form us!