Jesus was both a teacher and healer who showed by His words and actions that God is with us in times of joy but especially when our burdens are heavy. In today’s Gospel we have two healing stories, the healing of a woman with a flow of blood and the raising of an official’s daughter.
Society, both secular and religious, would view this woman with the flow of blood as “unclean” much like a leper. Like a leper, her burden and suffering are social, psychological, and religious. She has an almost magical faith as she thinks that if she but touches the tassel on Jesus’ cloak she will be healed. This is faith enough for Jesus: “Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.” Two important points to notice here: 1.) our faith does not need to be “perfect”, just a trusting and longing to touch Jesus is enough. 2.) We should never tell people who are not healed that they do not have “enough faith.” This is heartless and wrong. It lays a heavy burden of guilt on people. We do not know why some are healed and some are not. We are never to judge others.
The second healing miracle is the raising of the daughter of an official. Jesus announces that “The girl is not dead but sleeping.” In fact, she is dead but Jesus brings here back to life. As we face all of the burdens in our life, we know that Jesus the healer is with us always in life and in death. St. Paul tells us: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God…not even death.” (Romans 8:38).