THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24  Ps 30 2.Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15 Mk 5:21-43

Give me lands, lots of lands

And the starry skies above,

Don’t fence me in.

This song came to my mind as I read the pericope from the book of Wisdom. We have been given the gift of life in all its fullness by God.  There is no limit, no bounds. We are invited to live life – every bit of it “in -joy” (enjoy). In fact the life that is given is immortal. We are not supposed to die.  The words and phrases are not the ones we use in every day life as we line up at the ATM or the supermarket or with our fellow workers.

• God made the regenerative forces of nature
• There is no destructive poison in them
• The dominion of Hades is not on earth
• Righteousness is immortal

• All point to one thing, God has made us in God’s image and hence we are imperishable. We shall not die. However we know that this a biological contradiction. Even though Adam and Methusaleh and Melchisedek lived to be 900+ years, they all died. And these people all lived before Christ. Sin came on the scene and as Paul tells us, the wages of sin is death.
  
  However, as Christians, we are given “two bites of the proverbial apple”. Jesus Christ was born, the Word became flesh and dwelt in our midst. Those who received him received life, they were made children of the imperishable God. Our challenge is : Do we live this gift of God, enjoy it as God wants us to enjoy it. When you ask a friend or family member, “How are you?” The reply invariably is I am struggling along, I am surviving. Rarely does one hear, “I am A-L-I-V-E”
   

Too often our lives seem to be a variation of the Song: Tennessee Ernie Ford’s Sixteen Tons.

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine

I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine

I owe my soul to the company store.

We seem to survive from day to day because of economic set-backs. We have lost the ability to communicate partly because of TV, and we find it difficult to share our stories, our lives: parents with children, husbands with wives, priest and parishioner. We need to refresh ourselves, we need the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth.

2. The letter to the Corinthians seems to point to a sore point in our “church life.” It is asking for money. We groan when we hear there will be a second collection! Well in the second reading, Paul is asking for precisely that. He is begging from the well heeled church at Corinth. This community is reluctant=2 0to give because of

• It is for Jewish Christians.
• It is for the church at Jerusalem
• When you have money, you do not want to part with it.

• Paul has his passionate reply. In the first place, it was this same Jewish community of Christians that first sent preachers and prophets to teach Corinth about Jesus Christ. They were responsible for the spiritual life of Corinth. Now that the church in Jerusalem were in material need, it was up to Corinth to show their gratitude in a tangible way. Secondly Paul gives them the poor church of Macedonia to the north as a model and example. Poor as that church was, they gave generously, even from the little they had. Corinth should try and emulate them. Finally, and the connection with our meditation on “Life”: God is the giver of all life, spiritual and material. Even though the Church in Jerusalem was not gentile, they would be a witness of gratitude. It would saying Thank you to God for Life: first spiritual and then material.

3. Life is very much the centre of the two miracles in the Gospel.

First the woman had a flow of blood: (in greek: haemorrhage) Blood was the symbol of life. The loss of blood was the loss of life. It was also symbolic that the flow was for 12 years. It is the age of the daughter of Jairus. And in a sense both lost life together. It reminds us of the 12 tribes of Israel, through whom the Life of the People of Israel would continue.

 We have seen the devastating effect cancer has on people. As in the case of Barbara Hannan. Bright cheeked, full of life people have become so emaciated, so gaunt that it is difficult to tell if they are male or female. If we have seen this, we can picture the woman with the haemorrhage. We can also picture her desperation. She will break all taboos, she will do the forbidden. She will enter the crowd and touch the cloak of the Rabbi, thus rendering him “unclean”.

 But Jesus as we say in the Eucharist, is the Lord and giver of life. He came that we might have life in abundance. He will not let taboos, and human ordinances come in the way of giving life again to a woman, a child who was made to be imperishable because she was made in the image of God.

The same can be said of the 12 year old daughter of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. It seems such a tragedy, that one so young is deprived of the gift of life. A Gift is given, and she cannot even enjoy it.  The gift is a prelude to an even richer and fuller life. However, Jesus tells them to keep this act a secret. Theologians have suggested that Christ is seen as a Victor over death only when Jesus himself has died and risen from the dead. Secondly, the actual miracle is not a victory of Jesus over death. The girl like all of us would eventually die. It was only to show that Jesus had the “dynamis” the power to do this, the same power he felt leaving him when the woman touched the hem of his robe.

Life is a gift, and an immortal gift, we learn from the Book of Wisdom

Life is a gift given to the little daughter of Jairus

Life was restored, as blood stopped flowing in the woman who touched the hem

Life is given to us as we approach the altar at the Eucharist.

Life is given as we exchange the gift of peace.

What are you going to do with your life?