Mark 5:21-43 The Touch

Does having faith or trusting in God mean that we do nothing, and let God do everything?

One spring a terrible flood ravaged a rural area. It stranded an old woman in her house. As the woman stood at her kitchen window, a boat appeared. The boatman said, “Climb aboard and save yourself.”

“No thanks,” said the old woman. “I trust the Lord. He’ll save me.” The boatman shook his head and drove off.

The second day the flood rose to the second floor of the house. As the woman stood at a second floor window watching the water rise, another boat appeared. The boatman said, “Climb aboard and save yourself.”

“No thanks,” said the old woman. “I trust the Lord. He’ll save me.” The boatman shook his head and drove off.

The third day the water rose to the roof of the house. As the old woman sat on the roof watching the water, a helicopter appeared. The pilot called down over a loudspeaker, “I’ll drop a rope ladder to you. Climb aboard and save yourself.”

“No thanks,” said the woman. “I trust the Lord. He’ll save me.” The pilot shook his head and flew off.

The fourth day the flood engulfed the house, and the old woman drowned.

When she got to heaven, she said to St. Peter, “Before I go inside, I want to register a complaint. I trusted God would save me from the flood, but He let me down.”

St. Peter gave the woman a puzzled look and said, “I don’t know what more the Lord could have done for you. He sent you two boats and a helicopter.”

Some people think that trusting God means to expect God to do everything for them in a dramatic, miraculous way. They look for the miraculous healing like those of paralytics suddenly throwing away their crutches and starting to walk. Or, a cancer suddenly disappears after being prayed over in a healing session.

Well, God sometimes acts that way. But most often He does not. Most often He uses ordinary means. He often heals by assisting the skills of physicians and nurses in treating patients.

Doctors treat and cures, but it is God who heals. This reminds me of the guy who complained to God, “O God, how could you let me down. Every day I went to Mass and prayed that you would let me win the grand price in the lotto. You never cared to answer my prayers.”

A voice from above said, “For goodness sake, buy a ticket!”

The old woman in the flood could learn something from the two people in today’s Gospel reading. The sick woman trusts that Jesus could heal her. But she did not just wait for Jesus to come to her. She worked her way to touch Jesus even if just the cloak.

Likewise, Jairus also trusts that Jesus could heal his sick daughter. But Jairus did not just sit and trust in Jesus. He travelled a long way to ask Jesus to come and lay hands on his daughter.

The two people in today’s gospel did more than just trust in Jesus. They went a step farther. They did their part. They make use of the ordinary means God gave them to obtain the healing they needed.

This leads us to the question of our prayer life. How do we pray?

Do we pray in such a way that we expect God to do everything for us? Do we consider doing our part as important as praying?

Our prayer should lead us to actions in response to the needs of others. And our actions should drive us to more intense prayer.

In the Gospel story, Jesus did more than just healing. He led the woman to a personal encounter with him. The woman had imperfect faith. She thought that just touching Jesus’ cloak would bring her miraculous cure.

In fact it did. And she could have just slipped quietly away grateful for the miraculous cure.

But Jesus stopped and asked, “Who touched me?” What a question! In that crowd, hundreds of people must have touched him.

The disciples reaction was, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet, you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

Many people in the crowd did touch Jesus. But this woman touched Jesus with faith. And Jesus wanted her not just to have a miraculous cure, but to have a personal encounter with him to deepen her faith, that her faith be complete, and to hear the words, “Your faith has made you whole.” Her risk, her effort was rewarded by Jesus.

Does that strike a chord in our own experience? Or, are we the ‘segurista’, who would never risk or make an effort, but just pray that God will do the work for us.

One of the characteristics in the personal encounter with Jesus is his “touch.” Jesus allows himself to be touched.

First of all, as a baby he was cradled by Mary and Joseph. Probably the shepherd and magi held him in their arms. Certainly, the old Simeon did in the temple. The sinful woman touched him and washed his feet with her tears, and dried them with her hair.

The woman in today’s gospel touched him.

And what happens when Jesus is touched? He touches. In today’s gospel Jairus asks Jesus to lay his hands on his daughter that she might get well. Jesus touches the sick, the lepers, the blind, the deaf, and the mute. He embraces the children.

Jesus, whose life was compassion and love was not satisfied with words, even compassionate and loving words. He touches even the loathsome lepers.

A touch communicates without words what comes straight from the heart. It says, “I care.” “I like you.” “I’m sorry for your troubles.” “I understand how you feel.” “My love goes to you.” “I rejoice in your joy.” “I share your sadness, your weakness, your pain.” “I congratulate you… I bless you.” “I am with you.”

Now, if this is what touch does, we can ask ourselves, “Have I ever touched or been touched” “Who touched me?” We can look at three levels: the touch of Christ, the sacramental touch, and the touch of Christian love.

Jesus Christ is here, really present among us. His living presence makes it possible for me to reach out to Him, to touch Him. If I do, He turns to me. looks for me, wants me to know Him, He yearns to live in me. The faith I showed in touching Him begins to make me whole.

Secondly, this touch of Christ finds a physical reflection in our sacramental system. Here is a continuous touching that gives life, that heals, that makes two as one.

Finally, the touch of Christ and the sacramental touch should be reflected in our human exchange, in the touch of this Christian body. We must love one another as Jesus loved us.

This demands that I take the initiative in loving. It is my Christian responsibility, my Christian calling, to reach out and touch another living person.

The physical touch reaching out, a smile, a handshake, a hug should be expressive of something deeper, fuller, and richer: It is a symbol of my whole self.

I touch you not simply with my hand. I am touching you – with my love, I am touching you – with the love of Christ.