Theme: That we might have the Fullness of Life
READINGS: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24/ 2 Cor. 8:7, 9, 13-15/ Mk. 5:21-43
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
According to the first reading, ‘God made man imperishable . . . ; it was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world’ (Wisdom 2:23-24).
- GOD CREATED US TO LIVE FOREVER:
Why do we say that God created us to live forever? It is because:
- Death, which is a destruction, could not have been part of God’s creation; for God’s work at the end of ‘six days’ of creation is described as perfect. (Gen. 1:31).
- If death were to be God’s creation, it would have been contradictory to send his Son to ‘fix’ the damage caused by sin and death.
- Since God is immortal, any part of him cannot die; therefore the spirit he breathed into Adam can’t die. (Wisdom 2: 23).
- IN JESUS, GOD FIXES THE PROBLEM OF DEATH:
The problem of death, which entered the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, is fixed through the obedience of Jesus, the Son of God (Romans 5). Through him, death is no longer the end of humans but a mere long sleep. Thus, Jesus told those wailing at the death of the little girl that she was not dead, but only asleep (gospel reading). In fact, through Jesus we have more than the restoration of immortality – we have eternal life with God (John 3:16).
- JESUS DEMONSTRATED THAT HE HAS COME TO GIVE US FULL LIFE:
Jesus demonstrated that he has come that we might have full life (John 10:10) in many ways. Today’s gospel reading refers to two of these ways:
- Sickness takes life away, and Jesus healed the sick. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus healed the woman with blood flow. Blood stands for life and the total lack of it means death; so Jesus in stopping the flow of blood, showed that he gives life.
- Jesus demonstrated that he gives life by raising the dead to life. For instance, before raising Lazarus back to life, Jesus proclaimed: ‘I am the resurrection and the life’. And in today’s gospel reading he demonstrated this by raising the 12 year old girl back to life.
- ILLUSTRATION:
Our body is like a cable wire, which is lifeless without an electric power passing through it. The spirit which God breathed into us is like the electric power which gives life to our body.
We lost this electric power (spirit of God) through the sin of Adam and Eve, but in Jesus Christ, we receive the abundance of spiritual electricity through the Holy Spirit, ‘the giver of life’ (as we profess in our creed).
- HOW DO WE ‘OBTAIN’ THE FULL LIFE?
By getting connected with the Holy Spirit, the source of the spiritual electric power.
As the cable wire is connected to the electricity by a plug, so FAITH is the spiritual plug by which Jesus connects us to the Holy Spirit – remember how the faith of the woman sick of haemorrhage connected her to the healing power in Jesus.
As the plugged cable wire has to be switched on, so our GOOD WORKS switch on our FAITH plugged to the spiritual power of ETERNAL LIFE.
CONCLUSION:
I pray that:
If our spiritual plug of FAITH is damaged, God will repair it. Amen!
If it is weak, God will tighten its screws to strengthen it. Amen!
If our spiritual ‘on-switch’ of good works is damaged, God will fix it. Amen!
If it is in good order, but not switched on, God will press it on for us. Amen!
By Very Rev. Fr. John Louis
