More of Divine Wisdom, Less of Human Science: It takes Just a Touch of Jesus!
Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24; 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43
Human beings have conquered and dominated the earth, little wonder the earth is on edge, and science is leading the way towards conquering other planets as alternative habitations. Human beings are good at destroying, but have not learnt the wisdom of living and helping others to live. We plan our vacations in distant places, we spend our time far away from familiar territories; like Ulysses, in our explorations, “we seek to find and not to yield!” Lord Alfred Tennyson puts it this way:
“ … Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew” (56–64)
For the mind that craves human knowledge and pursues it assiduously, against a restless spirit seeking consolation in distant isles, for the soul that seeks quietude and serenity, “divine wisdom” is the answer and not interminable journeys, as Ulysses suggests! Yes, even when we travel, our displacements take place in God’s own space and time. Even our ability to travel is made possible by our Creator and the intelligence he has given us. Human journeys go beyond movements from point A to point B. It is very possible, and it is often the case, that we journey even within our own bodies. When our bodies are invaded by either sickness or death, we make a lonely journey from ourselves. When loneliness invades us, even in the midsts of a crowd, we journey also. “Life” and “living” is communion and union with God and other human beings!
If anything, our readings, this Sunday, set us on track for the recovery of wisdom, Divine Wisdom. The book of Wisdom, our first reading, teaches us “wisdom” for living our lives on earth. The first bus stop in the quest of wisdom is the human experience of loneliness. When you are ill, you journey alone, because you bear your pains alone. When you die, you make a lonely journey, all by yourself. So, sickness and death are journeys that could be lonely and lonesome. The woman suffering from the discharge of blood in today’s gospel was abandoned by the society because her blood-flow was a contaminant and a sickness requiring quarantine. She had spent all her money in her quest for good-health, to no avail. Earthly physicians had exhausted human knowledge and there was no recovery for her. It took the intervention of divine wisdom, her faith led her to recovery and reintegration into the society that had ostracized her – what a powerful faith, what a game changer! The death that loomed over her head because of blood-loss was overtaken by life because “death” was not of God’s making, “life” is God’s gift to all, according to our first reading. Her story is closely linked to the second story of our gospel, the raising of a little girl from death. The moments human knowledge concluded that wailing was their goodbye song for the little girl, the creator of the little girl said “no,” he brought her back from the journey of death, to the fellowship and communion of the living, because our God is the God of the living, and with him, no one dies.
Death, like a journey, separates peoples from one another, and brings about loneliness. “Life” is the direct opposite. Today, God’s rebuke of death and the return of the little girl to her family and friends teaches us the importance of family, companionship and friendship. The death of a family member or friend tells the pains of love and separation. But there are other separations that are more tragic, the separation that go on unnoticed by the society, like the woman ostracized by the society on account of her illness. Many seniors and old people today live in loneliness and friendlessness. The society doesn’t even care about their existence. In fact, our society, on account of economic considerations, would prefer the elimination of such personss, because they have become too heavy a financial burden that the delay of death coming to take them is hastened by science via euthanasia and suicide.
It takes wisdom to realize the limits of science and to appreciate that even sciences have a God who controls them. “Wisdom” is the realization that human beings and all their knowledge are still dependent on God. “Life” was created by God, and it is only with him that life has meaning, and can be preserved. When medical science failed the woman with the issue of blood, she found healing and companionship in God – Jesus healed her. When the little girl died, the limits of science was reached, but the power of God intervened to bring her back to life. It is the acceptance that science doesn’t have the last word that is the begin of human encounter with wisdom, Divine Wisdom. If God never created “death”, life is the creation of God, that is why he is able to restore it when it is taken away by death.
Divine Wisdom teaches us something fundamental for our faith: if God never created death, then death only exists when we are separated from God, and loneliness comes when we are far away from God. Jesus’ presence to the hemorrhaging woman of the gospel brought her healing, and restoration to life was the lot of the little girl who died. To keep God’s company is the elixir of life and key to immortality. For the little girl of today’s gospel, thanks to her father who took the pains to journey to bring God to her dead bed before her life could be returned to her. The hemorrhaging woman was led by her faith in Jesus to healing and recovery. Jesus commended her faith, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.” Today, for you and me, our faith and hope in God will keep us wise and alive with God, provided we’ve not been overrun by science.
We may not be called to raise the dead and physically heal the sick, but we are invited to eliminate loneliness and isolation. God wants you and me to eliminate loneliness by seeking out the lonely and forsaken. According to St. Paul, in our second reading, no one is too poor not have time to share, and talents to put at the service of other human beings. Paul says, “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”. Jesus offered his life for you and me. Jesus enriched us through his cross, death and resurrection. We are rich in salvation and the presence of God among us, thanks to the generosity of Jesus Christ. It is by being there for others that we too become God’s presence among other human beings, especially the lonely and friendless. Our very attentiveness to the needs of our immediate neighbors, families and friends, displays our Divine Wisdom and we live life and help others to be alive. Paul puts it this way: “your abundance at the present time should supply their needs, so that their abundance may also supply your needs”. Human beings must support one another mutually for the wisdom of God to dwell among us.
Do you want to know what “death” means, it means your refusal to approach Jesus in order to touch him, like the woman did, and be freed from both loneliness and pain. If you are not convinced, the little girl who died is a proof: in her death, she appeared unaware of anything happening, but she noticed the presence of Jesus Christ because when he asked he to “get up,” she did get up! The dead hear Jesus just like the living, because with God there is no death! The absence of death and the presence of life is union with God. The healthy are capable of pain, not only when they become sick do they imagine and feel pain. Yes, when your neighbors fail to be there for you, like the hemorrhaging woman, take your case to Jesus and your loneliness will be assuaged. When you don’t hear the voice of your neighbors, and you are forsaken and friendless, remember that the dead can still hear the voice of Jesus – he is deep down, inside of you.
The point of today’s homily is not just to limit ourselves to the miraculous actions of God among human beings, it transcends that to remind us that there is no situation that is hopelessly hopeless, provided God has a place in our lives. It may take 12 years before we can touch Jesus and feel his healing power, like the woman with the flow of blood: it is worth waiting for! It may take the intercession of a friend, family and neighbor, in order for us to feel the power and touch of God, like the father of the little girl interceding for her life. Indeed, resurrection is still possible from every trouble, problem and disappoint because our God is alive. As long as we are on the planet earth, there will be diseases and deaths, but our union with the Lord of life, and the stamina we get from him, will always help us to weather the storm. Make a date with Jesus, and you will never forget his touch – huge power will gush out of him to supply all of your needs!
Assignment for the Week:
This week, could you visit that closest neighbor of yours, whose home you would rather not visit? Remember, your u touch is Jesus’!