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13th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B (June 28, 2009)
My dear friends, last Sunday, at the end of the Gospel reading, we were left with the disciples’ question: “Who is this who has come into the world?” I hope we have reflected on that during the week. Who is this Jesus? Who? Of course, last week, they had come to the conclusion “this is God.” And they were in awe and trembling because, as Mark makes so clear, Jesus had power over the winds, over the water, over the chaos, just as in the beginning of the scriptures where it is revealed to us, how God, the creator, brings order out of chaos, calms the waters, builds the earth. Who is this Jesus? We are left with that awareness that Jesus is God.
Today, as we reflect on the scriptures and as we leave the church, I hope we will not be asking a question, but declaring with joy: what a friend we have in Jesus. Yes, he is God, but he is human. He has a human heart; a capacity for compassion; a profoundly generous spirit; one who quickly reaches out in love as a friend does.
The first reading reminds us that God did not make death nor does God rejoice in the destruction of the living. God is love. God does not make death. Since God has created everything, all pieces of the universe are for our good. Everything is good that God has made. So God is good. That is also made very clear in what Paul says to the church at Corinth when he is asking them to give generously. You should remember he was asking them to give to the church of Jerusalem, the church that had been so negative to taking in the Gentiles. They had, in a sense, been enemies, and Paul is saying, “Yes, but you must be generous to them.” Why? Well we know well the generosity of Jesus. Although he was rich, he made himself poor to make us rich through his Father. Jesus is one who is totally generous; one who becomes a friend.
And that is how Jesus acts in today’s Gospel reading.
The first thing that happens in the Gospel is this very important official comes to Jesus. He is the leader of the synagogue. Everybody in the village knows him, but he is as helpless as anybody else when his little daughter is at the point of death. So he comes to Jesus and right away Jesus begins to respond. His heart goes out with compassion for these parents who are about to lose their tiny child whom they obviously love. Jesus immediately has compassion and reaches out in love. His compassion and his generosity and his love are shown even more dramatically as, right away, he accompanies the official to his house.
We have to be aware of all that is going on in this episode. He wanted to be sure that this official did not think this was something magical when he healed his daughter. And that was the danger. No, it was the love of God reaching out to the little girl through Jesus who was reaching out to her and to the family as a friend. Another point about this that I think is so important is that Jesus wanted to make sure that there was a connection.
Jesus seldom worked miracles from a distance. He never tried to cure people without being right in their presence. Jesus wanted to connect with people, interact, know them and let them know him. That is what happens when we become a friend. We open our heart to another person and that person opens his or her heart to us. You cannot do it unless there is some kind of connection and so Jesus wanted to be sure that this official knew that he loved the little and her family, that there was this connection, that he was his friend, that he had opened herself to him and he was ready to pour forth his love upon him.
Jesus, who we remember is God, shows himself in this very human, real way as a friend, as one who reaches out in love, in kindness, compassion, generosity. Notice how Jesus does not hesitate. He might have had other plans when he came and landed on that shore but as soon as people came up to him, wanted his help, he dropped everything and was ready to go and do whatever was necessary. And I think we get a final sense of how human Jesus is, how real he is, when at the end of the incident today, while other people were all chattering away, talking in amazement about what had happened, Jesus gives instructions, “This little girl is hungry. Give her something to eat.” He cared about this little girl. And so Jesus shows us today how he is a friend to us.
It is difficult to put these two truths together. Jesus is Son of God in power but he is also a brother, a friend to every one of us. Once we begin to really enter into this mystery, to know Jesus as Son of God, to know Jesus as the one who made the heavens and the earth, but also as our closest friend, it can change our lives. Because we will begin to realize, first of all, that at any moment, whenever we are in need, when we are in pain of some sort, be it physical or emotional or whatever, we can turn to Jesus who will be right there, to respond to us out of the abundance of his generosity and love. But then also as we really come to enter into the mystery of Jesus as Son of God and our brother, we will be inspired to try to follow him and what a difference that can make in our world, if we reach out to every other person as a friend, ready to open ourselves, to share what we have.
Each of us now must try to make sure that in our own lives, every day we reach out in love, that we become a friend to others, that we make that real connection. Not to just write a check for the poor, but to connect with the poor, whoever they are, wherever they are, whether they are poor spiritually or physically or financially. If we really enter into the mystery of who Jesus is, every day will be marked by our generosity to others. So as we leave the church today, I hope we will be singing in our hearts, “What a friend we have in Jesus” and that we will know his friendship to us and that we will share his friendship wherever we are.
God bless you.
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