Matthew 9:18-26

While he was saying these things to them, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples. A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.” Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, “Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.” And from that hour the woman was cured. When Jesus arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion, he said, “Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they ridiculed him. When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose. And news of this spread throughout all that land.

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, come to my aid and meet me in my deepest need. I believe in you. I trust in you. I love you. Thank you for your grace.

Encountering Christ:

1. Faith Does Not Compare: Today’s passage allows us to compare the faith of two contrasting people: an elite official synagogue of society and an outcast hemorrhaging woman. God does not see social classes, but he does see our personal history. He knows what it took to come to the faith we have presently. And he rewards it, when it is sincere. Jesus responds to the faith of both of these personages, inspiring us to have courage to go forth to meet him and ask him for what we need. 

2. Courage, Daughter!: The woman suffering from the blood disorder would have been outcast or at least considered impure by Jewish standards. The punishment for an impure woman who touched a rabbi could have been stoning. And yet this woman risked it all. Jesus, seeing her desire mixed with fear, put her at ease and saved her not only from her physical illness, but from social punishment. He brought her under the protection of his family, making her his “daughter.” Likewise, Jesus does this for us. Through the grace received in faith, particularly in baptism, we inherit a new identity as sons and daughters of God. He saves us from a fate worse than stoning—eternal death. Faith is the door that leads to Jesus Christ and the best healing: salvation for eternal life.

3. “Talitha Cumi”: After healing the woman from her twelve-year illness, he turned to a twelve-year-old girl who had apparently passed on to death. But Jesus worked once again through the faith of the Father. “Little girl, rise (Talitha cumi),” he told her. Like God the Father’s words at the beginning of creation, Jesus’s words were the breath of God giving life to humanity, this particular “humanity.” He brought her back to life. Jesus wants to do the same for us, but the life he gives us is for eternity. God created us and brought us into this world. Thanks to the grace that comes from faith in Jesus’s redemption, we can be born again into a new life in Christ. Jesus’s miracles remind us to look beyond this world to see the inheritance to which we are called. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of life, both physical and eternal life. Help me to live with my feet on earth, but my eyes toward heaven, set on the inheritance you have won for me. 

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will exercise my faith wherever I see I have lowered my eyes to a mundane and secular vision.

For Further Reflection: Maintaining Faith Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic, Bishop Robert Barron.