The appearance of Jesus Christ was a herald of a new covenant for people faithful to God. Note that word - "new". Christ's 3-year ministry - astonishing for its brevity and impact - was to establish a new set of laws to follow. This new covenant would strip away the old laws of Leviticus and set forth a gentler and kinder relationship with God.
The Prophet Jeremiah foretold of this new covenant in chapter 31 of his writings in the Bible:
"Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke..."
Imagine this: you are a faithful Jew in the year 30 A.D.and this Jewish man comes out of nowhere and tells you the laws your people have followed for a millennia...are no longer required. That your relationship with God is now thru Jesus Christ; a relationship based upon love, not fear. Simple rules - love one another as God loves you.
Sometimes I'm not surprised the Jews rejected Christ.
But let me turn your attention to today's Homily from the ever-marvelous Bishop Robert Barron:
Friends, the centerpiece of today’s Gospel is Jesus healing the hemorrhaging woman. Having a flow of blood for twelve years meant that anyone with whom she came in contact would be considered unclean. She couldn’t, in any meaningful sense, participate in the ordinary life of her society.
The woman touches Jesus—and how radical and dangerous an act this was, since it should have rendered him unclean. But so great is her faith that her touch, instead, renders her clean. Jesus effectively restores her to full participation in her community.
But what is perhaps most important is this: Jesus implicitly puts an end to the ritual code of the book of Leviticus. What he implies is that the identity of the new Israel, the Church, would not be through ritual behaviors but through imitation of him. Notice please how central this is in the New Testament. We hear elsewhere in the Gospels that Jesus declares all foods clean, and throughout the letters of Paul we hear a steady polemic against the Law. All of this is meant to show that Jesus is at the center of the new community.
Please watch all of Bishop Barron's homily. It is, as ever for the Bishop, marvelous and filled with the Holy Spirit. Then grab your Bible and do as the Bishop suggests - read Mark Chapter 5. (If you don't have a Bible, you can find the chapter here.) It really is a remarkable chapter about faith, healing, the sensitivity of Jesus, and our own relentless need for everything to be "now" (yes, even in 30-something A.D., impatience and selfishness was a prominent characteristic, even in a man of God like Jairus).
God's time is a concept that humans can't process. And yet it persists - and we must allow it to work in our lives as God directs.
During our most joyous. When our individual worlds are suffused with the soft light and gentle warmth of the emotional equivalent of sunshine. We can feel that warmth on our skin, penetrating deep within to bring our hearts alive.
At these times our prayers are bright with gratitude.
He also sees us at our darkest. Those times when our individual worlds are clouded - as if our very souls can't see thru the fog. As if everything is shrouded with an impenetrable dim light that refuses to allow us any clarity of thought or experience.
At these times our prayers are consumed with need.
Indeed, God loves us no matter how we approach his throne of grace. He wants us to be happy and rejoices when we are. And he stands solidly with us when we feel like we don't deserve his love.
Send your prayers and petitions to our Savior. Seated at the right hand of God, Jesus Christ is our mediator, our salvation. He is the light in our joy. His light shines when ours just can't.
Right after September 11, 2001 happened - I started thinking about the number of people grieving the loss of a loved one. How many people would miss one of the victims?
I put it in the realest terms I could from my own perspective.
Who would miss me? Beyond family, friends, co-workers - who else in my life would miss my presence? The guy at the coffee truck every morning. The cafeteria workers who engaged in a friendly, brief chat with me daily, sometimes more than once. The building maintenance crew, whom I knew well. The owner of the coffee shop in my town. Doctors, other professionals.
If you added it all up - one victim could equal a hundred or more people who would miss them.
And what about those that lived with injuries? The numbers would be even larger.
Jesus promises us that our redemption belongs to us if we follow him. That the next phase of existence is paradise with his Father in heaven - immortal, restored to glory - newness of life.
A friend - a cherished member of my parish family - is in critical condition after a hit-and-run incident in the parking lot of our church. She has been in ICU since May 27. In that time she's had one really good day - alertness being the key measure. Otherwise she is being kept in a medically-induced coma while her medical teams try to stay ahead of the complications that are coming out of her devastating injuries.
She was run over - twice - by the person who left the scene. We believe the individual backed up, then pulled forward. It's possible that the person didn't realize they hit anyone. Except that it's been getting heavy news coverage for a week - so at this point, they must KNOW what they did and are still not coming forward.
But we need to set that aside for now.
My friend has severe crush-injuries. Her entire torso has been mangled - pelvis, ribs, lung, liver, and multiple other major internal injuries. The doctors are trying to figure out how to stay ahead of it all - and so far they can't.
She is a fighter, this woman. And a woman of incredibly deep faith. She is quiet yet funny. Soft-spoken yet compassionate. Her kindness knows no limit. If anyone can get thru this, it's her.
Her injuries are extensive enough that it's unlikely she will return to what she did and who she was before. And we - her parish family & friends - just want to see her back with us. Her return is what we long for.
To go back to my original point - how many people are praying for my friend? Her parish family is over 1100 people alone. Plus the local community, who also knows & loves her. She'd be embarrassed at all the fuss - she is humble and self-effacing. The number of people who know her, in real life, are in the thousands.
Jesus promises a beautiful future beyond death. For now, we are fighting hard to keep our friend with us. It's selfish, yes. And we aren't ready to let her go.
The video attached above is her favorite song - her personal anthem. We've been asked to pray, and to especially listen to this song and pray for her.
May I ask that you do the same? Please pray for my friend - Lois. Please pray for her family.
