NO OBSTACLES TO COME TO JESUS

Mat 9:18-26

Today’s gospel takes us to meditate on the miracles we had just a week ago. The first miracle is in favor of a woman with hemorrhage; the second one in favor of a girl who had just died. According to the mentality of that time, the person who touched blood or a corpse was considered unclean and whoever touched that person became unclean as well.  Blood and death were factors of exclusion! 

The woman is aware that by touching Jesus she makes Him ritually unclean and also she knows that she is forbidden to move about in public. And the synagogue official is aware of the law that forbids touching a corpse but still he asks Jesus for help. And Jesus, aware of all these forbiddances in his culture, agrees to violate them. He allows himself being touched by the woman and he touches the corpse of the little girl. Jesus’ actions are prophetic. When Jesus heals this woman, he opens a new path toward God; a path which does not depend anymore on laws and rites of purification.  And in bringing the girl back to life, Jesus conquers the power of death and opens new horizons to life. 

We have to notice that faith is involved here. Someone wrote: “Faith isn’t a matter of believing hard enough, but a matter of taking what you believe and putting it into action.” Those who believe must overcome obstacles to receive their healing. The woman in our gospel, had to overcome her shame and the crowds that surrounded Jesus to get her healing. The daughter’s father, as an official, had to forget the law that forbids touching a corpse in order to get her daughter back.

How do we take our illnesses, our infirmities and needs to Christ? Do we sit down and wait for the miracle in our rooms or do we really push through the crowd to touch the cloak of Jesus? Sometimes we ask the Lord to help us in something but we do not put in our effort. We ask to be given something we haven’t worked for? Let us understand that it is our responsibility to get to Jesus and to overcome whatever obstacles that might stand in our way to do so.