(Audio)
The official sought the healing power of Jesus and continued to seek it even after his daughter had died. He did not give up, but pursued his request, knowing that if Jesus laid his hand on her she could still be saved. The suffering women believed in Jesus for her own healing in spite of twelve years in which she had apparently tried everything else and only grown worse.
Can it be that we give up too easily? It's not easy for us to say why Jesus couldn't have met the official before his daughter had died or arranged the order of world events so that he could have healed the woman before she had to suffer much, or even prevented any of these problems in advance. The fact that such suffering was allowed in the first place might make us think that it was endorsed. It might lead us to believe that there was no sense in trying to change something that was a part of God's will to begin with. And yet, mysteriously, what was allowed for a time was not destined to remain true forever. Clearly it might have gone unchallenged. The official might have given up on a cure for his daughter once he had heard she was dead. The women might have given up after one year of suffering or ten. But she persisted and he continued to seek. These individuals were real life models of what Jesus taught through the story of the importunate widow who came back again and again to the unjust judge seeking justice for her cause (see Luke 18:1-8).
And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily (see Luke 18:7-8).
We read this summary of Jesus to his parable and recognize that speedily from God's perspective obviously does not always feel fast to us. Especially in the throes of suffering when there time seems some kind of time dilation drawing out minutes and hours, let alone years, the response of God to our suffering feels so delayed as to tempt us to give up in despair. Perhaps it was for this reason that the next verse after mentioning justice for the elect was, "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (see Luke 18:8). Who, he might have meant, will be patient enough to still be waiting? Who will continue to trust a God who allows suffering even though he actually hates anything that interferes with human flourishing? Who of us will surrender our judgments about how we would run the universe and trust in the God, whom we know to be always good, even if in a particular case we can't account for his choices?
She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.”
Even in the midst of our own struggles and the delay of realizing our own desires we can nevertheless grow in faith about the power of Jesus. We can realize that if we weren't healed yesterday, and aren't healed today, then it is increasingly likely that it will be tomorrow. Our hope can spring ever new drawing us like an anchor of our soul (see Hebrews 6:19) to Jesus himself, where he dwells in eternity, having already, from his perspective, made all things new. Years and years, from a secular perspective, become not only bearable when we experience them with hope, but even joyously so.
Do we believe that there is power in the touch of Jesus? If we do how do this affect our lives, especially our reception of his flesh, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist? Do we assume that our next communion will be exactly the same as our last? Do we really realize that him whom we receive truly lives? Repetition tempts us to take him for granted. Ongoing suffering sometimes leads us to doubt his providence. When he returns to us in our next communion will he find faith in our hearts? It would seem that the longer we suffer the more difficult it must become and the more likely we will succumb to despair. But the examples of faith found in the official and the hemorrhaging woman demonstrate that it need not be so. Even if it has been many years, or even if we are already all but spiritually dead, it is never too late for Jesus.
When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand,
and the little girl arose.
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