In today’s Gospel we find a beautiful presentation of two miracles, a healing and a rebirth and restoration of life. There is a great contrast in the way Matthew tells this double story compared to Mark. Matthew reduces it to the essentials, only 9 verses, while Mark needs 20. He makes no mention of the large crowd that followed Jesus; only his disciples are present. It focuses on Jesus and what Jesus does and says.
These miracles were performed by Jesus as a reward for the confident faith of a synagogue leader and a woman with a hemorrhage. Although the synagogue leader trusted Jesus out of desperation and the woman’s faith may have been somewhat superstitious, their faith though imperfect was amply rewarded.
The leader and the woman:
The synagogue leader supported Jewish orthodoxy and might have despised Jesus who was a friend of sinners. But he bravely approached Jesus as a last resort when all the doctors had failed and his daughter was dying. Since Jews believed that one did not actually die until three days had passed, when news came that the child had died, the leader showed courage and faith in staying with Jesus, ignoring the people’s derision. Likewise, the woman for the loss of blood was ritually unclean and was not to appear in public. She too had the courage and faith to ignore a social and religious taboo to approach and touch Jesus’ robe from behind. Both the leader’s daughter and the sick woman were brought back to life and into the community.
In both of these stories, using the literary device of “inclusion,” that is, of one story within another, we have a common theme, that of Jesus as Lord of life. This is Matthew’s way of saying what we read in John: “I am the resurrection and the life,” life understood in the fullest possible sense: physical, social, intellectual and spiritual.
Messages of life

• The maiden is not only restored to physical life, she is also restored within her family and all that it means.
• The woman is not only healed of her bleeding, but she can be fully reintegrated into normal relationships with the people around her. Christ loves everyone, understands and heals at the right time.
• It is truly an ongoing teaching to meditate on the gospel by seeking the true face of Christ.

Fr. Joby Kavungal RCJ 

BASILICA Santuario San Antonio, Messina