A Homily – The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading - Wisdom 1:13-15,2:23-24

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 29(30):2,4-6,11-13

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15

Gospel Acclamation – John 6:63,68

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Timothy 1:10

The Gospel According to Mark 5.21-43

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

All things born shall die, this is true of both plants and animals, it is true of planets and stars; this is the order of creation.

God made the world and it is replete with pain, God endures that pain with us, and with all beings, in all places, at all times; God suffers with us, even as we suffer ourselves.

Be mindful.

There is wisdom here, but it must be understood that the blessing of peace which belongs to the virtuous, the trusting and the faithful, is a blessing that awaits everyone.

Everyone goes into the fire, everyone is transformed in the refiners fire, in the eyes of God, we are all pure as gold.

Do not give any credit to the enemy of peace for the creation of anything.

God alone is the creator, even death was authored by God, for God’s own purpose, and because it is God’s our faith instructs us to believe that it is for the benefit of all creation.

Remember!

God, the creator of the universe, God will not intervene in your affairs. God will not lift you up, God will not strike you down. God will not be angry with you, but God does love you, and God’s love is forever.

God does not need us to proclaim God’s goodness, though it is never wrong to do so, but God does not require this because God is already speaking in the hearts of each and every one of God’s children.

Consider the words of the apostle, as happens so often in the scriptures, there is language here that taints the message the author intended to convey.

Know this!

Jesus is not a lord. He was rich in spiritual gifts and he shared those gifts with many, with all whom he encountered, and by sharing he became richer in those gifts.

There was no poverty, lack or want in Jesus this is true because no person is poor who has friends; Jesus was our friend, and he encouraged friendship among us.

He encourages us to share what we have and to build something new together, he implored us to find common cause with those we know and those who are strangers to us, he taught us to make peace with our enemies and sit with them, share our water with them, break bread with them at the common table.

Be mindful!

The early church often went astray, deviate from the teaching of Jesus and the way.

Peter would have us believe that he follows Jesus because Jesus has the secret message of eternal life, as if finding this secret and keeping it were the purpose of the gospel, as if believing that Jesus is the “Holy One of God” is the key to receiving the gift grace. We are asked to believe that God parcels out access to Jesus, to the truth, to the reality of life everlasting, allowing some to come to it while refusing others.

None of this scheme is true.

Here is the gospel: God loves you and because of this you are saved. You are not saved for anything that you have done, you did not earn salvation (neither were you asked to earn it, just as you did not ask to be born); you are saved because God loves you and for no other reason than that.

The promise of salvation is not that you will be spared from suffering and torment in hell, or that when you are judged God will forgive you.

The good news is that God has already forgiven you; you are saved already. God has prepared you and everyone for eternal life.

Believe it!

Let the goodness of the promise flow through you now and start living this life as if it were true.

We are not called to believe in the idea that Jesus is this or that, the Holy One of God, we are called to act on the principles of his faith, to live lives of charity, humility and service to each other.

God is calls us to be holy at all times, God is speaks in our heart, inviting us to share with the divine a life of compassion.

God does this out of love; this is the divine plan and has been from the beginning of time. There is not one of us, not one child of God, not one being in the whole of creation who is outside of this plan.

Jesus revealed this; follow him.

The gospel is not that God has abolished death as much as it reveals that the death of the body is merely a transition, one we all pass through on our journey toward the creator.

Consider the gospel reading for today, it is a lesson on faith.

It is steeped in stories of divine power and magic, but it is really about faith, which means trust.

Today’s reading speaks to all people who suffer, encouraging them to hope and believe in the coming of a better day.

It is easy to read this narrative as a story about Jesus and his power. This is not the right way to read it, his super-natural deeds must be understood as myth and read as allegory. No such miracles ever occurred.

We live in a world where disease and illness afflict us, in which death surrounds us, all of it is in accordance with the laws of nature, laws which God established for the good of all creation; it is our task to see this for what it is.

Remember!

God does not abrogate God’s own law.

Therefore, we are given to understand that what the gospel intends, is for us to have faith, faith in the notion that everything we suffer is a part of God’s divine plan, and that plan includes our salvation, which means an end to all suffering, for all time. The gospel writers used the stories of miracles, and healing to convey their faith.

First Reading - Wisdom 1:13-15,2:23-24

God Takes no Pleasure in the Extinction of the Living

Death was not God’s doing, he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living.

To be – for this he created all; the world’s created things have health in them, in them no fatal poison can be found, and Hades holds no power on earth; for virtue is undying.

Yet God did make man imperishable, he made him in the image of his own nature; it was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world, as those who are his partners will discover.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 29(30):2,4-6,11-13

Thanksgiving for Rescue from Death

Lord, I cried to you for help and you have healed me: I will thank you for ever.

Alleluia!

 

Lord, I will give you all praise, for you have rescued me

  and not let my foes triumph over me.

My Lord God, I cried to you

  and you healed me.

Lord, you led my soul out from the underworld,

  gave me life so that I would not sink into the abyss.

Sing to the Lord, his holy ones,

  and proclaim the truth of his holiness.

His anger lasts a moment,

  but his favour for a lifetime.

At night there are tears,

  but in the morning, joy.

Once I was secure. I said,

  “I will never be shaken.”

Lord, by your

favour you had given me strength, set me high;

but then you turned your face from me

  and I was shaken.

I cried to you, Lord,

  and prayed to my God.

“What use is my life,

  when I sink into decay?

Will dust proclaim you,

  or make known your faithfulness?”

The Lord heard and took pity on me.

  The Lord became my helper.

You have turned my weeping into dancing,

  torn off my sackcloth and clothed me in joy,

It is my glory to sing to you and never cease:

  Lord, my God, I will proclaim your goodness for ever.

Alleluia!

 

 

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15

The Lord Jesus Became Poor for Your Sake, to Make You Rich

You always have the most of everything – of faith, of eloquence, of understanding, of keenness for any cause, and the biggest share of our affection – so we expect you to put the most into this work of mercy too. Remember how generous the Lord Jesus was: he was rich, but he became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty. This does not mean that to give relief to others you ought to make things difficult for yourselves: it is a question of balancing what happens to be your surplus now against their present need, and one day they may have something to spare that will supply your own need. That is how we strike a balance: as scripture says: The man who gathered much had none too much, the man who gathered little did not go short.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 6:63,68

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life; you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Timothy 1:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death and he has proclaimed life through the Good News.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 5.21-43

Little Girl, I Tell You to Get Up

When Jesus had crossed in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered round him and he stayed by the lakeside. Then one of the synagogue officials came up, Jairus by name, and seeing him, fell at his feet and pleaded with him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is desperately sick. Do come and lay your hands on her to make her better and save her life.’ Jesus went with him and a large crowd followed him; they were pressing all round him.

  Now there was a woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years; after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she spent all she had without being any the better for it, in fact, she was getting worse. She had heard about Jesus, and she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his cloak. ‘If I can touch even his clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well again.’ And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint. Immediately aware that power had gone out from him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ His disciples said to him, ‘You see how the crowd is pressing round you and yet you say, “Who touched me?”’ But he continued to look all round to see who had done it. Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling because she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. ‘My daughter,’ he said ‘your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free from your complaint.’

  While he was still speaking some people arrived from the house of the synagogue official to say, ‘Your daughter is dead: why put the Master to any further trouble?’ But Jesus had overheard this remark of theirs and he said to the official, ‘Do not be afraid; only have faith.’ And he allowed no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. So they came to the official’s house and Jesus noticed all the commotion, with people weeping and wailing unrestrainedly. He went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and crying? The child is not dead, but asleep.’ But they laughed at him. So he turned them all out and, taking with him the child’s father and mother and his own companions, he went into the place where the child lay. And taking the child by the hand he said to her, ‘Talitha, kum!’ which means, ‘Little girl, I tell you to get up.’ The little girl got up at once and began to walk about, for she was twelve years old. At this they were overcome with astonishment, and he ordered them strictly not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.

 

A Homily – The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)