YOU HAVE RESTORED ME TO LIFE

XIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Mark 5:21-43

This Sunday’s gospel gives us a passage of Mark, in which he puts together two episodes that bring forth our fragility and mortality. We may become delusional with dreams of total victory over sickness and death. We have lived as if nothing is impossible to science, being sure that it will find soon a remedy for all sicknesses. However, the covid-19 pandemic has shuttered those false hopes. And the science we trust may be the same one that caused the pandemic. It is as if we were lost, suffering the consequences of a curse. We may remember the words of the prophet Jeremiah: 

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man

and makes flesh his strength,

whose heart turns away from the Lord.” (Jr 17,5). 

Faced with suffering and death, we may point to God, accusing him of being the source of all evil that we suffer. Why are we mortal? And if that is our fate, why do we have a profound desire for everlasting life? Why do we feel the pain of death and refuse to resign ourselves to it? These are difficult questions, which we go on asking, even though we do not find answers beyond those already found.

The book of Wisdom, reflecting on life and death, gives a clear answer:

“Death was not God’s doing,

he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living.” (Wis 1:13).

And then it adds:

“It was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world,

as those who are his partners will discover.” (Wis 2:24).

In the gospel, Jesus shows God’s compassion towards those who suffer. He is on the side of all those who feel trapped in the limitations of this earthly life. The woman “who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years” lived a hopeless life, as if she was already dead. Due to her condition, she would not have children, thus being considered cursed and impure. The girl who was twelve years old died in the prime of life, without being able to assume responsibility for her life or contribute to the wellbeing of her people. It is as if she had not lived. In such situations, we lose hope and everything becomes meaningless. Then, we must turn to Jesus and approach him with confidence. He is “the resurrection and the life” (Jn 11:25). Only with him we can overcome death and pass through the gate to eternal life.

We may sing with the psalmist:

“I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me

  and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead,

  restored me to life from those who sink into the grave.” (Psalm 30).