Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

Gospel: Mark 5:21-43
Jesus then crossed to the other side of the lake; and while he was still on the shore, a large crowd gathered around him. Jairus, an official of the synagogue, came up and, seeing Jesus, threw himself at his feet; and begged him earnestly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may get well and live.” Jesus went with him, and many people followed, pressing around him. Among the crowd was a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a lot at the hands of many doctors and had spent everything she had, but instead of getting better, she was worse.

Because she had heard about Jesus, this woman came up behind him and touched his cloak, thinking, “If I just touch his clothing, I shall get well.” Her flow of blood dried up at once, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her complaint. But Jesus was conscious that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd, and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” His disciples answered, “You see how the people are crowding around you. Why do you ask who touched you?” But he kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, aware of what had happened, came forward, trembling and afraid. She knelt before him, and told him the whole truth.Then Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be free of this illness.”While Jesus was still speaking, some people arrived from the official’s house to inform him, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Master any further?” But Jesus ignored what they said, and told the official, “Do not fear, just believe.” And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.When they arrived at the house, Jesus saw a great commotion, with people weeping and wailing loudly. Jesus entered, and said to them, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.” They laughed at him. So Jesus sent them outside, and went with the child’s father and mother and his companions into the room, where the child lay. Taking her by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha kumi!” which means, “Little girl, get up!” The girl got up at once and began to walk around. (She was twelve years old.) The parents were amazed, greatly amazed. Jesus strictly ordered not to let anyone know about it; and he told them to give her something to eat.

Reflections
“It is your faith that has made you well.”
Mark often drives home a les­son by inserting one story within another. Here the healing of a lit­tle girl is interrupted by the ac­count of Jesus healing a woman who had suffered for twelve years (the same age as the child) from a flow of blood. In a revea­ling comment, we learn that Jesus felt that healing power had gone from him. Apparently this power had been activated by the simple faith of a poor sick woman, who had sought to touch his garment. In step­ping forward, the woman might have braced herself against the crowd’s revulsion. Her condi­tion would have rendered her unclean. Her very touch had the power of defilement. Yet she had dared to touch Jesus’ garments, trusting that the power of Jesus was at the service of love, not judgment. And in touching his garment she immediately felt herself to be healed. Christ was present in that crowd in all his love and power. But it was a poor, frightened, un­touchable woman whose faith recognized that power, awakened it with a touch, and brought it into full view. “Daughter,” Jesus said, “it is your faith that has made you well.” Then he goes on to heal another daughter.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Mark 5:1-20*
(…) No sooner did Jesus leave the boat than he was met by a man with evil spirits, who had come from the tombs. The man lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him, even with a chain. He had often been bound with fetters and chains; but he would pull the chains apart and smash the fetters; and no one had the strength to control him. Night and day he stayed among the tombs on the hillsides, and was continually screaming, and beating himself with stones.When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell at his feet, and cried with a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? For God’s sake, I beg you, do not torment me!”

He said this, because Jesus had commanded, “Evil spirit, come out of the man!” When Jesus asked the evil spirit, “What is your name?” it replied, “Legion is my name, for we are many.” And it kept begging, the herd rushed down the cliff; and all were drowned in the lake. The herdsmen fled, and reported this in the town and in the countryside. So all the people came to see what had happened.They came to Jesus, and saw the man freed of the evil spirits, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind; the same man who had been possessed by the legion. They were afraid. And when those who had seen it, told what had happened to the man and to the pigs, the people begged Jesus to leave their neighborhood. When Jesus was getting into the boat, the man, who had been possessed, begged to stay with him. Jesus would not let him, and said, “Go home to your people, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” (…)

Reflections
“Evil spirit, come out of the man!”
This gospel story overflows with vivid, symbolically charged details. A man possessed by an evil spirit now lives among the tombs. It suggests a man afflicted by his own conscious­ness of sin, living as one already dead. Though he punishes him­ self with stones, his own deep­ seated sins recoil in terror in the presence of Jesus; from the point of view of this “old man,” the call to conversion, though it is offer­ ing a passage back to life, is also the summons to a kind of death. The story takes another turn, when the evil spirits call them­selves “Legion”—the name for a large unit of Roman soldiers. In the context of first­ century Palestine, this allusion to Roman occupation adds an element of subversion. Altogether it is a story of disruption and conflict—a con­frontation between the power of Jesus and the forces of cap­tivity, whether in the life of one sinner, or in the wider society. In either case, Jesus takes on the forces of death and deadness, drives them out, and leaves be­ hind a man brought to new life, “clothed and in his right mind,” charged to proclaim the terri­fying mercy of the Lord.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 4:21-30
Then he said to them, “Today, these pro­phetic words come true, even as you listen.” All agreed with him, and were lost in wonder, while he spoke of the grace of God. Nevertheless they asked, “Who is this but Joseph’s Son?” So he said, “Doubtless you will quote me the saying: Doctor, heal yourself! Do here, in your town, what they say you did in Capernaum.” Jesus added, “No prophet is honored in his own country. Truly, I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens withheld rain for three years and six months and a great famine came over the whole land.

Yet, Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in the country of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet; and no one was healed except Naaman, the Syrian.”On hearing these words, the whole as­sembly became indignant. They rose up and brought him out of the town, to the edge of the hill on which Nazareth is built, intending to throw him down the cliff. But he passed through their midst and went his way.

Lectio Divina
READ: God fortifies Je­remiah for the message he must deliver. St. Paul reminds us that no matter what our mission or message, it must be rooted in love. Even if it is, as Jesus discovers in his hometown, there is no guarantee that the message will be well­ received!
REFLECT: Whatever we do or say in service of the Lord, what truly matters is the love that inspires us. Whether we are teachers, preachers, prophets, or even martyrs, our words and deeds mean nothing if they are rooted in anything other than love. Have we ever encountered a teacher without love? A preacher without love? A prophet who delights in denouncing evil but has no spirit of love? What of our­selves? Let us go back to Paul and reflect on the qualities of love.
PRAY: Lord, grant us faith and hope, but above all else, help us to love.
ACT: Think of three argu­ments or disputes in which you were sure you were right. Did you express yourself with love? If so, or if not, how did that affect the outcome?

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 2:22-40 (or Luke 2:22-32)
When the day came for the purification according to the law of Moses, they brought the baby up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord: Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God. And they offered a sacrifice, as ordered in the law of the Lord: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.There lived in Jerusalem, at this time, a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel; and he had been assured, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord.

So, he was led into the temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law. Simeon took the child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Now, O Lord, you can dismiss your servant in peace, for you have fulfilled your word and my eyes have seen your salvation, which you display for all the people to see. Here is the light you will reveal to the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.” His father and mother wondered at what was said about the child. Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, “Know this: your son is a sign; a sign established for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul, so that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.” There was also a prophetess named Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. After leaving her father’s home, she had been seven years with her husband; and since then, she had been continually about the temple,serving God, as a widow, night and day, in fasting and prayer. She was now eighty­-four. Coming up at that time, she gave praise to God, and spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem. When the parents had fulfilled all that was required by the law of the Lord, they returned to their town, Nazareth in Galilee. There, the child grew in stature and strength, and was filled with wisdom: the grace of God was upon him.

Reflections
“Now, O Lord, you can dismiss your servant in peace"
Mary and Joseph brought their infant Jesus to be consecrated to God in the temple in Jerusalem. Because they were poor folk they offered only two pigeons as a blood sacrifice. Yet two witnesses saw something different. The old man Simeon, who had been as­sured that he would not die before seeing the Messiah, took the child in his arms and delivered a pro­phetic discourse. The other wit­ness is a“prophetess”named Anna who had hung around the Temple anxiously awaiting some sign of Israel’s Redeemer. Although no words are attributed to Anna, there is a similar sense of fulfill­ment in her story. Beyond Jesus’ immediate family, she is the first woman to be granted such insight into the divine mystery concealed in these humble beginnings. And she is the first to proclaim this good news to those like herself— poor and of no account—who live by faith and wait in hope.We may not see the fulfillment of all God’s promises in our life­ time—a world at peace, conflict resolved, humanity no longer in conflict with the earth. But each small victory is a down­payment on that day. Those who live in faith and hope must remember to celebrate such small victories.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019