Tuesday of week 4 in Ordinary Time
Hebrews 12:1-4
With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right of God’s throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition from sinners and then you will not give up for want of courage. In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of death.
Psalm 21(22):26-28,30-32 They shall praise you, Lord, those who seek you.
Mark 5:21-43
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.
Reflection:
Jairus, a synagogue leader, approaches Jesus with an urgent request: his daughter is dying. Jesus agrees to go, but on the way, He is interrupted by the woman suffering from hemorrhages. This delay must have been agonizing for Jairus, and indeed, during this interruption, his daughter dies.
This moment highlights a radical shift in how we understand divine timing. Jairus comes from a structured, religious background, accustomed to orderly processes—he asks, he waits, and he hopes Jesus will arrive in time. The hemorrhaging woman, however, takes matters into her own hands. Instead of waiting for Jesus to notice her, she interrupts the movement of grace by actively reaching out to touch His cloak.
This dynamic suggests that faith is not just about waiting on God’s timing but also about daring to interrupt it—to step into grace boldly, even when we feel unworthy or invisible. While Jairus represents a faith that waits, the woman embodies a faith that seizes the moment. Yet, Jesus honors both.
And here’s the real twist: the woman’s interruption doesn’t actually derail Jairus’ hope. Instead, it expands it. What was once a request for healing turns into an experience of resurrection. Sometimes, what feels like a delay in our lives is actually an invitation to a deeper, more profound encounter with Christ.
This challenges us: Are we passively waiting for God to act, or are we willing to “interrupt” grace, to reach out and claim healing, even in the chaos of life?