MP: Psalms 107:33-43, 108:1-6(7-13); Ezekiel 36:22-27; Ephesians 6:10-24; Matthew 9:18-26EP: Psalm 33; Exodus 19:3-8a,16-20; 1Peter 2:4-10
Today is the last day of Eastertide. We enter Pentecost tomorrow with the bestowal of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. What a wonderful Gospel we are given for this last day of the Easter season: Jesus responding to one of his critics who is in need because of his dead daughter; and Jesus healing the woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years. She touched the hem of his cloak and he felt it and turned to her saying it was her faith that made her well.
Of course the 12 years of hemorrhages could (and probably are) a metaphor for the 12 tribes of Israel who themselves were hemorrhaging from their disbelief. And she was healed in an unexpected way. Just as the daughter of the synagogue's leader was likewise healed in an unexpected way. That's the thing: unexpected healing. The gift of a new life in which unexpected things happen. Isn't that what the Holy Spirit does for us? Heals, gives new life and with new life come unexpected things, surprising things, undreamed of things which we cannot and should not take for granted. We can be healed of all sorts of heartaches and physical ailments: but just not in the way we want them done. Those healings are God's to provide, we need just to recognize them in all their unexpectedness.
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Copyright 2008, John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved
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