Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 98

 

God did not make death,
    nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being;
    and the creatures of the world are wholesome...

 

The great Philosopher Spinoza observed that every being endeavors to persist in itself, and this endeavor is its actual essence, and implies indefinite time. Nothing wants to stop being. Even wounded animals try to escape those who would put them out of their misery.

Nonetheless, Jesus ben Sirach’s remark -- “God did not make death.” -- sounds strange to our ears. Surely, the Sage had observed the aging of people, animals, and trees and knew that all creatures die.

I believe it was the same Spinoza who noted that no one imagines himself dead. We might accept the demonstrable fact that all creatures die but, nonetheless, “I don’t expect to die.” Someone asked a journalist in Russia whether Putin is grooming his successor. They replied, “He doesn’t plan to die.”

Sirach’s teaching, then, comes as a spiritual truth rather than a biological theory, “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.”

Unfortunately, we see people dying by their own choices. Many are swept away by a culture of Darwinian competition which generates loneliness, loss of spirit, addictions, poor self-care, suicide, and death. Often we grieve friends and acquaintances and say, "It didn’t have to end this way."

For he fashioned all things that they might have being;
    and the creatures of the world are wholesome,

In today’s gospel we encounter Jesus’s passionate love for women. He willingly risks the contempt of strangers, who laughed at him when he declared the child is not dead; and of his disciples, who questioned his judgement (“You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’)

Doing the Father’s will, he must restore these women to full and wholesome life, both the elderly woman and the little girl. In so doing he returns them to family, community, and synagogue. For without the affectionate support of others, human life atrophies.

Jesus explains the mystery of his life and death to us in John 15: 10-11 --

"If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete."

We know his joy as we eat his body and drink his blood. That is, as we go with him to Calvary, and follow him through death to life. 

Biblical scholars tell us that every story in the Gospel of Saint Mark displays the mysteries of his life, death, and resurrection. In today's stories we see that his life is one of willingness, generosity, and profound joy. When Jairus and the ailing woman approach him he immediately drops whatever plans he had to address their need. His only agenda is to do the Father's will and the Spirit says, "Go!" he goes, and when the Spirit says, "Do this!" he does it. 

His death is represented by the skepticism of the disciples and the mockery of the crowd. His resurrection appears in the healing of the woman and the resuscitation of the child, along with the restoration of Jairus's family. His resurrection, in other words, is our joyful communion.  

If our endeavor to persist is our essence, we need the Lord to give his all for us. We face an existential crisis without him. Seeing that he has done just that, we must reply in kind.