A reading from the gospel of Matthew 9:18-26

18 While Jesus was speaking, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.”
19 Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples.
20 A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak.
21 She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.”
22 Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, “Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.” And from that hour the woman was cured.
23 When Jesus arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion,
24 he said, “Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they ridiculed him.
25 When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose.
26 And news of this spread throughout all that land.

Reflection: We will all die but in Jesus, we will all live.

The gospel presents to us two miracle stories. The first miracle was the healing of a woman who suffered hemorrhage for 12 years. She was cured because of her faith in the power of Jesus.

The second miracle story started with an official who humbled himself before the Lord and obviously, he believed that Jesus can bring back to life his daughter who had just died. Jesus granted his petition but when the Lord said that the child was not dead but only asleep, people ridiculed Him.

If we were present during that particular moment, maybe we also ridiculed Him. Thanks to the Scripture, we now know that indeed Jesus revived the child, that is, the child died but through the power of God in Jesus, she was brought back to life.

The two miracles in the gospel tell us that nothing is impossible with Jesus. He is the Lord of the living and the dead. We believe that what he had done before can be done again. However, we can only humble ourselves to His will. We may have questions about deaths of some of our loved ones but we trust in His goodness. We continue to believe that His will is always for our good or for the good of His creation. We continue to hope that in due time, we will have the answers to our questions.

Like the woman who was healed after suffering for 12 years, we will have our own healing and the healing of this world in the proper time if we remain faithful to the very end.

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The woman with hemorrhage was cured after twelve long years. We can only imagine the pain she endured but we really appreciate her patience and perseverance for not losing hope. For those of use who experienced any kind of illness knew how difficult life could be but to suffer for twelve years? We can only sympathize with the woman yet we are amazed at her faith. Acute diseases can break us and make us bitter but the woman put her full faith in Jesus. We can assume that she has exhausted all her resources in looking for cure but she has not given up. Then she heard about Jesus. At last hope lingers around and indeed, Jesus did not disappoint. He granted her wish for healing!

Then there’s the official’s daughter. She was dead but the power of Jesus to bring back her life was not lost in the official’s consciousness. He just believed that the man named Jesus can restore her daughter’s life. He has to act now. He has to go and convince to come and do just that. Like in the case of the woman with hemorrhage, Jesus did not disappoint. He showed His mercy and power and miracle happened although people ridiculed Him.

The gospel reading above teaches us to put our full trust in Jesus for He is gracious and merciful. Like Him, let us do the right thing though some people ridicule us.