Monday of the 14th week in the ordinary time of the year A
Theme: Faith in practice
In the gospel reading of today, we are presented with two situations that showed faith in practice. The ruler who came to Jesus for him to bring his dead daughter to life, was a man of great faith. He did not allow the hopelessness of the situation, humanly speaking to stop him from reaching out to Jesus, because he believed that Jesus has the power to bring his daughter back to life. In the second scenario we see the woman suffering from heamorrhage for twelve years, believing that if she can touch the fringe of his garment she will be restored. The faith that is shown by both is worthy of emulation. They did not allow the situation in which they have found themselves to stop them from reaching out to Jesus, who they believed had the power to come to their aid.
The question today is, have you found yourself in a situation that is seen as a hopeless one, humanly speaking, what did you do? Did you act like both by going to God in faith, believing that he has the power to answer your prayers? At such moments, God will most likely respond to your plea, knowing fully well the amount of effort that was made in such a situation to reach out to him. It is not the best time to believe in what people are saying and lose faith in God, rather it is the time to trust in God and continue to do your best while you reach out to him in faith. I want you to know that at such moments God is very close to you, all you need to do is to reach out to him, just like they both did in the gospel reading of today.
Another thing that is worthy of note about their actions, is their humility in reaching out to Jesus. Remember that as a ruler, the man is a highly placed person in the society, he did not send his maids, he went to Jesus on his own. Some rulers would have sent their maids to Jesus, instead of going themselves. This type of humility is worthy of emulation by all of us as children of God. Also, the woman must have endured a lot of insults from the people, before he finally got the opportunity to touch the garment of Jesus. She did not allow all the obstacles she encountered to stop her from her goal to get to Jesus. This shows that in our worship of God, humility and persistence is very important, you don’t give up until you are able to get the attention of God.
Let us continue to trust in God and do our best in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Peace be with you.