Homily For Monday Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time Year A, 10th July, 2023

Readings: Gen. 28:10-22 , PS 91, Matt 9:18-26

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 

LEARN TO PUT YOUR FAITH IN GOD INTO POSITIVE ACTION

 

Today we are presented with the story of the faith of a woman with a hemorrhage set inside the story of a little girl who died and the father in faith came to Jesus for help. However, Mark 5:21-43 and Luke 8:40-56 tell the story in greater detail. In Mark and Luke, the woman with the hemorrhage interrupts Jesus’ journey to the home of a child who might die before he arrives, creating an urgency that is not present in Matthew’s account. In Matthew’s account, the girl is already dead, so there is no hurry.

 

Here, the father confesses a resurrection faith, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” The father believes that even Jesus’ slightest touch will restore life to his daughter likewise the woman with a hemorrhage. The stories of the little girl and the woman have interesting similarities: Both are called “daughter” (9:18, 22). Both are restored in the presence of people (the woman and the father) who seek Jesus’ help. The woman has been ill for twelve years, and the little girl is twelve years old. Both the woman and the little girl have been cut off from normal society by their physical condition.

 

 But there are also differences between the stories. The father is a man of high standing in the community, and the woman is unclean an outcast. The man approaches Jesus boldly, and the woman approaches him timidly. The girl was raised based on the father’s radical faith, the woman was restored through her own faith for she was very sure that the very moment she touched the Lord’s cloak all her troubles were ended, for her body was made whole again.

 

This woman actually represents the sinful humanity in need of God’s mercy, salvation and restoration. Her bleeding signifies the iniquity of all humanity who are defiled by the constant shading of innocent blood through violent, wars and abortions, thereby unworthy of God’s presence. Her reaching out to touch Jesus and her restoration signifies the effort each one of us needs to make to reach out to God in order to be restored. And finally the willingness of Jesus to heal all of us just as he had healed the woman from all of her troubles. But this requires that we radically put our faith into action. 

 

Thus, this passage simply tells us to have faith in God no matter the circumstances we find ourselves, for faith is the only way to get to God in prayers. Just like Jacob who prayed in our first reading today saying: ‘If God goes with me and keeps me safe on this journey I am making, if he gives me bread to eat and clothes to wear, and if I return home safely to my father, then the Lord shall be my God. This stone I have set up as a monument shall be a house of God.

 

Dear friends, today we are made to know that, it is not enough to have faith, we must radically put our faith into action no matter the circumstances we find ourselves. For it is through active faith that we can reach out to God in prayers and so obtain what we desired. Therefore, having faith in the Lord is very necessary in order  to obtain God’s restoration.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we thank you for the gift of faith, give us the grace and courage to put our gift of faith into positive action that yields positive results. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.  Do have a fruitful week ahead.