WITH GOD, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

 

A Reflection for the 13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Readings: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24, 2 Corinthians 8.7.9.13-15, Mark 5:21-43

 

One of the truths about God that we find in the pages of the Scriptures is that “nothing is impossible with God.” In the Old Testament, God, while speaking to prophet Jeremiah said: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).  In another place, Jeremiah himself affirms that nothing indeed is too hard for God (Jeremiah 32:17). In the New Testament, we find the same statement made about God by Angel Gabriel when the former visited Mary to announce to her that she would be the Mother of the Savior (Luke 1:37). We find it even repeated by Jesus himself both in the parable of the Rich Young Man (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27).

Another place we find it though not mentioned but practically demonstrated is in the gospel account of this thirteenth Sunday. With the seemingly impossible cases of the healings of the woman that had had a flow of blood for twelve years and the raising of the daughter of Jairus from the dead, Jesus demonstrated to us that with God, all things are possible. God can do all things for us. However, all things are possible (only) for the one who believes (Mark 9:23). Strong faith in God is needed for impossibilities to be done for us.

St. Mark tells us that what made the case of the woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage more complicated is not just because she had borne the flow of blood for twelve long years but because she had also suffered grievously in the hands of many doctors and had spent everything she had, but instead of getting better, she grew only worse (Mark 5:25-26). The doctors had milked her dry while offering her false hope of recovery even when they knew that her case was beyond their medical expertise. In our time, we still have health workers who take advantage of the health conditions of patients. A clear example is when a patient is brought to a certain clinic. The doctor there knows that the patient’s situation is not what he/she can handle but instead of referring the patient to a better-qualified hospital, the doctor will decide to admit the patient in order to get some money from them only to refer the patient to another hospital when the patient’s situation has greatly worsened. Health workers who make money at the expense of their patient’s life are betraying the ethics of medical profession.

In our time, it is not only the health workers that manipulate the suffering. If it were in our time, the woman would have visited countless number of miracle centers in search of healing. We have today, men and women of God who approach ministry from the vantage point of profit-making. Like the woman who had suffered a lot in the hand of doctors, many people have also suffered in the hand of men and women of God that they run to in times of great need and distress. Even when they do not have solutions to people’s problems, they offer them fake prophecies and make them pay through their noses while not providing solutions to their problems.

Having waited for a long time and also exhausted all her possible means, the woman must have lost all hope of getting healing. However, when she heard about Jesus, she believed that touching even the fringe of his cloak would bring her the healing she had long longed for. Her faith in Jesus brought her the healing (Mark 5:27-29). It is the same with Jairus. Even when the servants came and told him not to bother Jesus any longer that her daughter had already died, he still did not give up. He believed that Jesus had the power not simply to heal his daughter but to also raise her from the dead (Mark 5:35-36).

Many of us have been suffering for a long time. We have been to different places and spent a whole lot of money yet with no solution in sight. Maybe the doctors have told us that our cases are incurable and we are already at the verge of giving up. The stories of the raising of the twelve year-old daughter of Jairus and the healing of the woman who had suffered from a flow of blood for twelve years challenge us never to lose faith in God; that no matter how grave our situations are, God can still rescue us. God wants the best for us as we read in the first reading (Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24) and can do all things for us only if we have faith that is strong enough. With God, impossibility does not exist. May the Lord bless us on this day and may He grant increase to our faith. Amen.