Breath of the Spirit

Pastoral, Liturgical, Teaching, and Social Justice Moments brought to you by DignityUSA.

Breath of the Spirit is our electronic spiritual and liturgical resource for our members and potential members. Nothing can replace your chapter or other faith community but we hope you will find further support here for integrating your spirituality with your sexuality and all the strands of your life.

In every situation, our relationships should always be life-giving, both to us and those with whom we relate.

JUNE 28TH, 2015: THIRTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Readings:

Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
II Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
Mark 5:21-43

Today’s Wisdom pericope is one of the most important in Scripture. Among other things, it answers a question which has bugged scholars for centuries: what triggered Pharisees, about a hundred years before the birth of Jesus, to start believing in an afterlife?

Until recently, most experts believed that some Jews had simply read the works of the classic Greek philosophers, thinkers like Aristotle, Socrates and Plato, who presumed, because we had an immaterial soul, that our lives would continue even after our physical deaths. The only problem was there was no “smoking gun.”  No one could track down who exactly read whom, and when.

Then recently, those scholars who, like the late Roland Murphy, specialized in “wisdom literature” began to understand the answer had been right in front of them all along. It was in one verse of today’s first reading: “justice is undying.”

The Hebrew word employed here for justice (or “righteousness”) refers to the relationship individuals have with Yahweh and the people around them. Though all Jews agreed Yahweh is immortal, Pharisees went one step further. They reasoned that if you enter into a relationship with the never-dying Yahweh, and Yahweh decides to maintain that relationship, then you also will never die.

The big question is, “How does one know one has the kind of relationship with Yahweh which guarantees eternal life?” Jesus answered that by having his followers focus on their relationship with others. Paul, for instance, asks the Corinthian church to imitate Jesus by focusing on the needs of those around them. Just as he, “for your sake became poor . . .  so your abidance at the present time should supply” the necessities for the poor in your midst. As always, the Apostle’s goal is to create “equality” in those who are committed to integrating Jesus’ dying and rising into their daily lives.

In today’s gospel selection, Mark tells his readers that other Christs should demonstrate their dedication to justice not only by eradicating as much physical death as possible, but also by improving the quality of life for anyone suffering from illness or chronic pain.

Those familiar with Mark will immediately recognize the literary device he often uses to show a passage of time. He’ll start a story, interrupt it with another story, then return to the original. In this case, it’s going to take time for Jesus to get to Jarius’ home, so, on the way, the evangelist has Jesus encounter a woman suffering from uterine bleeding. After she’s cured of her malady, we return to the Jarius narrative.

Every time Mark uses this device, he gives us stories which have common elements. Both narratives today, for instance, have to do with women, both share the number 12, and most important, each focuses on faith. Though many people were “pressing upon” Jesus on the road to Jarius’ house, only one touches him with faith; a faith which eventually “saves” her. In a parallel way, when told of the girl’s death, Jesus encourages her father, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” Only because of Jarius’ faith is Jesus able to resuscitate her.

In dealing with justice, our Christian biblical authors encourage their readers not only to have faith in their relationship with the risen Jesus among them, but also to have faith in their relationships with those they encounter in their everyday lives. We’re simply expected to keep relating.

In every situation, our relationships should always be life-giving, both to us and those with whom we relate. The life we develop by being just with others, is the one element which guarantees we’ll always experience life, even into eternity.