For, both the woman and Jairus from our Gospel knew this, because when they came before Jesus with faith everything in their lives immediately changed.
In fact, many people were touching and, perhaps, even accidentally bumped into Jesus’ cloak, of which His disciples reminded Him, but none of them touched that cloak with the hands of faith, none of them approached it with the hope of healing and the belief that only God could make what was desperately needed a reality. In fact, all this woman did was say: “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” And by merely reaching out and touching His cloak, as she knew and believed, she was immediately healed.
In a similar way, Jairus knew that all Jesus had to do was lay hands on his daughter for her to get well, and even when Jairus’ daughter had died, Jesus did not weep nor did He even seem concerned, all He did was tell Jairus “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”
Perhaps, knowing that if his faith was shaken, his daughter may not have been raised, reassuring him, that no matter what, he is never to stop believing, no matter how difficult it may be, no matter how unrealistic it may seem he is never to let fear replace his confidence in God.
That is why with two simple and beautiful words, “Talitha Koum” He does the same thing with this little girl as He did with Lazarus, He raises her from the dead, for though Jesus could have done it alone, it was the faith of those around Him that made the seemingly impossible possible right before their eyes.
Perhaps, it is not something we think about too much or even might take for granted, but faith is a powerful virtue, because with faith we start to see as God does, and we see those things in our lives that are overwhelming that are difficult and come to realize that to God, they are small and, therefore, with Him anything can be accomplished.
Yet, as Jesus reminds, the biggest obstacle we face is our fear, fear that we are believing in fairy tales, fear that we are believing irrationally, that we are believing the impossible, for how can a seeming piece of bread truly change our lives? Or, how can words in an ancient book still have such authority and power? Or how can words spoken by a priest absolve, consecrate, console or heal? In short, how can our belief in God truly affect anything in this world?
Yet, just imagine for a moment what would truly be possible if all of us had the same faith as those in our Gospel today, the miracles, the conversions, the healings, the truly endless possibilities that would exist in our world and in our lives.
Perhaps it may sound a little idealistic, but if we read the bible with a sense of wonder, astonishment, and amazement, if we approach it in simplicity and with simple faith, the faith of a child that we hear so often, we too will start to believe and Jesus tells us what is possible, we will ignore the taunts and laughs of those who do not believe and we will be able to do extraordinary things, perhaps, not raise the dead, but then again, you never know.
It was St. Josemaria Escriva who puts it well, he says:
“I'm not one for miracles. I have told you that in the holy Gospel I can find more than enough to confirm my faith. — But I can't help pitying those Christians — pious people, 'apostles' many of them — who smile at the idea of extraordinary ways, of supernatural events. I feel the urge to tell them: Yes, this is still the age of miracles: we too would work them if we had faith!”
Therefore, then, let us listen and heed Christ’s command to us today: “Do not be afraid; just have faith. ”
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