For Sunday
Proper 5A
Collect
O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Reading
Reflection
This week: three stories at once.
In the first, Jesus calls a new disciple, Matthew. And he brings him to salaciously dine with outsiders: people with whom observant Hebrews are forbidden to do exactly that. And so, of course, the Pharisees have a problem with this.
The second half of the reading offers two stories intertwined: one about a girl who has died and the other about a woman who is stricken with hemorrhages.
We might be tempted to focus on one half or the other. And often, this is good advice. But it can also be useful to consider how it all goes together. Especially given the wider story.
We see Jesus transgressing the purity rules by eating with people he isn’t supposed to. He heals someone no else can heal. And then he raises a child from the dead. Outside this reading, there are further examples of transgressions.
We often see these moments as miraculous. And they are. We also see the level of suffering behind them: the people rejected, the pain of affliction and of grief.
What we may miss is the human relationship to the suffering. Which is also something we overlook in our lives. Women are frequently refused interventions by doctors and treated like the pain must be in their heads. A reaction which triples when the patient is a black woman.
People don’t just come to Jesus because they believe he can help them. People come to him because other people aren’t helping them. So Jesus brought Matthew (and us) in to show us who we are called to help. Not just where the need is. But also how we alone may be suited to helping them. Even by virtue of noticing.