Reading I: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
The controlling reading, as usual the Gospel, is the raising of
Jairus’ daughter, with its proclamation of Christ as victor
over death. The reading from Wisdom provides the Old Testament
presuppositions for this victory (Protestants can be assured that
although this reading comes from one of the “apocryphal”
books, the doctrine it asserts is an interpretation of
Genesis 1-3, consonant with Paul’s
teaching).
The world as God created it was essentially good (Wisdom 1:14; see
Genesis 1). Humans, in particular, were
created to be immortal (Gen 3
contrariwise seems to assume that they were created mortal), but
Wisdom deduces from the fact of their creation in God’s image
(Genesis 1:26) that they were created
immortal, and Paul seems to share this
assumption when he speaks of death, as does the last phrase in
Wisdom 1:14 here, as an alien intruder into the world, consequent
upon sin (Romans 5:12).
Finally,
Wisdom 2:24
equates the serpent in
Genesis 3
with the devil. This is the first known instance of this
identification, which is found also in the New Testament, including
Paul (see
2 Corinthians 11:3), though not
mentioned in
Romans 5.
The doctrine of this passage appears at first sight to conflict with
the self-evident truth that death is a biological fact. It is
arguable, however, from the connection of immortality with
righteousness (see
Wisdom 1:15), that the author is speaking
of moral and spiritual death, as
Paul undoubtedly does in
Romans 5.
In that case, biological death has more than a merely physical
meaning; it is the ultimate sign of human beings’ alienation
from God. It is the “sacrament of sin” (P. Althaus). It
is death in this sense—not physical death per se, as
Christians still have to die—that Christ overcomes by his death on
the cross.
Responsorial
Psalm: 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13
According to its title, this psalm was originally associated with
the restoration of the temple in the time of the Maccabees in 164
B.C. In that case, the original reference to “death”
would be the catastrophes of the desecration of the temple by
Antiochus Epiphanes and the Jewish war of independence. It thus
becomes a psalm of national thanksgiving. Here, however, it is a
psalm celebrating Christ’s victory over death, as adumbrated
in the Gospel reading.
Reading II: 2
Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
As usual, the second reading has no direct connection with the other
readings but simply appears in course.
2 Corinthians 8
is concerned entirely with Paul’s collection for the Jerusalem
church. He had undertaken to raise this money several years
previously at the apostolic conference (Galatians 2) and had faithfully carried out his side of the agreement.
Accordingly, he had proposed to the Corinthian converts that they
take part in the collection and suggested how it could be organized
(1 Cor 16:1-4).
Meanwhile, however, the great crisis in the relations between Paul
and the Corinthians had supervened, the result of the appearance of
the false prophets in Corinth. In the ensuing fray (involving a
sudden and disastrous visit to Corinth by Paul), the severe letter,
identified by many with
2 Corinthians 10-13, a visit by
Titus, the Corinthian volte-face, and the
writing of the letter of thanksgiving (2
Cor 1:1–2:13;
7:5-16), the collection had been
forgotten.
Now that the crisis is over, Paul can return to the subject (2 Cor 8
and
9, thought by some to be two
separate communications on the
subject). In the course of this correspondence, Paul musters every
argument he can think of to encourage the Corinthians to proceed
with their fund-raising drive.
The strongest motivation for Christian giving is specified in
2 Corinthians 8:9—gratitude for the
riches Christ has brought through his
self-emptying in the incarnation (for the doctrine, see
Philippians 2:6-11).
Gospel: Mark 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43
It is characteristic of Mark’s Gospel for one pericope to be
inserted in the middle of another. Here the story of the woman with
the hemorrhage is inserted into the narrative of the raising of
Jairus’ daughter. It is disputed whether this insertion is due
to the evangelist’s redaction or whether it came to him in
this form from the tradition.
The older form critics took the latter view, supposing that the
insertion was a device to explain the delay between the arrival of
the messenger from Jairus and Jesus’ arrival at the house, a
delay that meant that the little girl was dead by that time.
Later redaction critics are inclined to see in the insertion an
attempt by the evangelist to allow one miracle to interpret the
other.
The healing of the woman with the hemorrhage is interpreted as an
act of salvation (Mk 5:28, 34); so also is
the raising of Jairus’ daughter. Each is
therefore a prefigurement of Christ’s salvation from death.
The shorter reading simply omits the insert.
We first offer a reconstruction of the history of the tradition of
the two stories. On the historical level, we may suppose that Jesus
healed the daughter of Jairus from a critical but not fatal illness
(Mk 5:23). In the tradition the narrative
was then modeled on the raisings
by Elijah and Elisha and served to proclaim Jesus as the
eschatological prophet. The background of this story seems to be
thoroughly Palestinian.
The story of the woman with the hemorrhage, on the other hand, seems
to be more Hellenistic. The woman’s action in touching the
healer’s garment suggests that she thought of Jesus as
theios aner (“divine man”). This aspect is
enhanced by Luke, who adds that Jesus knew that power
(dynamis) had gone out of him when the woman touched
him.
Mark seeks to correct this notion by transforming the woman’s
superstitious act into an expression of faith, and the whole episode
into a personal encounter with the Savior.
In addition, by combining the two episodes Mark inserts at the end
of the raising his motif of the messianic secret (Mk 5:43a). From a historical point of view, the command to keep silent
about the raising would be absurd, but as a theological device it
makes sense.
What Mark is saying is that the true significance of the act of
raising is not yet apparent. It is only at the resurrection that the
veil of secrecy over Jesus will be lifted (see
Mk 9:9), and therefore it is only then that
Jesus will be seen as victor
over death.
The raising of the little girl is not itself Jesus’ victory
over death (the girl had to die sometime, and certainly did). It was
only a parable or prefiguration of the act by which Jesus overcame
death in its existential sense. The healing of the woman with the
hemorrhage prefigures Christ’s death as a cleansing from sin.
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Preaching the Lectionary: The Word of God for the Church Today Reginald H. Fuller and Daniel Westberg. Liturgical Press. 1984. (Revised Edition). |
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