In today’s gospel we encounter the well known stories of the Daughter of Jairus and the hemorrhaging woman. In the Gospel of Mark Jesus is closely involved with women nine times. Today’s gospel captures two of those interactions. with two of Jesus’ more moving encounters with women. Both stories begin with someone seeking out Jesus, the healer. Both stories end in the cure of a person who had been hopelessly sick. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time. It is very easy to simply note that Jesus cured Peter’s mother-in-law, be swept along in Mark’s breathless pace, and wonder if there is more to the story than meets the eye. Ched Myers (Binding the Strong Man: A Political reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus, 141) raises this question at the beginning of his comments on Mark 1:21-39:
These “miracle” stories raise important issues of interpretation. Is Jesus simply “curing” the physically sick and the mentally disturbed? If so, why would such a ministry of compassion raise the ire of the local authorities?
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