This coming Sunday is the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Lectionary Cycle B. During the two previous Sunday gospels we have heard accounts of Jesus’ miracles. First we encountered Jesus calming the stormy waters of the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-41) with his spoken command (literally: be muzzled).  The watery transit brought them into Gentile lands where Jesus casted out a legion of demons from a man – an encounter not used in a Sunday gospel. As the narrative continues into Mark chapter 5 Jesus and the disciples returned to Jewish land as they again crossed the Sea of Galilee, the literal and figurative boundary between Gentiles and Jews.

This brings us to the gospel for the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Mark 5:21-43). This gospel selection includes a miracle within a miracle – and like the two previous miracles are also a commentary on faith, people’s reactions to miracles, and a demonstration of Jesus’ power over that which corrupts human existence

• Raising Jairus’ daughter – “don’t be afraid, only believe” (Mk 5:21-24, 35-43)
• Healing the bleeding woman – saved by her faith (Mk 5:25-34)

In these miracles, Jesus exercises his power over nature (or the god/demon of chaos?), over the demonic army, over sickness, and over death.  The miracles demonstrate the divine powers evident in Jesus as he overcomes the life-destroying powers of demonic possession, chronic illness, and death. Jairus and the hemorrhaging woman sought Jesus’ help because they had faith in what they had heard about him. Their faith forms a striking contrast to the reception Jesus receives in his hometown. His ministry there begins as did his initial ministry in Capernaum. Jesus astonishes those gathered in the synagogue with his teaching and healing (vv. 1–2; Mark 1:21–28). Readers might expect an example of healing or exorcism to follow as in Capernaum, but it does not.

As Perkins [591-2] notes: “Jesus’ natural family were excluded from the circle of believers in an earlier episode (3:21, 31–35). That episode establishes the contrast between the Twelve, whom Jesus chose to be with him (3:14); the natural family of Jesus (3:21, 31); and the wider circle of Jesus’ followers, his new family, those who do the will of God (3:35). Jesus’ return to Nazareth, with members of his new family (the disciples; v. 1) raises the question left open in the earlier episode: Will those with familial and social ties to Jesus believe?”

In a similar way, the first major section of Mark (1:14-3:6) concludes with rejection by Pharisees and Herodians. They conspire together to destroy Jesus. Increasingly in Mark, those who reject Jesus are closer to him: First the Pharisees and Herodians, then the people of Jesus’ hometown. Finally, his own disciples will betray him, desert him, and deny him.

The rejection of Jesus at Nazareth presents a strong contrast to the two miracles that preceded it (5:21-43). The healed woman is told, “Daughter, your faith has made you well” (5:34). Jairus is told, “Do not fear, only believe” (5:36). However, the hometown people have no faith (apistia, v. 6 — also used in 9:24 — “I believe, help my unbelief”). Jesus is unable to do many works of power (dynamis — v. 5, also in v. 2) — although he does some. The relationship between faith and works of power is a key element of the encounter.

The surprising contrasts lie not so much in his town’s rejection of him (“A prophet is not without honor … ,” v. 4) as in his discouragement and ineffectiveness in their midst: “So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people.  He was amazed at their lack of faith” (vv. 5-6). Up to this point people have always been amazed and fearful in Jesus’ presence. Here Jesus is amazed at them and at the lack of faith he finds in Nazareth. Mark’s readers, no matter how familiar they are with Jesus, might well evaluate the depth of their faith in him in order to allow him to be as effective as he wants to be in their midst.

Domenico Ghirlandaio | Calling the Apostles | 1481 | Sistine Chapel, Vatican | PD-US