DAILY GRACE
July 6, 2020, Monday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Scripture: Matthew 9:18-26
While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’ And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’ Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, ‘Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Meditation
“. . . the girl is not dead but sleeping.”
Today’s Gospel follows upon the words of Jesus: “No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunk cloth. . . . People do not pour new wine into old wineskins. . . Rather pour your new wine into fresh wineskins” (Mt. 9:16-17).
Four times into today’s Gospel, the new wine bursts out of the old skins to bestow life and joy. First, the official, a grieving father, approaches this unorthodox rabbi. The Greek word used to denote his status means that he was a principal official, a representative of the ideal Jew, an establisher of order in the synagogue (a rough parallel today would be the pastor of a congregation). Yet he doesn’t seem to care that he will be associated with this man whom the Pharisees are already considering with caution, even disdain.
Second, Jesus gets up immediately to go with the ruler to see his daughter who has died, even though touching a dead person would make Jesus unclean for seven days and require a ritual of purification
Third, Jesus allows himself to be touched by a woman who has been rendered unclean for twelve years due to her hemorrhaging. Surely she knows the position she is putting Jesus in by touching the hem of garment. Jesus regards her bold faith with the vision of his face and the assurance of his words that her faith has healed her.
Fourth, when Jesus arrives at the ruler’s house, he tells the wailing women and flute players to go away because the girl is not dead. The father trusts Jesus’ word and puts them out of the room. Jesus takes the girl by the hand and raises her. Ultimately this is the boldest and most joyous proclamation of all. Death has been destroyed by the new wine, by Jesus, the Son of God and Savior of the world.
Matthew, the evangelist, wants us to understand that nothing can stand in the way of Jesus’ love. Jesus’ pours out on humanity and each human soul the wine of his blood, which was pressed on the wine-press of the cross to destroy sin and death forever.
Prayer
Lord, every time I receive your body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, I too am touching the hem of your garment. You are coming to my house; you are raising what is dead in me to life. Give me the vision of your face, the joy of the official as he received his daughter back into his arms again.
Contemplation
The new wine.