Many people are searching for a vision of life to guide them. The Norwegian painter Theodor Kittelsen painted a picture called ‘Sorrow’. Gray is the predominant colour. There is no sign of life. An endless distance is outlined. The grey landscape is blanketed in cold snow. The more you look at it, the more it becomes. The leaden sky portends bad weather. In the distance, the silhouette of a lone figure dressed in black can be seen. They have a shawl on their shoulders, which they are huddling into against the cold. They walk slowly and aimlessly. The figure is swallowed by the endless night. What is sorrow? A cry for love. What is loneliness? A difficult-to-express consequence of sorrow.
Today’s Gospel reading tells the story of the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter. The story portrays Jairus’s grief as a father. Jairus, the synagogue leader, comes to Jesus in person and asks him to heal his child. We should not overlook another miracle that transpires along the way. The touch of Jesus’ clothes healed a woman who was bleeding. This event is a unique miracle in that Jesus does not meet the woman face-to-face, make a gesture, or say anything. He makes no gesture or says a word. The woman’s touch is a kind of ‘self-service’ faith. Jesus felt power go out from him and therefore reacted: ‘Who touched me?’ (Mk 5:31b). The trembling woman confesses, and Jesus praises her faith, confirming her deliverance from the infirmity.
Honored Christ, we see that Jesus does not object to our ‘touching’ him with our faith in his help and healing. We can approach him face-to-face in the crowd with our problems and pains, and he will respond touchingly. After all, we do not go to an empty nothingness but to a living, good God. We cry out to you, Lord, and through Christ we too can walk the path of life towards a specific goal: eternal love. We reach out to him in the midst of our troubles and sufferings. After all, man does not go to an empty nothingness but to a living, good God. I have followed your voice, Lord, we cry out… through Christ we too can walk the path of life to a specific goal—to eternal love.
Writer Johann Falkenberg tells the story of a poor miner who raised a large family. When he died, they mourned him greatly. On the pavement outside. They went to the mountain, broke rocks, and placed flat stones around his footprints so that other people’s feet would not tread on the places where their father had walked. In this way, they also honored their father’s memory.
You should approach Jesus with full trust and try to touch him. Let us follow in his footsteps and accompany him into eternity.
Hello. And Bye.