Care for the Powerless

Gospel: Mark 5: 21-43

The example of Jesus compels us to care for the needs of the powerless and weakest members of society.  Today's Gospel reading presents us with two such examples.  In the first encounter, Jesus heals an unnamed woman who was suffering from a condition unique to women, significant in itself.  Jesus was mocked for this encounter, the crowd being more concerned with the man of status and power.  But Jesus stops to care for this woman.  

We might well think that care of this little girl was for a man of position and power, which is true of the crowd, but not for Jesus.  In this encounter Jesus' entire focus is on the little girl herself, not her family status or the crowd. In fact, Jesus rebukes the crowd for its hysteria and lack of faith, a crowd that includes the family of this little girl.  The crowd's lack of faith stands in contrast to the great faith of the woman Jesus healed earlier.

Today Jesus asks us to discern who in our society is most powerless and most in need.  It may well be refugees and immigrants who are continually vilified in our society.  It may be children as in this story who are always afforded lip service but always neglected and abused.  In every age and place the example of Jesus forces us to discern this question and our response to care for the powerless and most helpless in our world.