Mt 9,18-26 – Monday of the XIV Week of Ordinary Time
We are used to thinking of disciples as those who follow their Master. Yet today’s Gospel shows us something surprising: it is Jesus who sets out behind a desperate father, who begs for help for his daughter who has just died.
It is an image that changes our way of thinking about God. It is not only man who seeks the Lord. Very often it is the Lord who gets involved in our wounds and walks with us the most painful paths of life. This means that God does not remain a spectator of our suffering. When the road becomes dark, when hope seems to be extinguished, Christ becomes a traveling companion. He doesn’t magically eliminate every trial, but chooses to walk through it with us. His presence is already the beginning of a miracle that we do not immediately understand.
Along that path another encounter occurs. A woman, ill for many years, approaches Jesus and touches the hem of his cloak. It might seem like an anonymous, almost involuntary miracle. Instead Jesus stops. The Gospel says: «He turned and saw her and said: “Courage, daughter, your faith has saved you”». Even before healing, there is a look. Jesus does not want that woman to simply receive a grace. He wants me to experience a personal encounter. This is the most beautiful trait of the Gospel. Christ is not a miracle vending machine. He doesn’t dole out favors by remaining distant. Look in the eyes, call by name, restore dignity. For Him we are not a problem to be solved, but people to be loved.
The two miracles told today thus reveal a single truth. On the one hand, the Lord approaches especially when life becomes difficult and there seems to be nothing left to hope for. On the other hand, it reminds us that faith does not only consist in obtaining what we ask for, but in meeting his face. Because the greatest gift is not the solution to our problems, but the certainty that, in the midst of them, we will never be left alone. And it is precisely this presence that restores life, courage and hope even when everything seems lost.
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