Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B

# Many healings are recounted in the New Testament. Most of them concern Jesus’ care for our souls to cleanse them of our sins. The healing of an officer’s son sheds further light on this concept. The Jerusalem Bible translation speaks of a royal official. Before Jesus’ crucifixion, which took place while Pontius Pilate was prefect of Judea, there was no king in Galilee, Judea or the surrounding territories. Only after the deposition of Pontius Pilate (late 36-early 37) did Caligula release Agrippa I from prison and appointed him king of Batania.

The territories entrusted to Agrippa bordered Galilee and lay beyond the Jordan. The sons of Herod the Great (Herod Archelaus, Herod Antipas and Philip the Tetrarch Never obtained the title say. Homily 28 of Gregory the Great was dedicated to this miracle. The Pope compared this healing to that of the centurion (Mt 8:6-7). The speaker punctuated his speech by emphasising that Jesus did not move from there. Gregory the Great quoted Psalm 116, verse 6 : « The Lord watches over his grandchildren. Humility must be the watchword at all times. »

From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Mark

At that time, Jesus returned to the other side of the sea in a boat and a large crowd gathered around him. He stood on the seashore. One of the leaders of the synagogue, named Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet and begged him earnestly : « My daughter, who is still so young, is at the end of her life. Come and lay your hands on her that she may be saved and live ». Jesus went with him and the crowd that followed him was so great that it overwhelmed him.

There was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years, who had suffered a great deal from the treatment of many doctors and who had spent all her money without getting the slightest improvement ; on the contrary, her condition had worsened. He said to himself : « If only I could touch his robe, I would be saved ». Immediately the bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she had been cured of her illness. Immediately Jesus realised that a force had come out of him. He turned to the crowd and asked : « Who touched my clothes ? ».

His disciples said to him : You see the crowd crushing you and ask : « Who touched me ? » But he turned around to see the woman who had done this. Then the woman, frightened and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. Jesus said to her: « My daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your illness ». While he was still speaking, some came from the house of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue, and said to him : « Your daughter has just died. Why disturb the Master any longer ?« 

Jesus, surprised by these words, said to the leader of the synagogue: ‘Do not fear, believe. He did not let anyone accompany him except Peter, James and John, brother of James. They arrived at the synagogue leader’s house. Jesus saw the confusion, the people crying and shouting loudly. He came in and said to them : « Why so much commotion and so much weeping ? The child is not dead : she is sleeping ». But they laughed at him. Then he drove them all away, took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and entered the place where the child was lying.

He took the little girl’s hand and said to her : « Talitha koum », which means : « Little girl, I tell you to get up !  » Immediately the little girl got up and started walking ; she was really twelve years old. They were amazed. Jesus firmly ordered them not to tell anyone ; then he told them to let her eat. (Mk 5, 21-43)

Jesus heals the son of the royal officer

John recounts Jesus’ return to Galilee and justifies this return by recalling a proverb that Jesus had quoted and that seemed to be a reason against his return to Galilee. Then, as a consequence of this proverb, he reports that Jesus was Welle received by the Galileans. What is the homeland of Jesus mentioned in this proverb ? Many people answered : Galilee. Jesus went there because he knew he would not succeed, but tried either to fight (Weiss) or to retreat (Luthardt, Holtzmann, Schlatter).

Meyer thought that Jesus, knowing that as a prophet he would not be honoured in Galilee, his homeland, began to seek this honour outside, in Jerusalem, in Judea. His calculations did not deceive him ; he was then well received by the Galileans, because they had seen his miracles in Jerusalem. This very acceptable explanation was adopted, with some modifications, by Astié, Reuss and Godet. Others, from Origen to Baur, Ebrard and Keil, hold that, in John’s mind, Jesus’ homeland was Judea, where he was born, and that, not having been honoured there, he returned to Galilee.

It is also on this fact that a large number of interpreters have relied to propose a fourth explanation. By Galilee, to which Jesus returned, they meant the province as a whole, excluding Nazareth, where Jesus did not want to go. Although Jesus was commonly called Galilee, nowhere in the New Testament is this province mentioned as his homeland, but always Nazareth. Nathanael answered : « Can anything good come out of Nazareth ? » Philip answered : « Come and see ». (Jn 1 9, 19)

John explains the reception that Jesus received from the Galileans by recalling that they had witnessed all the things he had done in Jerusalem during the feast, in which they themselves had participated. They had been impressed by the authority he had shown in cleansing the temple and the miracles he had performed. « While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many believed in his name because of the signs he performed ». (Jn 2, 23)

These were outward manifestations that could prepare souls for faith, but were not sufficient to create it in them. Jesus, encouraged by this warm welcome, wanted to continue his journey through Galilee to Cana, where his previous stay could have prepared people to receive his word. This is what the evangelist wants to make clear by mentioning that it was there that he changed water into wine (Jn 2, 1). A royal official can refer to any civil or military official. In this case it is a servant of Herod Antipas, who ruled over Galilee and was given the title of king, although officially he only bore the title of tetrarch.

The confidence of this man, who was not yet a disciple of Jesus, can be explained both by the miracle at Cana, of which he had been informed, and by the knowledge that he too had of all that Jesus was doing in Jerusalem But this confidence is best explained by the anguish in his father’s heart. He asked Jesus to come down because Cana was on the mountain. Everyone was looking for miracles, and Jesus wanted them to believe in him through his word, which brought truth into immediate contact with their souls.

He did not deny the value of his miracles to prepare people for the faith; he invoked them himself. The father did not allow himself to be discouraged by the severity of Jesus’ words, but in his anguish he insisted with emotion and begged him earnestly : « My daughter, still so young, is at the end of her strength. Come and lay your hands on her that she may be saved and live » (Mk 5, 23).Jesus responded to his trust by gaming him more than he had asked for.

Without immediately going with him, he announced the healing of his son with these sovereign words : ‘Go, your son lives’. This way of acting on the part of Jesus was further proof of the nascent faith of the officer, who had to turn back taking only a word with him. On the way down to the Sea of Galilee, the servants ran to meet their master, full of joy, so that they could tell him the good news first. To tell him the good news, they used the same words as Jesus, which meant : ‘Not only is he not dead, but he is well’.

The father was joyfully certain that his son had been healed, but he wanted to know whether the word of Jesus, which he had believed, was the only cause. The seventh hour, according to the Hebrew way of dividing the day, indicates an hour after noon. In this case, the father had the time to return from Cana to Capernaum on the same day, the distance being six or seven hours and the anguish of his heart hastening the journey. So when the servants spoke of the healing as having taken place the day before, they spoke in the manner of the Jews, who after six «  in the evening referred to the past day as yesterday.

 He believed the word of Jesus, recognising its divine power, but he believed in Jesus himself as Messiah and Saviour. And his whole house, his whole family and his servants shared his faith. The greatest and most precious thing for this father was the healing of his son.

Deacon Michel Houyoux

Links to other Christian sites

Loyola Press : click here to read the paper →Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Young Catholics : click here to read the article →13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

 Vidéo Frather Peter Kirvin : click here → https://youtu.be/txke8LjXF0A