Readings and Reflections for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Lamentations3:21-33
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Mark 5:21-43
Lamentations 3 contains a powerful affirmation of God’s daily love and mercy that never end. When we fail to understand what we are experiencing, or perhaps understand it all too well when confronted with adversity, grief and death, this scripture calls on us to keep quiet trust in the Lord.
In Mark 5, Jesus is on his way to save a little girl from death when he is touched by a sick woman. Rather than chastise the woman, who was “unclean” due to her bleeding for “contaminating” him, Jesus commends her faith that led to her healing. He goes to the dying girl, arriving “too late.” She has already died, but ignoring the skeptics, he touches the girl and heals her.
Paul challenges the Church in Corinth to excel in generosity, as he gathers funds to send to the churches suffering the effects of a prolonged drought and famine in Palestine. From his perspective, this is not a burden. You can’t share what you don’t have, and if you do have, then you have something to share.
Comment: In one way or another, all three readings invite us to trust God. There are times when it seems we can only wait with hope in God – we’ve prayed and sought the Lord’s help but our situation is not changed. There are times when we boldly seek the help of Jesus the risen Lord, and our prayer is answered! And there are times when we are challenged to be the answer to another’s prayer. In all these ways, and others, may we live as people of faith.