Fr Peter Helman

Dear friends,

Saint Matthew tells one story inside another in our reading this morning from his gospel. The first story frames the second, and the similarities and differences between each helps us interpret both together.

Both stories feature women, one young and vibrant who has died before her time and another woman of some age who has endured hardship and tragedy throughout her life.

With this common thread, we find important differences at play. The father of the young woman, for instance, a leader in his synagogue, asks Jesus to restore her life. “Come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” (Matthew 9:18)

By contrast, the older woman is socially disgraced. The hemorrhages she suffers likely mean she is unable to have children. She asks Jesus to restore her life in community. “If I only touch [the fringe of] his cloak, I will be made well.” (9:21)

All of this happens as Jesus is having dinner with his disciples in the home of Matthew. Tax collectors and sinners are gathered around, reclining with Jesus and his disciples. (9:10)

The similarity that ties both stories together in the most striking way of all is that both women are daughters. The first is the daughter of a devout man whose love for his child brings him to his knees. The second is called daughter by Jesus. She comes up behind him and touches his cloak. Jesus, seeing her, says, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” (9:20, 22)

What stays with me this morning is a sense that we are beloved children of God through every circumstance. God loves each of us the same. And the presenting question for me is what shape our lives would take if that sense of being beloved truly took root. How would we speak about and treat others who are different from ourselves? How would our prayers change?

Peace to you,

—Peter+