13th Sunday - B (July 1, 2018)

“Daughter”

Mark 5: 21-43

The Gospel tells us that the adult woman “was afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.”  This particular illness would have made her unclean by the ritual regulations of the time.  As a result, she became an outcast from the chosen people of God [1] all those long twelve years.

After Jesus has cured her, he calls her, “daughter.”  Interestingly, in all four Gospels, this is the only person Jesus addresses directly as “daughter.” 

Jesus heals her of her physical illness.  Moreover, he restores her place in God’s family.  She is forever a daughter of God.  

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[1] Francis J. Moloney, The Gospel of Mark: a Commentary. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002, p. 107.

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