Mt 9:18-26 Just The Way It Is

Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
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A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak.  She said to herself, "If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured."  Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, "Courage, daughter!  Your faith has saved you."  And from that hour the woman was cured.

Just the way it is.  Unless you're a very holy person, then you don't know what you have till it's gone.  That's just the way it is.

Likewise, tough times help us to grow up and lose all our inhibitions and insecurities.  That's just the way we are, unless you're a very holy person and have tightened the screws in your life before someone (or something) else did it for you.

It's not uncommon for the Lord to take someone into the desert, taken the screws, and speak to their heart (cf. Hosea 2:16-17c).  This is what happened to the woman who was suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. Little by little she was stripped of everything (money, health and dignity) until all she had left was her God...and she found Him in the depths of all her sorrow.

It is what it is, and for a reason.

Not only do difficulties bring out the best in us, but also the best in others, including God.  

No room for doubts.  The official came to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, "My daughter has just died."  There was no doubt in the man's voice.  He saw his daughter's life pass before his very eyes.  He felt her body go limp.  He felt the warmth come out of her.   

Lazarus had been dead for four days.   No one doubted it, not even from the Lord.  His friend's death left a vacancy in the hearts and minds of his closest friends, including the Lord.  "If you had been here, my brother would still be alive."  Jesus wept.

Christ had been in the tomb for three days.  His excruciating suffering on the Cross left no doubt about His untimely death.  His burial was the last straw for His betrayer, His deniers and his followers.  Not only was "it finished," but He was finished as well.   

All these things had to pass.  There could be no doubts about any of them.  They all had to be like good old Marley: "Dead as a doornail."

Everyone had to get stripped; not just the Lord.  Everyone had to experience loss; and not just the Apostles.  His deniers had to experience a false sense of security.  His followers had to experience a false sense of insecurity.  And in the end, "Alleluia.  Alleluia.  Our Savior Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel." 

Tough times were never meant to weaken our faith in God, in our parents or even in ourselves.  Instead, they were meant to strengthen our faith, hope and love in God, in our parents, and in all that is good, right and holy.

It's just the way it is.  And it works...if we know to whom we should turn to.