The interplay of faith and reason is very well brought out by the raising of the daughter of Jairus by Jesus as well as the incident of the cure of the woman with an issue of blood at the beginning of his journey to the home of Jairus (Luke, 8: 40-56). The woman was beset with the problem for 12 years and spent a lot of money on physicians, none of whom could cure her according to the Evangelist Luke, himself a physician. Mark in his Gospel goes a step further and notes that there was no improvement in her condition in spite of spending all that she had on doctors and in fact her condition grew worse with the treatment! (Mark, 5:26). In the Gospel of Mathew, importance is given to what she thought in her mind about just touching the edge of his cloak and getting cured without mentioning the history of her illness (Matthew, 9:21).One might wonder how the Evangelist could possibly know what the woman thought in her mind as Matthew is silent about many details about the incident. We know from Mark that the woman heard about Jesus from others and came from behind Jesus and touched his cloak saying to herself the reason for her faith. It is Luke who gives us the details about how the Evangelist could come to know of her secret thoughts. Confronted by Jesus after her cure, the woman explained before the crowd the secret thoughts that led her to act in the manner she did. From the experience of this woman it becomes clear that faith in Jesus for her was the culmination of her struggle with the rationality of this world of exploitation and lack of concern for her welfare however she tried to contribute to the requirements demanded from her by her surroundings. She had no doubt in her mind about the efficacy of her encounter with Jesus, having heard from others about him. Here we have all the elements required for genuine faith germinated in her from hearing the words of those who had experienced the goodness of Jesus, given the background of her exploitation by the wise people of this world. Jesus recommends her as a model of true faith as her internal disposition was spotless although she venerated only his cloak through which his power oozed out. From this and similar instances in the life of the Apostles the practice of venerating the relics of saints in the Church took its origin. However, the custom of grand displays of such items with an eye on monetary gains vitiates the whole atmosphere rendering the venue of such items into a supermarket!
The case of Jairus himself is another example of genuine faith in the face of formidable obstacles posed by the rationality of this world. Although Jairus was the president of the Synagogue of the place, that did not prevent him from throwing himself down at the feet of Jesus for saving his only daughter who was dying. His position in the world and conformity to its ways of thinking could have held him back from prostrating before someone who was not an official representative of his own religion. Faith in the person of Jesus enabled him to forsake the rationality of the existing system in view of his great need of saving his daughter. As Jesus was still speaking to the woman who was cured of her illness, a messenger informed Jairus that his daughter was already dead and there was no further need of bothering the Master. This messenger is a typical example of a person totally ruled by the rationality of this world so as to advise the president of the Synagogue that there was no need of any further action in the matter as everything was over since the girl had already died. The only antidote to the situation was to have faith and that is what Jesus advised the president to inculcate, although the whole atmosphere was not conducive to the same. In order to help Jairus to revive and maintain his faith Jesus took drastic actions like dismissing the raging crowd around him and ejecting the sympathizers at his home declaring that the girl was only sleeping. For Jesus who was always in touch with the entire reality death was but a mere sleep, whereas for the worldly wise it is the end of everything. Jesus raised the girl to life again without any fanfare in order to keep the meaning of life and death in their proper perspectives, giving Faith and Reason their just roles in our life.
That real faith may be expressed in many ways without any show or pretenses may be seen from the instance of the raising of a young man, the only son of a widow, whose body was being carried away for burial. We see this only in the Gospel of Luke (Luke, 7: 11-17) and in this case Jesus did not demand any visible act of faith from the widow, usually a pre-requite for his extraordinary interventions in human affairs. The very context and the silent and composed demeanor of the mother of the dead boy evoked compassion in Jesus to such an extent that without a word he proceeded to do what she could never have dreamt of in all her life. Her very attitude of submitting herself to the Will of God with dignity was better than any outward expression of faith that could have ruled her conduct. Jesus acknowledged her attitude as genuine faith in God and responded accordingly. Faith teaches us that death is not the end of everything and that it is not irrational to have hope even in the most trying circumstances. In the case of this widow, she seems to have understood that the rationality of this world inevitably ends in death and destruction, liberation from which is possible by faith alone silently expressed by her sorrowful but meek attitude.
The case of Jairus himself is another example of genuine faith in the face of formidable obstacles posed by the rationality of this world. Although Jairus was the president of the Synagogue of the place, that did not prevent him from throwing himself down at the feet of Jesus for saving his only daughter who was dying. His position in the world and conformity to its ways of thinking could have held him back from prostrating before someone who was not an official representative of his own religion. Faith in the person of Jesus enabled him to forsake the rationality of the existing system in view of his great need of saving his daughter. As Jesus was still speaking to the woman who was cured of her illness, a messenger informed Jairus that his daughter was already dead and there was no further need of bothering the Master. This messenger is a typical example of a person totally ruled by the rationality of this world so as to advise the president of the Synagogue that there was no need of any further action in the matter as everything was over since the girl had already died. The only antidote to the situation was to have faith and that is what Jesus advised the president to inculcate, although the whole atmosphere was not conducive to the same. In order to help Jairus to revive and maintain his faith Jesus took drastic actions like dismissing the raging crowd around him and ejecting the sympathizers at his home declaring that the girl was only sleeping. For Jesus who was always in touch with the entire reality death was but a mere sleep, whereas for the worldly wise it is the end of everything. Jesus raised the girl to life again without any fanfare in order to keep the meaning of life and death in their proper perspectives, giving Faith and Reason their just roles in our life.
That real faith may be expressed in many ways without any show or pretenses may be seen from the instance of the raising of a young man, the only son of a widow, whose body was being carried away for burial. We see this only in the Gospel of Luke (Luke, 7: 11-17) and in this case Jesus did not demand any visible act of faith from the widow, usually a pre-requite for his extraordinary interventions in human affairs. The very context and the silent and composed demeanor of the mother of the dead boy evoked compassion in Jesus to such an extent that without a word he proceeded to do what she could never have dreamt of in all her life. Her very attitude of submitting herself to the Will of God with dignity was better than any outward expression of faith that could have ruled her conduct. Jesus acknowledged her attitude as genuine faith in God and responded accordingly. Faith teaches us that death is not the end of everything and that it is not irrational to have hope even in the most trying circumstances. In the case of this widow, she seems to have understood that the rationality of this world inevitably ends in death and destruction, liberation from which is possible by faith alone silently expressed by her sorrowful but meek attitude.
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