Jun 07
A black mark for Matthew’s gospel
The irony in tomorrow’s gospel reading (Matthew 9:9-13, 18-25) comes from the way in which the Revised Common Lectionary so often lengthens the Roman Catholic one on which it is based. The first half (which is the RC reading) centres on the focus on God’s love meeting human need: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” The second half is Matthew’s bowdlerisation of the story sandwich of Jairus’ daughter and the woman with a haemorrhage. Matthew’s drastic cutting down of Mark’s story loses virtually all the elements of human drama.
The (now unnamed) leader’s daughter is already dead, so there is no urgency. (What has Jesus done at this point to make anyone think he could raise the dead?) The woman’s episode is dealt with summarily; Jesus shows no ignorance about who touched him, and so there’s no need for a dialogue forcing the woman into the open. The resurrection / healing happens with no direct address from Jesus to the girl. It feels like Matthew needs to say human compassion is important, but actually he isn’t remotely interested in portraying it. Unfortunately that has been and is a far from an uncommon stance among us Christians. “God loves you” is a doctrine far more than an active attitude towards others.