This blog follows the daily bible readings of the Catholic Church

Reading 1 Hosea 2:16-22

16 But look, I am going to seduce her and lead her into the desert and speak to her heart.

17 There I shall give her back her vineyards, and make the Vale of Achor a gateway of hope. There she will respond as when she was young, as on the day when she came up from Egypt.

The glen of grieving a gateway of hope

18 When that day comes- declares the Lord- you will call me, ‘My husband’, no more will you call me, ‘My Baal’.

21 I shall betroth you to myself for ever, I shall betroth you in uprightness and justice, and faithful love and tenderness.

22 Yes, I shall betroth you to myself in loyalty and in the knowledge of the Lord.

Hosea says that God has instructed him to marry a promiscuous woman, so that he will understand the pain of God, who loves a people that is unfaithful to him. Just as Hosea constantly forgives his wife, so God forgives Israel. The Baals are Canaanite fertility Gods, so Hosea is saying, “God the Lord is the true husband of the land and its people, not the Baals.” He is the prophet who most articulates the pain that is inseparable from God’s love.

Any Scot knows that even the gloomiest glen is a door to somewhere. Glencoe, the glen of weeping, is a door to Loch Linnhe, and the West Coast. The Vale of Achor (trouble) is the place where Achan’s disobedience brings trouble on the people by taking and hiding booty from a holy war (Joshua 7). Where people know their Bibles this phrase “making the Valley of Grief a gateway of hope” is still a watchword in time of trouble and distress. It has a profound relationship to the cross of Jesus Christ.

Notice that even the unfaithful can be seduced by God’s love to form a partnership of uprightness and justice, faithful love and tenderness. These beautiful words describe the community life of God’s people.

Gospel, Matthew 9:18-26

18 While he was speaking to them, suddenly one of the officials came up, who bowed low in front of him and said, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.’ 19 Jesus rose and, with his disciples, followed him. 20 Then suddenly from behind him came a woman, who had been suffering from a haemorrhage for twelve years, and she touched the fringe of his cloak, 21 for she was thinking, ‘If only I can touch his cloak I shall be saved.’ 22 Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, ‘Courage, my daughter, your faith has saved you.’ And from that moment the woman was saved.

23 When Jesus reached the official’s house and saw the flute-players, with the crowd making a commotion, he said, 24 ‘Get out of here; the little girl is not dead; she is asleep.’ And they ridiculed him. 25 But when the people had been turned out he went inside and took her by the hand; and she stood up. 26 And the news of this spread all round the countryside.

The Lectionary for today is suggesting a relationship between the “Husband God” depicted in Hosea, and Jesus’ role in healing women. The haemorrhaging woman and the dead girl can be seen as symbols of an Israel longing for its true husband, the Messiah. Matthew depicts Jesus as the one who, in love, bears the illness of others, and sets them free.

Any of us who’ve felt unclean, for any reason, will know why the woman felt she could only touch the hem of Jesus’ cloak. As Matthew tells the story (Mark is different here) she is not healed by touching his cloak, but by Jesus’ recognition of her, and his re-assurance.

Preachers have long noted the two great “hand” images here, the reaching hand of the woman, and the uplifting hand of Jesus.