Today’s Gospel gives us a “two for one”: one miracle occurs while Jesus is on his way to perform another. Although separate events, each miracle is a response to small actions taken by the recipients. These “small” actions, however, were fueled by a bold faith and the great courage to interact directly with Christ. The hemorrhage victim yearns to merely touch a tassel from Jesus’ cloak. After many years of suffering without a cure, her great faith assures her this “small” action is enough to save her.

The official goes directly to Jesus and simply asks him to lay a hand on his deceased daughter, boldly knowing this “small” action will be enough to rouse her from the sleep of death. The boldness of this man’s faith is also evident by how it contrasts with the lack of faith in the crowd, who ridicule Jesus when he says the child is sleeping. Sleep is often a biblical metaphor for death; Jesus is not denying her physical death, but assuring her father she will be given new life.

Reading this passage, I am struck by the effort these individuals must have taken to find Jesus that day. What kind of crowds did they need to battle? Once through, what courage must it have taken to approach him? Would I have had enough courage to do the same – even to interrupt Jesus while he was speaking, as the official did? Although millennia have passed since the events in today’s Gospel, we also have an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Christ’s contemporaries. Through the Eucharist, Jesus remains physically present in our world, too. May we have the great courage to approach Jesus and reach out to Christ in the Eucharist, with bold assurance that such a “small” action is anything but insignificant.