13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 28, 2015 – Year B
Readings: Wis 1:13-15, 2:23-24 / Psalm 30 / 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15 / Mk 5:21-43
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

Today’s Gospel illustrates the important message that God, in the person of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, always has time for us, His people.

St. Mark’s story in today’s Gospel relates to us that a large crowd gathered around Him. It was surely an excellent opportunity for Our Lord to reach a large number of people with His message. However, before He even began to teach, Jairus, one of officials of the synagogue, interrupted Him with an appeal for his critically sick daughter.

Upon seeing the distress of this father, Our Lord Jesus abandoned His own plans and ministered instead to the needs of the man kneeling before Him. Although He didn’t utter a word of complaint, He must have been wondering where Jairus lived, how long it would take to get to his house and return, and whether the crowd would still be waiting for Him when He returned.

Just then, with all these thoughts running through His mind, Jesus felt someone touch Him. It was the woman with the hemorrhage. It would have been understandable if Jesus had said something like, “Woman, can’t you wait until I get back? Can’t you see that I am on my way to save the daughter of this man from death?”

Instead, the Lord Jesus made this woman feel important. Her problem may not have been as urgent as that of Jairus, but it was certainly serious to her, and he surely had compassion in his eyes when he said, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your illness.”

But before he could even finish speaking to the woman, he was interrupted again by the friends of Jairus, the official, who arrived to announce that his daughter was dead. As we heard in today’s Gospel, Jesus paid no attention to them. Rather, He turned His attention to Jairus, followed him home, and raised the girl to life.

The Gospel is telling us not only that the Lord Jesus has the power to cure illness and even raise the dead back to life, but also that He always has time for His people. He has time for important people like Jairus, and for obscure people like the unnamed woman in the Gospel. We know that we can talk to Our Lord about all types of difficulties, even it if’s only about our allergies or elevated blood pressure, or dealing with a difficult coworker. If it is important to us, it is important to Our Lord. Our problems may be small in comparison with those of others, but, because they are ours, they are big to us, and Our Lord will never turn away from our prayers for help.

The Gospel also tells us that he will see us through the difficulties of this life and he will finally lead us successfully through death to eternal life. With all the trials and tribulations that may come our way in the course of our daily lives, may we always bear in mind that Our Lord and Savior always has time for you and me. The good news is that he is just a prayer away.