13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Commemorative Mass)

 

Our Gospel is taken from Mark 5: 21-43 and in this account, the sacred author began with the story of Jairus, a ruler in the synagogue of Capernaum who came to Jesus, pleading with Him to lay His hands on his only daughter, who was near death. This only means that time was of the essence. They must hurry to save the girl. However, as Jesus walked with Jairus, they had to press through a large crowd as the said crowd caused them a delay. Then in the midst of the crowd, there was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years even adding to the delay of saving Jairus’ daughter as she caught the attention of Jesus. As Jesus was speaking to her, some people from the house of Jairus arrived and told Jairus that his daughter was dead. At this point, the story should end because Jairus only asked Jesus to save his daughter from impending death. Now that she was dead, there was no need to trouble Jesus anymore. But no. The story continued until Jesus raised up Jairus’ daughter from the dead.

If we re-read the story of Jairus, we can observe how Jesus was taking His time to respond to two cases –that of the bleeding woman and of Jairus’ daughter. If I were Jairus, perhaps I would say to Jesus, “Lord, please observe the first come-first serve basis” or “Lord, mine is an emergency, a matter of life and death. You can go back to the bleeding woman later after you heal my daughter.” But in the story, Jairus was silent. He was patient because as a leader in the synagogue, he knew that God’s time is not like ours. Surely, he was worried about his daughter dying but he believed that Jesus would heal her, even if it meant raising her from the dead. At the end of the story, we know that Jesus addressed their respective needs according to His own will and in His own time and not according to any man’s will and time.

My dear friends, God’s timing is something that we Catholic Christians should be aware of as we live our lives. In life, we have good plans. We have our dreams. We want good things to happen. While waiting for too long to make those plans and dreams a reality, we are sometimes tempted to ask, “When Lord? Until when shall I wait?” It is only when we spend more time in praying and become patient like Jairus that finally we can receive from God what we ask for.

But it may happen too that even if we pray, nothing happens. We become discouraged. It does not mean however that because we do not get what we are praying for, God’s timing is not true. Rather, it is God’s time for us to discern His will, to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Let me end my homily with an analogy. I learned from Fr. Pol Legaspi that Nay Lilia Quimpo Aldecoa was a music lover. It was also known to true blooded Kalibonhons that Nay Lilia’s family owned the first electronic keyboard instrument in Aklan. They said she loved to play the said instrument as passers-by could hear its sound.

My dear friends, music is based in time. It has a steady, recurring pulse called the “beat”. I do not know how to read sheet music but I know that time signature gives a song its beat. To get the beat, a musician like Nay Lilia should be familiar with the note which tells her when to play it and how long to hold it. But not all in the sheet music are notes; there is also what is known to musician as “rest” that tells her when to be silent and for how long to be silent or not play anything. Even the “rest” has a corresponding value and should be measured to get the beat and to maintain the timing of the music. In relation to God’s time, there are those who waited and finally have received what they prayed for and here we may say God is playing the “notes”. But there are times that God seems so silent, and those who wait have not received any answer for their prayers; here we may say that God is observing the “rest”. This does not mean He is out of timing. In fact, He owns the time and sets the timing. It is we who must attune ourselves to His time and timing. It may not seem like things are going according to our plans but we must trust God that He is preparing us for something greater than what we desire. The only thing we can do is to acknowledge that He is God and He has the final say. Let us just be comforted with the words of St. Paul (Galatians 6:9), “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Amen.