13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 27, 2021
It often happens that we have it in
mind to do something. Then we are interrupted in some way; someone comes along
that we were not expecting and holds us up and we don’t get to do what we
planned to do. You are there physically with that person, but in your mind, you
are waiting for the person to move on so that you can get back to doing what
you think you are supposed to be doing. Part of living day-to-day means
focusing on the now rather than worrying about the future or fretting over the
past. Jesus gives explicit instructions in this regard in Matthew 6:34:
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own.” In the “Our Father,” Jesus reminds us
to ask for daily bread, not tomorrow’s bread. Living in the present moment is a
challenging spiritual discipline that is demonstrated in next Sunday’s gospel
reading.
The person who unexpectedly crosses my
path and who could be seen as interrupting what I have set out to do, can be
one whom the Lord has sent into my life. Rather than seeing the encounter as
interrupting something else, it can be better seen as a grace, an opportunity.
What I set out to do may not be what is most important. Rather, the call of the
present moment may be what really matters, the person who stands before me here
and now.
Jesus is returning from his trip to the
other side of the lake. He had to deal with a sudden storm, scared disciples,
and people on the other side who told him they didn’t want him. He and his
disciplines were to go back where they came from. Back at Capernaum, Jesus
might have been looking forward to a home-cooked meal, or maybe a walk up a
mountain to get away from people. But, a synagogue official, Jairus,
interrupted him and pleaded with Jesus to come to his daughter who was
desperately sick. Jesus set out with him on this important journey. On the way,
Jesus is interrupted again by a woman. Jesus did not react angrily or
dismissively to this interruption. The woman with the flow of blood simply wanted
to touch the clothing of Jesus, without holding him up in any way. It was Jesus
who ensured that the fleeting encounter that the woman was looking for became,
in reality, a truly personal encounter. When Jesus noticed that power had gone
out of him, he stopped, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my
clothing?” He wanted to meet this woman, in spite of the urgency of the journey
on which he had set out. Jesus addressed her in very tender terms, “My
daughter,” he said, “your faith has
restored you to health.” He engaged her in a very personal way. This was the
task of the moment. Some people would have seen this encounter as an
unfortunate interruption. For Jesus this encounter with the woman was of
ultimate significance; it was a moment of grace. It was the prelude to an even
more wonderful moment of grace in the house of Jairus when Jesus not only
healed the very sick girl, as he was asked to do, but he raised her from the
dead.
The gospel encourages us to pay
attention to the interruptions in life. What can seem like distractions can be
where the Lord is calling us to be. When our plans do not work out as we wanted
because of some unexpected turn of events, it may not be the disaster that we
think it is at the time. Sometimes when our plans do not work out, it can
create the space for something else to happen that we did not plan but which,
in itself, can have great value for ourselves and for others. Jesus gave
himself fully to the interruptions. He could have told Jairus that he was too tired,
and he would see his daughter the next day. He could have kept walking when the
woman touched his clothing, but he attended to her. That was the call of the
present moment for Jesus. In answering that call, he was doing God’s work, and
the task he initially set out to accomplish did not suffer. There are times in
life when we need to embrace the interruptions, rather than just driving on
with our own plans. We can misjudge where the real work lies. We need to come
to a deeper appreciation that the interruptions can be our work, especially
when they involve responding with compassion to the needs of others. When we
set out on a journey, what happens on the way can be more important than
arriving at our planned destination.
Fr. Don, cp