13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B) – June 26, 2021 Following Jesus: The time is always right to do good and the time is now Wisdom 1: 13-15; 2: 23-24 / Psalm 30 / 2 Corinthians 8: 7, 9, 13-15 / Mark 5: 21-43
Among the four gospels, the one according to Saint Mark the Evangelist was the first to be written and is the shortest in length. Moreover, Mark served as a source for the gospels according to Saints Matthew and Luke.
Mark tends to present the teachings of Jesus and the events of his life in a manner that manifests the urgency of the mission of the Redeemer as shown by its brevity and the strong sense of purpose with which Jesus acted along the way. Another unique characteristic of Mark’s gospel is that it does not mention any aspects of the eternal or human origins of Jesus Christ, such as the prologue in the Gospel according to John and the infancy narratives of Jesus found in Matthew and Luke.
For those reasons, my attention is called by how the gospel reading for today’s mass taken from the fifth chapter of Mark gives us plentiful details in comparison to where the same episode takes place in the gospels according to Matthew and Luke. The most notable aspect is the encounter between Jesus and the woman who suffered hemorrhages for twelve years without finding any remedy, much less fair and just treatment from physicians and others from whom she sought assistance.
In Mark, the gospel of most brevity we have we have the longest narrative of the moment that demonstrates the concern that Christ the Healer had for the well-being of the many people who came to him as he went along through the countryside and in the towns and villages he visited, especially those who were suffering the most.
Instead of remaining anonymous or forgotten, the woman in need of healing receives all the attention of Jesus, who does not wish to advance any further until he has known the person that he had cured by only touching his clothes. The Lord could have just moved on and ignored the situation and the woman as only one more person cured among the many inhabitants of the region that he had healed and moved on.
However, the great Healer of bodies and souls always valued and respected the faith and dignity of each individual que came to him during the journeys he made during his earthly life and mission. For Jesus, the woman was not an interruption but a beloved and respected daughter.
Despite the multitudes that surrounded and pressed upon Jesus, he took his time with her and later resumed the mission of responding to Jairus, the father and synagogue official who was pleading for the life of his sick child.
Christ found the time and opportunity to take care of all who sought his mercy and healing touch. He teaches us by loving example that there is always an opportunity to do good and oftentimes the right moment is now, not later.
In addition, his way of treating others is always a manner of recognizing and reinforcing the image and likeness of God that each human being carries in the depths of her or his being, something which no one can erase or take away and no crowd can trample upon. That is how Jesus Christ treats us; hopefully, we have the time and the will to treat those in greatest need in the same manner.