THE TWENTY-FIFTH HOUR

Wednesday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
Mk 1:29-39

Jesus just began His public ministry in the Gospel of Mark today, and yet He has work already up to His neck.

Yesterday, He started teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. In the course of His lecture, He also freed a man from an unclean spirit. The people who heard His teaching and saw His first exorcism were all amazed. “Here is a new teaching,” they said, “one with power and authority. He gives orders to unclean spirits and they obey Him.” On day one, Jesus was already an instant celebrity as His reputation rapidly spread everywhere through all the surrounding Galilean countryside.

Today, Jesus conducts a healing session in the house of one of His first disciples, Simon Peter. First, it was the host’s mother-in-law, then the whole town, said Mark. He cured many who were sick and released others from the clutches of many devils. Like yesterday, today is a very busy day for Jesus. It is only day two in His public ministry.

Indeed, there is so much work to do. But time does not multiply according to the amount of work that Jesus has to accomplish. On the contrary, human experience taught us that the more work there is the lesser time there is. Being truly human Himself, Jesus is certain to have known that lesson and learned from that experience. However, Jesus always has time.

Jesus always has time not because He is God, and therefore owns eternity. Jesus always has time because of three reasons.

First, Jesus is prayerful. He is always centered on the Father. The Gospel today allows us to glimpse into Jesus silent commune with the Father. No matter how busy He is, He keeps on returning to the Father whose love for Him gives Him the strength and motive to love, in the same way, those who come to Him. He is focused on God’s work because He is focused on the God of the work.

Second, Jesus is free. He is not confined to a group of patrons in whose adulation He can otherwise wallow. Jesus knows His mission and nothing can hold Him from leaving an adoring crowd in order to accomplish His task. When told that everybody is looking for Him, He tells His disciples that it is time for them to move on. He does not waste time building and maintaining a fans club for Himself. He is busy building and establishing the Kingdom of God instead.
Third, Jesus is selfless. He spends His very self for others. This does not mean that He has no time for Himself. His time for Himself is either time with God or with others. He is never alone. This does not mean that He has no individuality or that He has no self to call His own apart from another. His self is a celebration of His individuality as gift to God and to others.

No matter how much work He has in His hands, Jesus always has time. He has time for God, for others, and for Himself. He is prayerful, free, and selfless.

Next time, we feel we are running out of time, the best option for us to take is not to continue running. We need to stop and access how prayerful, free, and selfless we are.

We do not find time; we make time. Prayer, freedom, and selflessness are the essential ingredients to make the twenty-fifth hour.