Attention Deficit?

   It’s a subject we hear all too much about.  Truth be told, some of us (well, OK—me!) think it’s something of a cop-out that we apply to our children because of our OWN failures in disciplining them.  But let’s move from ‘today’ to the content of today’s Gospel (Luk 8:41-56).

In today's Gospel, our Lord has just left Gadara after healing poor Legion.  As He and the Apostles returned from this trip, St. Luke records, So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. 

Waiting for Him—for what?  From what we see in today’s Gospel, the crowd had one singular focus—healing.  All of the teaching that our Lord has shared with them; Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; Love your neighbor as yourself;  Love those who hate you;  Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; all of these things are lost in the ‘attention’ of the masses.  The attention deficit of the crowds is this singular focus on “my” needs.

This is not to say that it is wrong in any way to seek God for our health and well-being.  It rather emphasizes how a crowd of people can be turned from waiting on the Lord’s arrival and return out of love and respect for Him to being a people willing to shout, “Crucify Him!”

But let’s also look at the encounters (two) in today’s Gospel which also seem superficially to point to our Lord having His attention divided.

Jairus comes to Christ with a fervent and urgent plea.  St. Mark records that Jairus comes before Jesus and says, “My little daughter lies at the point of death.  Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.”  Jairus expresses the fervent belief that Jesus can and will heal his poor child.

Was Jairus the only one in this crowd who desired with all his being to garner the Lord’s attention?  Far from it, for we know that the woman with the issue of blood was there as well.  But her faith is undoubtedly no less than that of Jairus, for she expresses openly when called out by Jesus that she KNEW that (again from St. Mark) “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”

And so, she touches the Lord.  We don’t know how easy or difficult her effort was.  We know there were crowds, and we can only imagine the ‘wall of humanity’ that pressed upon the Lord, a condition that the Apostles attested to when Jesus asked the apparent ridiculous question, Who touched Me?  It’s Peter who responds to the non-sequitur with the response, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You.  How can You ask, ‘Who touched Me?’”

All this time, poor Jairus stands by, humble, silent, knowing that he RUSHED to find the Lord because he knew that his little girl was literally at the point of death.

But he waits—patiently.  Still focused on HIS need, but patiently.

While it might seem that our Lord’s attention is divided, it isn’t.  He continues to teach by calling out the woman so that she can offer testimony to her faith and its power to garner God’s blessing while knowing all the time that Jairus’ little girl was in fact dying.

And in this knowledge, Jesus now gives Jairus to express (even if done without words) his own depth of faith.  For those come from his house telling him not to “bother the Master” because his daughter is now dead.  Jesus offers words to comfort and encourage.  “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” 

No, the Lord did not lose focus.  His attention was firmly on the salvation of all involved—the woman, Jairus, the people who heard the woman’s testimony, the nay-sayers in Jairus’ house who ridiculed Jesus for saying, “Do not weep, she is not dead, but sleeping.”  Jesus accomplished what was needed and best for all of these.

WE sometimes lose attention as we read these accounts.  We sometimes feel ‘qualified’ to question God, His decisions, His methods, His working amongst His people.

This is a deficit that is OUR problem—NOT His!