Commencements are wonderful, but they’re just too long. We sit at yet another one, knowing that this is good ministry, constantly thinking about the more productive ministries we could be doing while the speaker keeps rambling.

Our phone cries out for attention, but we avoid the temptation because of all the parents dutifully listening to the speaker when they’re not trying to find their graduate. We think about our time that’s being wasted, not the appreciation our student will feel, not what Jesus thinks of this ministry of sitting on a hard bench.

Jesus had a busy ministry and little time in which to change the world, yet Jesus made time. In Luke 8, Jesus is on an evangelical role with crowds hanging on His every word. Jesus also heard a plea for life-saving help: “Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed Him, for they were all expecting Him. Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with Him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on His way, the crowds almost crushed Him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped” (vv. 40-44).

In this surge, a woman comes up to Jesus. Church efficiency experts would say Jesus should minister where there was the greatest impact to the greatest number of people. Jesus already healed this woman, and now a very ill child needed His attention. Additionally, the crowds beckoned. Yet Jesus took time to engage a single woman: “Who touched Me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the people are crowding and pressing against You.’ But Jesus said, ‘Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.’ Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at His feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched Him and how she had been instantly healed. Then He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace'” (vv. 45-48).

We fear missing a text from a youth. Conversely, Jesus stopped His momentum to minister to one woman. The crowds would rather Jesus keep moving; Jairus and his daughter weren’t happy with the delay; the disciples were dismayed at Jesus’ inefficient use of His precious time.

If we are called to minister to youth and this calling entails being present at significant milestones, if sacrificing the better part of a day is what we understand as our calling on this day, then we need not stress about missed text messages while listening to long, boring commencement speeches. Jesus spent time with an individual woman, a woman whom He already healed.

We urge our students to seek Jesus more than time with a smartphone, and this encouragement is especially relevant to us: Getting sunburned, diplomas yet to be handed out, Bible study lesson unfinished, worrying about all that we could be getting done; and unlike the parents around us, we didn’t bring cushions for our seats. However, Jesus spent time with one person. The high calling of hard benches at commencements changes the world, one person at a time. If we listen to the commencement speaker, we hear the same thing.