WHAT WOULD JESUS DO WITH INTERRUPTIONS?
Mark 5:21-43
Interruptions are a part of our lives. They happen all the time, whether we want them or not. When we are in the middle of something important to us, something that we are trying hard to finish, interruptions frustrate or annoy us. When we are in the midst of a chore we would rather not do, interruptions may be very welcome! Sometimes an interruption means that our task will take longer than we expected or wanted. Sometimes an interruption can distract us enough so that when we return to our original task, we can work with new energy and fresh ideas. Everyone deals with interruptions differently, and we each deal differently with interruptions at different times in our lives. Interruptions are simply a part of life.
As Christians, we often turn to the Bible to deal with life’s issues and problems. Especially in reading today’s passage, one begins to wonder, what would Jesus, who came to be one with us and experience what we experience, do with something as commonplace as interruptions?
In the Gospel of Mark, we see Jesus interrupted several times. Near the beginning of the gospel, we read that Jesus got up early in the morning, while it was still dark, and went to a deserted place to pray. But Simon and friends actually hunted him down, and interrupted his prayer time to tell him, “Everyone is searching for you.” Now, I don’t know about you, but I think I would find that a little irritating. If I had gone off to find a private place to pray and someone ferreted out my quiet place, I fear that my first reaction would be some sense of irritation. But the text tells us that Jesus simply said something like, “Okay, let’s go to the neighboring towns, and I will preach there too, because that is what I came to do.” And he did.
Almost immediately after that, while Jesus was in the middle of preaching, a leper interrupted him, kneeling and begging, saying, “Heal me, if you choose.” “Heal me, if you choose.”
I have never really been interrupted in the middle of preaching (except maybe for a baby crying, and with a mike, I can be louder than the babies!). And I have never really seen another preacher interrupted. But my first instinct if interrupted for something like this might be to say, “See me after church.” But, not Jesus, Jesus stopped preaching. The text says he was “moved with pity.” He reached out to touch the man, and said, “I do choose. Be made clean.” And the leper was healed.
Not long after that, Jesus was again preaching in a very crowded house. This is a story you probably know well. Jesus was interrupted by four very loyal friends who could not make their way into the house and so they cut a hole in the roof and lowered their paralyzed friend to Jesus for healing. That would have been a rather spectacular interruption! Just imagine - one is preaching or teaching, and suddenly the roof opens up and a person is lowered through on a mat right in front of you! Oh my goodness! I think I would be so flabbergasted that I would not know what to do! I would probably just stop and stare! But what did Jesus do? The text says, “When Jesus saw their (the friends’) faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’” Then he told him to stand up, pick up his mat and go home, and the man did.
In our text for today, Jesus again was getting ready to preach to a crowd when a leader of the synagogue, Jairus by name, interrupted Jesus to ask if he would go to his house to heal his very sick daughter. Jesus agreed and started on the way. But before Jesus could even get anywhere, another interruption stopped him. A woman who had had chronic bleeding for 12 years touched his cloak. The text tells us that the woman believed that simply touching Jesus’ garments would heal her of the bleeding. And indeed she was healed immediately. There was no reason, then, for Jesus to stop. Yet Jesus did stop, in order to talk to whoever had touched him. The disciples dealt with that interruption the way most of us would probably have. “Oh, Jesus,” they said, “You’re in the midst of the crowd. Of course someone touched you. Not a big deal. Let’s keep going.” But Jesus stopped to engage the woman in conversation. And he gave her his complete attention.
The Greek translation helps us to better understand this conversation. The Greek word, sozo, means “to make well,” but it also means “to save.” So the woman said to herself, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be saved.” Yet the text says that she was “healed of her disease” when she touched his cloak, indicating a physical healing of the bleeding problem. Jesus told her that her faith had “saved her,” that her spiritual life was made whole. Then he added a blessing, saying “Go in peace.” The Greek word for peace, shalom, indicates a wholeness of body and spirit and soul. This woman was healed of a troubling disease that had made her an outcast. She could now be restored to life with her family and friends. So she was healed physically, spiritually, and socially. Jesus dealt with her whole healing, not just her physical healing, by stopping to engage in conversation with her.
In all of these stories, we see that Jesus stopped what he was doing, and displayed great compassion for very faithful people. This models for me, as a pastor, that people are always so much more important than tasks like preaching, sermon preparation, Bible classes, and certainly administrative duties. It models for us all that people are more important than things or tasks.
There is added suspense in our story for today, because something else happened during this interruption with the bleeding woman. And it was, of course, a very bad thing - the sick girl died. “Tell Jesus not to bother to come here after all,” Jairus’ people said. But Jesus did not listen, and headed for the house anyway. As he walked, he declared that the girl was not dead but only sleeping – and people laughed at him! And yet Jesus then went and healed this girl. He healed her from death.
So Jesus did some significant healing in today’s passage. He healed an incurable and chronic disease, and he conquered death itself. The Gospel of Mark shows us Jesus as God and man in these stories, a compassionate man and a God who heals and conquers anything on earth. In all these interruption stories in Mark, we find a common factor. The people believed. The leper believed, the bleeding woman believed, and Jairus believed on behalf of his daughter. Their faith was a significant factor in the miracles that Jesus was able to do. Our faith is always a significant factor in our ability to accomplish tasks on God’s behalf.
Now consider with me one more aspect of being interrupting. When Jesus was interrupted from going to the very sick girl, what we would consider a very bad thing happened when the girl died. And yet because she died, Jesus was able to show another divine power, the power to overcome even death. If Jesus had not been interrupted, he would have made it to the girl before she died, and healing her might have been a miracle, but not as spectacular a miracle, and not as much of a teaching moment as this conquering of death itself. So perhaps we should consider that this interruption was not just an odd coincidence. Perhaps it was a holy interruption, one that God planned in order to show the world more about Jesus.
So we find that God Almighty can use even seemingly simple aspects of human life like interruptions to reveal God’s self. We can find other times when God did such deeds. In the book of Exodus, when the Israelites left Egypt, God did not lead them directly to the Promised Land. Rabbi Harold Kushner, in his book on the 23rd Psalm, says the word in the 23rd Psalm for “straight paths,” as in “He leads me in straight paths for His name’s sake,” actually means a roundabout route to get to the place of destination. Kushner says that God led the Israelites on a roundabout route because they needed an interruption between their time as slaves and their time to come as God’s chosen free people. They had a very long holy interruption of 40 years.
We at Westminster church may be in the midst of a holy interruption. I can assure you that it will not be 40 years long, but it may be a couple of years until we have a new called head of staff pastor. Perhaps we need a holy interruption to help us get over missing Haywood. He has been a wonderful leader. We have learned much from him. We and our families have been ministered to by him in many meaningful ways. We have engaged in helpful ministries and missions because of his leadership. And we miss him already.
So realize, please, that we will not go the quickest and shortest route to get a new pastor. We will need to live in this time of holy interruption in order to grieve, to heal, and to look in new directions while still embracing the many ways in which Haywood has led us.
What would Jesus do with interruptions? It looks to me like he would embrace them. He would turn his whole attention towards them, and give the interruption and the interrupter his whole being.
I have heard my colleague Nancy Rozak say that interruptions may be the most important thing we do at work at Westminster. Henri Nouwen, a Jesuit priest and beloved spiritual author has also said this. He said, “You know, my whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.” (Nouwen, Reaching Out, p. 36)
So if we follow Jesus’ example, we will embrace this holy interruption in Westminster’s life. We will make the most we can of this interim time between Haywood’s wonderful 32 year pastorate here, and the advent of the next pastor. I am not yet sure how we will do that because we are just at the beginning of the journey. But I think that we will discover our roundabout route through this holy interruption together.
Individually, perhaps we should also try to embrace the interruptions, especially when they involve people. May I suggest that you give your whole attention to the interruption and the interruptor. Take time for them. Take time for the people in your life. And perhaps you can then return to the chore from which you were interrupted with new focus, with renewed energy, and with the satisfaction of knowing that you have responded as Jesus would respond.
So I invite you to embrace the holy interruptions in your life, people of Westminster, both individually, and as a church. Find God at work in the midst of those interruptions. For God is indeed there.
Glory be to God. Amen.