There’s a story in the Gospel of Mark that begins with Jesus crossing a sea on a boat. As he disembarks from the ship onto the beach, a crowd starts gathering around him. Word spreads that this teacher and healer has been spotted and more and more people come to catch a glimpse of him, hear a word from him, or even maybe witness his miraculous power for themselves. As Jesus is walking and talking with some of the people in the crowd, one of the leaders of the synagogue, a high-ranking Jewish official, pushes his way through the throng of onlookers until he is standing right next to Jesus.
Now, up to this point in the Gospel, Jesus hasn’t exactly made the best impression with the Jewish religious leaders. He has been charged with blasphemy for forgiving sins, he’s eaten with sinners, he blatantly ignored their traditions in ritual cleansing, and he messed with their understanding of the Sabbath. They even at one time declared him to be Beelzebub, the Prince of Darkness! And now this synagogue ruler bursts from the crowd, right in front of Jesus…
And falls down to his knees before him!
Jairus, the synagogue ruler, interrupts Jesus’ conversations with those in the crowd to beg him to come to his house and heal his daughter, who is on the verge of death. He was probably going against the popular opinion and judgment of his peers just by approaching Jesus, much less pleading with him to come into his house and work a miracle. And yet his daughter is dying, and how many of us would not risk anything we could to save the life of someone we hold so dear?
Sometimes it takes experiencing our greatest needs for us to break through the unnecessary barriers in our lives.
Now, Jesus could have treated this man with contempt. He could have given him the cold shoulder and turned his attention elsewhere. There were probably numerous other people there, waiting for healing from him. But our God is a compassionate God, and Jesus immediately goes with Jairus. He drops all his plans, all he was doing, and goes straight away with this man whose daughter desperately needed his help.
He doesn’t go alone, though. The crowd of people goes with them, pressing in on Jesus and Jairus. They want to see this miracle, and they wouldn’t miss it for the world! Like a flow of impatient business men and women exiting a subway at rush hour, everyone is anxious to get there as quickly as possible. It must have been quite a scene, and must have looked like an unstoppable force!
And yet, somewhere along the way, they are delayed. You see, there was this woman within the multitude. She had suffered from a persistent disorder that had afflicted her for twelve years! The Gospel writer tells us that she had given all she had to doctors and physicians to try to solver her problem and heal her body, and yet no one was able to help her. Instead of getting better, over time she just got worse. And this woman, going against Jewish convention that would have declared her to be unclean and a pariah, is determined to reach Jesus. She believes that if she can but touch part of his clothing, she will be healed.
Just touching Jesus’ robe will accomplish what no doctor was able to do.
So she pushes through crowd as quickly as she can. She is in pain, remember, so this is not the easiest thing to do. Finally, though, she finds herself right behind Jesus. Her eyes are set on the edge of his robe as it shifts behind him as he walks, and, already bent over from her pain, she reaches out and just barely brushes the fabric with the tip of her finger. Immediately, she is stopped in her tracks, and the crowd swallows her up as it continues on its way. She stops, though, because she can feel in her body that she has been healed! Her bleeding stops, and she feels whole again for the first time in over a decade!
Now, Jesus stops in his tracks too, for he felt power go out of him. He looks around confused, and asks the crowd, “Who touched me?” His disciples answer him the same way many of us would have in their place. “Who touched you? Are you serious, Jesus? You see this crowd pressed around you, and yet you want to know which one touched you?”
But Jesus isn’t talking about just any kind of touch. He knows that someone deliberately touched him, hoping beyond hope that it would right a wrong, would meet a need, would work a miracle. So he continues to look around. The woman, knowing she was caught, comes forward and confesses. And Jesus blesses her, saying that her faith, her courageous trust, has made her whole!
So far in our story, Jesus has been interrupted twice: once by Jairus, whom he immediately followed so that he might heal his daughter, and once by this unnamed woman, whose courageous trust in his limitless power led to her healing.
And yet the story continues with another interruption. As Jesus is speaking to this woman, some people come from Jairus’ house to tell him that his daughter has died. “Why bother the teacher any longer?” they ask.
Can you imagine how Jairus must feel? This healer of great renown, the one he went out on a limb to see, has just wasted the last precious moments his daughter had on an unclean woman. Wasn’t the daughter of a synagogue ruler more important? And now, his daughter, his precious daughter, is dead.
Jesus, overhears them, though. He looks Jairus in the eye and tell him, “Do not fear; only trust courageously.” He goes into the house, casts out all of the mourners, and goes to the place where the girl is laying. He takes her hand, tells her to rise, and she does! Jesus not only heals her of her disease; he brings her back to life!
It is amazing how interruptions in our life can lead to some of the most important events, isn’t it? Because Jesus was interrupted by and went with Jairus, he was right where he needed to be for the woman with the bleeding problem to reach him. And because he stopped to bless this woman, Jesus was able to show his mastery not only over illness and injury, but over death as well. Jesus didn’t react against these interruptions. He welcomed them.
I wonder what would happen if we were able to welcome the interruptions in our life the same way? How would life be different if we had the patience that Jesus exhibits and if we treated each new interruption as a new chance to bring glory to the Kingdom of God?
I feel like sometimes I get so wrapped up in my life and my schedule that it is hard for me to budge from it for even a moment. If I am not at some event, I am usually on my to one, and most of the time, I’m running late. But what would life be like if I saw the next traffic jam I get stuck in as an excuse to spend a few extra minutes in some much-needed prayer? What would life be like if I took the time to answer that call from a friend and catch up, even if it meant putting off a little bit of work for another time? What would happen if I stopped and bought a hot cup of coffee for the homeless person I see shivering every morning in the cold as I’m driving in my car on the way to work?
Friends, during this time of Lent, while we are immersed in our wilderness places, may you engage with Christ in a ministry of interruptions. May you keep watch for the moments in life that jump out at you and pull you out of your daily grind, and spend some time seeing how welcoming those interruptions can lead to others finding healing and wholeness and to you finding yet another way to bless others and bless God. And may you remember that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh and the One who works miracles through the ministry of interruptions, walks with you always, no matter where you are and no matter what you’re doing. Amen.
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