The Interruptible Jesus

In Mark 5, Jesus has an urgent mission. Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders, sent out an urgent 911. “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” - Mark 5:23

If this happened today, you could picture the rushing aid car, lights flashing and sirens blaring. A child’s life hangs in the balance. Hurry!

As Jesus goes with this man to heal his daughter, traffic doesn’t pull over so he can get there quickly. A large crowd follows him, pressing around him. In the middle of that chaotic crowd was another case. Where the little girl seems to have an acute need, this woman had a chronic bleeding condition. She’d spent years going to many doctors, but instead of making her better, she grew worse. In desperation, she reached out to Jesus thinking “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

Basic triage protocol prioritizes the acute over the chronic. Jesus doesn’t follow protocol. He stops the entourage and asks, “Who touched my clothes?” Though his disciples tried to keep him “on mission” Jesus kept looking around until he identified the woman. He spent the time to see her, listen to her tell her whole story, and then assure her that she could go in peace, freed from her suffering.

We don’t know how long that interchange took, but every second was precious. Remember, a little girl was on death’s door. Jesus, however, refused to hurry past this woman in need.

By the time Jesus reached Jairus’ house, people were beginning to cover the windows with black cloth. The little girl was dead, the window to save her seemed to have closed.

Again, Jesus doesn’t follow standard protocols, not even those dictated by death. He brushes off scorn and laughter, walks to the girl and raises her from the dead.

Jesus is interruptable. He is present. He is willing to abandon the “tyranny of the urgent” in favor of intimacy in the present.

Are you?

Many days I have so much on my plate that I feel like interruptions will throw everything out of whack. Over time, I’m learning that the opposite is true. While God does work through scheduled activities, it often feels like He is more present in those holy moments / divine interruptions. The unscheduled moment with a hurting person is as vital as the planned time of study.

Don’t abandon your schedule … but keep your eyes open for the random moments God sends your way. Many of those are places where miracles happen.

Choose to be interruptible. Choose to see the divine moments waiting in the ordinary interruptions of your day. You might be surprised where miracles are waiting to unfold.

With you;
Pastor Tim