Interruptions; don’t we just hate them? Often, they seem wholly negative and irritating. As when a Minister stepped to the communion table after his sermon only to be met there by a woman who immediately shoved all of the communion elements onto the floor. Or a writer who lost two chapters of the new book she was writing when her computer crashed. Or a father, praying with his young children, being distracted by their giggles, the dog barking and the phone ringing. Or a healer on a vital mission to a sick child being held up by the crowd including an old woman who insisted on touching him (Mark 5: 21 – 43).
Jesus may have had two reasons for going to heal Jairus’ daughter. First, the girl was seriously ill, close to death, and he had compassion for her. Second, he was generally at loggerheads with the Synagogue leaders and yet here was one of them asking, pleading for his help. Ministering to Jairus’ daughter was potentially a breakthrough with the religious leaders. So, it was imperative to get to Jairus’ home quickly. That was what Jairus wanted and what the situation demanded.
But the crowd were in the way. So many people were going along with Jesus that they were crowding him on every side. Then he was touched by a woman who had suffered terribly from severe bleeding for twelve years and who had lost everything on cures that didn’t work.
To us this would seem like an irritating interruption. We’re on important business; someone’s life is at stake; we already being delayed and we can’t stop for someone else. This interruption though is worse than just the time delay. According to the Jewish Law this woman is perpetually unclean because of her constant bleeding. As a result of being touched by her Jesus is also made unclean. The consequence of that for Jairus is that Jesus should no longer enter his home without undergoing purification rites.
Poor Jairus must have been despairing at this interruption because he knew how close his daughter was to death and he is faced with a dilemma that goes to the very heart of his faith.
But Jesus’ response to this interruption is very different. He doesn’t view the woman’s touch as an annoying interruption instead he stops, searches for her and affirms her in what she has done. Jesus had confidence that there was time in God’s grace for both the woman and the girl.
There is something very reassuring for us in the woman’s touch. Jesus was being touched and jostled by all sorts of people in this crowd who were there just out of interest or curiosity; just wanting to see what miracle he might work next. But when someone in genuine need touches him, Jesus knows immediately and turns to find the woman. Maybe you are here today in great need yourself but feeling as though you are just an anonymous person in the crowd who is never noticed. Just as with this woman, Jesus knows that there is time for you and your need and will turn to you and meet you at your point of need.
In the story, this is true both for this woman and for Jairus’ daughter. Although the daughter dies as a result of the delay, that is just an opportunity for Jesus to demonstrate the breadth of God’s of grace and power by raising her back to life again. In God’s grace there is time both for the woman and the girl, just as there is time for each one of us.
Jesus also uses the woman’s interruption to demonstrate to Jairus what is really important in life. As a Synagogue leader, Jairus’ life would have been governed by the Law and obedience to it. But for his daughter to be raised to life, his literal understanding of the Law has to be broken as Jesus, an unclean man, enters his house and touches his daughter. What he must surely have come to realise is that the heart of the Law is about love; love for God, for ourselves and for our neighbour. Often, though, when we focus on the Law for its own sake, we make the keeping of rules and regulations more important than the purpose of those rules which is love. What is important is to love and sometimes in order to love others it is necessary to break rules that others hold dear. Jesus uses this interruption to challenge Jairus’ thinking on what is really important and what the purpose of the Law really is.
In the same way, interruptions can be part of God’s purpose for our lives. The real opportunity interruptions provide is the teachable moment that follows. After the communion elements were scattered on the floor and the ushers had led the woman away, the Minister turned to the congregation and said, "Well, Jesus told us to love our enemies. We have an opportunity to do just that right now. This woman is obviously not well. As the ushers reset the table, let us pray for her." Because the writer had to start with a clean slate when she began writing again a few days later, she decided to try a different approach to the book. She found that this new direction worked better, and she wasn’t struggling for ideas as greatly. In the end, she never rewrote the chapters she lost and is convinced that her book is all the stronger for leaving them out. The father who was distracted while praying with his children began to incorporate the distractions into his prayers. When his children giggled, he asked God to bless their high spirits; when the dog barked, he thanked God for the dog and asked him to keep the dog healthy; when the phone rang for his eldest daughter, he thanked God for her popularity and asked for a little more peace and quiet around the house.
Instead of cursing interruptions and trying to ignore them maybe we too could benefit from asking what it is that God is trying to teach us through them and how we are being called to minister in them. Ecclesiastes teaches us that there is a time for everything under the sun. A time for the woman, a time for the girl, a time for each one of us, and a time for the person who interrupts our busy schedule. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.
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King's X - Shot Of Love.
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