“When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around Him while He was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jarius, came, and when he saw Jesus, fell at His feet.” Mark 5:21-22
This weekend, as I returned home for a family reunion, I was reminded of one my favorite things that I have been presented about Jesus – He was interruptible.
In Mark chapter 5, Jesus was interrupted multiple times. First it was the demon-possessed man, then Jarius, whose daughter was dying, and then the woman with the bleeding disorder, not to mention the multiple times that a “crowd” is mentioned… and that’s just in one chapter of one of the gospels.
As I was reminded of Jesus’ interruptibility and looked back at this scripture this morning, these two verses, in particular, really caught my attention.
Jesus had just helped the demon-possessed man, He got in the boat likely with His disciples and as soon as He got to the other side, not only was He met by a large crowd, but Jarius fell at His feet requesting Jesus to come heal his dying daughter. And if you read on in the chapter, on His way to help Jarius’ daughter, Jesus was again interrupted by the woman with a bleeding disorder.
How would you be feeling at this point? I have to be honest in telling you that I think I would be growing a bit annoyed and a little weary.
But Jesus didn’t respond with an ounce of annoyance or weariness. In fact, Jesus was not only interruptible, but He took it a step further in His acts of response. It would have been one thing for Jesus to simply acknowledge whatever it was that had been presented to Him, but Jesus restored the demon-possessed man, He raised the dying daughter of Jarius, and He healed the sick woman. Jesus was interrupted AND Jesus responded with love.
I want you to take some time to ask yourself, “Am I interruptible?”
As I asked myself this question today it transformed into, “Is my schedule or routine interruptible?” In the past fews months, I have grown so used to being able to do the things that I prioritize in my every day, which for me has become having a quiet time with the Lord, typing out a post for Wandering Light, and working out.
But this weekend, I found myself surrounded by family and the time that I typically designate to those things was pressed. Was that a bad thing? Absolutely not. But I had to decide where my time most needed to be spent, so some of the things from my personal ‘top 3’ needed to be substituted.
Could I have stepped away from our family gathering to go on a run? Sure. Could I have taken my coffee and Bible away from the conversation happening in the kitchen? Of course. But this weekend, I needed to be interruptible. My personal schedule needed to be interruptible. Had it not been interruptible, I would have missed out on so many fruitful and encouraging conversations from this weekend. And honestly, it shouldn’t stop with this weekend.
I can’t tell you how many times I have been having my quiet time by the lake when someone comes up and starts a conversation and I find myself a little flustered when they linger just a little longer than I would like. But just as the conversations that I had with my family this weekend were so fruitful, you never know when seeds are being planted in your day to day interactions.
A large crowd interrupted Jesus’ time by the lake and people were constantly falling at His feet with HUGE requests, YET He still responded in love to each and every ‘interruption’.
I have a lot of work to do when it comes to being interruptible without the slightest hint of annoyance or weariness, but I can tell you that I’ve seen the fruit of being like Jesus in this way and I will strive to become more and more like Him with each day to come.
Be interruptible. Surrender your personal schedule. Don’t miss an opportunity. Respond in love.
