Interruptions as a Blessing

I confess that I do not like interruptions. When I am in the middle of something, I like to keep working on it. To be interrupted feels sometimes as if one is being kept from the task at hand. But anyone who is a parent knows that interruptions are a necessary part of being in a relationship with another being who needs you. Parenthood is a commitment: it means that there is someone who is very needy and completely dependent on you, and you have an obligation to be there for them. It means there will be interruptions: that is part of what it means to be a parent.

But when interruptions come from a stranger, that seems different. For example, consider a junk call on the phone, or a knock on the door from a neighbor, or a salesperson. Consider also someone accosting you on the street with a request for money or attention. These are less easy to accept. These interruptions feel unreasonable, and often, they are. For me, I sometimes find it hard to accept them calmly: sometimes I get annoyed. While the annoyance is understandable, is it right?

If we look at Jesus in the Gospels, we realize that he is interrupted frequently, often by strangers. Yet he is patient with them, even when others around him are not. On one occasion, Jesus, while traveling with a crowd, is pursued by a blind beggar who yells at the top of his voice, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Clearly, the beggar’s yelling is annoying, because many people in the crowd sternly order him to be quiet, yet he cries out even more loudly. [Mark 10:48] But Jesus doesn’t order him to be quiet, or express annoyance at all, but instead calls for him, and asks him what he needs. [Mark 10:50] When the beggar asks for his sight to be healed, Jesus grants it to him immediately, and the beggar, no longer blind, follows Jesus on the way. [Mark 10:52]

On a different occasion, Jesus is interrupted by a Roman centurion, who asks for healing for his servant, who is sick at home. This centurion is not Jewish, he is Roman, and the person who is sick is a Roman’s servant: it was a frowned-upon thing at the time for a Jewish person such as Jesus to enter a Roman’s home. None the less, Jesus immediately offers to come, to cure the servant. The centurion, knowing how much of an imposition it would be for Jesus to come, and having faith in Jesus’ power to heal, asks Jesus to “only speak the word” to heal his servant, [Matthew 8:9] which Jesus does.

On another occasion, people were bringing their little children to Jesus, for him to lay his hands on them to give a blessing, and it was happening to a degree that Jesus’ followers began to be stern with the people bringing the children, to try to get them to stop. But Jesus told his followers to allow it, and he blessed all the children before he went on his way. [Matthew 19:13-15]

But surely Jesus expresses annoyance sometimes? Does he always welcome interruptions? On one occasion, Jesus does react to an interruption: when in the midst of a crowd, a woman who has been suffering from hemorrhages for years touches his clothing. Immediately, he turns around in the crowd, asking “Who touched my clothes?” [Mark 5:30]. His followers think he is being unreasonable by asking about being touched when the crowd is pressing all around him. [Mark 5:31] Yet still he asks. But when the woman who touched his clothes confesses to touching him, having being healed when she did so, he is gentle with her, not annoyed: he tells her that her faith has made her well, to go in peace and be healed of her disease. [Mark 5:34]

We see from Jesus’ example that he is interrupted frequently, and not just by people to whom he has an obligation, but by strangers. Yet he is patient with them: he helps them in their need. If we are followers of Jesus, we need to take his example seriously. Jesus himself tells us that we will be judged according to how we addressed the needs of others. [Matthew 25:31-46] If we are interrupted by someone with a genuine need, we are following Jesus’ example when we help. This means that an interruption from someone, even a stranger, with a genuine need, should not be seen as an imposition or an annoyance, even if it feels like it, but as an opportunity to be like Jesus. Such opportunities are blessings in disguise: it is in becoming more like Jesus that we become whom God made us to be, and that is both our purpose and our path to the joy that God has prepared for us for all eternity.