Interruptions

Text: Mark 5:21-34

Interruption. It’s the very ingredient that makes life real. I can’t think of a life without it. Life is full of interruptions – small or big. From the moment we were born and to the time our life on earth is finished, we are given a task to deal with interruptions. Some of them pass without our realization, while some others do require our full attention: losing someone we love, losing our physical or mental ability, moving, or a pandemic. No interruption comes without a message. At first, it’s not clear what message any particular interruption brings to us. Often, it’s our job to figure it out. It takes time to understand its message, and it take grace to accept it. It’s important not to deny the existence of an interruption when it’s visiting us. We shouldn’t interpret the meaning of an interruption too quickly before it reveals the fullness of its meaning. 

Our day usually doesn’t go far without some kind of interruption. How many times have we tried to do something but ended up doing something else? An interruption is the very ingredient that makes our day worth exploring. We might have to give up our idea of a normal day to live more fully as our day is unfolding. 

Ministry is also full of interruptions. Interruptions in our ministry are good signs that something is working. On the contrary, no interruption is a sign that something is not working. If we are the hands and feet of the Christ, we must stay attentive to the needs of people in the wider community. Some of the significant interruptions in my ministry happened when I encountered those who are poor. Some of the encounters were momentary while some others remained longer. A real and authentic relationship can be formed based on mutual respect and equal participation. I’m not trying to romanticize my encounters with people who are poor. They were real people trying to find a way to live like everyone else. Some of them took advantage of the kindness I showed, or the kindness the church showed. That led me to wonder what desperate situation led them to do this. Some of them lived on the street or in the car. Some of them also experienced gender discrimination as women. We can’t eradicate poverty without fighting for gender equality and justice. None of them left me without a message – a message about the community we were in, a message about life in general, a message to the church. They helped me to see a bigger picture. 

I can’t forget the person, whom I will call John, who changed my perspective about the small town where I was ministering. I was in the middle of doing something when John called the church office. John said, he just needed someone to talk to. The voice on the phone was rough and shaky. Sensing the emotional distress, I offered him to come and talk to me in person. John agreed and came right away. John’s story broke my heart. He recently lost his wife to a cancer. The pain was raw and intense. But what’s equally painful for John was the fact that there was no one to talk to. He was estranged from his only brother, and there was no room in the heart of his only friend to listen to his story. 

After hearing John’s story, I couldn’t see the town in the same way again. I began to see the community not through the eyes of the affluent but through the eyes of someone like John – being desperate to belong and to be seen and heard by others. John was also poor. He often skipped a meal and had to rely on the local food bank. Although loneliness is a common issue across the country, what I learned from John’s case was how poverty deepened his sense of loneliness and isolation.

I can’t tell what motivated him, but during my ministry in that town I saw a gradual change in John. A local librarian, a Sunday school teacher at the church I was serving, also told me how his appearance changed. John became more confident in himself. Not as someone who needed help, but as a full participant, John offered his time and strength to give back to the community. John even attended Sunday services. One Sunday in winter there was a heavy snowfall in town, but somebody came early to clear all the snow around the church. It was John! I can’t forget his face when I told him that I had to leave the town to move to Winnipeg. John seemed to be disappointed but wished me happiness, and I wished him well. It all began with one phone call in the middle of doing something – interruption.

Jesus’ life is full of interruptions – from the moment he was born and to the moment he said, “it is finished.” Jesus’ ministry is all about how he deals with interruptions. Different interruptions bring him different messages. When an interruption happens, it makes him stop what he was doing, changes the direction he was heading, or helps him establish a new relationship. Sometimes Jesus is interrupted by another interruption like the story we heard today.

The story is about Jesus’ encounter with two women of very different backgrounds. One is Jairus’ daughter, 12-year-old, belonging to a family of great privilege. The other is a woman who has been shunned from her community because of a flow of blood. Though they both are desperate, how they approach Jesus for help are very different depending on their social status. The 12-year-old has someone who can advocate on her behalf. When Jairus, her father sees Jesus, he falls at his feet, meaning he has the power to stop Jesus. Whereas the woman with a great obstacle – she is barren, poor, and excluded from community – comes up behind Jesus. Notice, she can’t even ask for help. She can only touch his garment, believing she will be made well by doing so. Notice also, she is immediately aware that she was healed before Jesus becomes aware of what just happened. Jesus affirms her faith by saying “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease.” In other words, she becomes whole, and free from her bondage by breaking the taboo, by reaching out, and by claiming God’s unconditional love for her. 

I wonder what Mark’s gospel is trying to teach us with this story. Jesus’ task is interrupted by the unexpected visit on the way. Someone who is on the margin, desperate and excluded from the community can change the priority of Jesus. Even though Jairus, the powerful man has to wait, Jesus abides to her interruption. This story is teaching us that until those at the margin become full participants, no one can be made well even if it takes time. 

Interruption. It’s a way for us to participate in Gods’ creation, the ongoing work of restoration and healing of the world even if it takes time, even if we have to change our priority.