One morning I was a few minutes late for an appointment. As I stepped out of the door, the telephone rang and a member of the church wanted to talk with me. He was struggling with some problems. I had to listen to him for about 15 minutes, eager to leave but could not. Another time was when I was in a meeting with the other pastors, but then a guest came to see me for an important matter.
There are some interruptions in life that sometimes throw us off, and force us to change our schedule. I am sure you have these interruptions in your lives as well.
Norman Cousins once described his work as editor of The Saturday Review as “presiding over interruptions”. Do you feel like you spend your life presiding over, trying to manage interruptions?
There’s a story told of Leonardo Da Vinci who was one day working on the face of Jesus in his masterpiece, “The Last Supper”. For 12 years, he had been working on that painting, and much of it had been completed, but there was a blank space on the wall where the face of Jesus was to appear. For inspiration, Leonardo had one of his pupils read the 13th chapter of John’s gospel — you know, that’s the chapter that tells of Jesus when he was having that last supper with his disciples, taking a basin and a towel, washing the disciples feet, and dramatically living out who he was. But hardly had the sound of the last word of the gospel story die down as the image of Jesus, that face full of life, began to form in Leonardo’s mind, when suddenly, another pupil burst into the room and cried out, “At last, we’ve found you! We’ve come from the Duchess.” “What has happened?” Leonardo asked. “Trouble, Monsieur Leonardo! The pipes in the bath will not work,” replied the pupil. “Nonsense,” said Da Vinci, “you see that I’m busy! Find Zorra Astro and tell him to fix the pipes.” “Oh no,” the pupil declared. “I’m ordered by the Duchess not to return without you.”
Leonardo tried to resume his work, but it was no use. The image was gone. He slowly closed his box of colors, and descended the scaffold, leaving off painting the face of Jesus to go, and fix the plumbing.
How do we handle interruptions? In verse 34 of chapter 6, Mark tells us, “as he (meaning, Jesus) landed, he saw a great throne, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd…”
We marvel at Jesus’ sensitivity. Jesus had a sixth sense about the needs of others. Had we read the previous verses, we could have read the story of the demoniac in the cemetery whom Jesus ministered to. You can just imagine Jesus getting off the boat when suddenly, a mad man came running out of the cemetery, battered because he’d beaten himself with stones in his madness. Jesus saw his hurt. He looked beyond that manic behavior, those bizarre clothes, the broken chains that had bound him, and saw someone who was hurting.
Then there was Jairus. Jesus was not interested in his position of prestige as a leader in the synagogue. Jairus came to Jesus falling at his feet, begging him to come and heal his daughter who was at the point of death. And Jesus responded. And then on the way to the house of Jairus, another interruption.
I think one of the most thrilling stories of all New Testament healings is a story of a healing that takes place on the way to a healing. You see, this is one of those interruptions in Jesus’ life.
In the midst of the jostling crowd, he sensed something going on, someone was touching him. What a bold thing this woman had done, what wild abandonment in faith and trust — just to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. And Jesus healed the woman. “Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace, and be healed of your disease,” he said to her.
Jesus has shown us that we can cope with our interruptions if we integrate them positively in our lives, if we keep the perspective that persons, not things, are the eternal value. With that perspective, we realize that life’s love is interruptible.
So a phone call comes when you are in the midst of seriously grappling with a problem. So there’s a knock on your door early in the morning when you are rushing around trying to get ready for the meeting. So a call comes at midnight when you need so desperately your rest for the work that you are to do for the meeting. So you unexpectedly meet some friends at the hotel lobby when you were about to leave.
Like Jesus, when we have the right perspective, life is interruptible. If persons become important than things, life is interruptible.
There’s a phrase in our gospel, “as he landed, he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd”. Life’s love is interruptible.
