Embraced Interruptions

What DID Jesus DO?

We walked around the corner and into the parking garage of the hotel we were staying at for our anniversary weekend. Our day had started 13 hours earlier with breakfast, followed immediately by 18 holes of golf in the rolling hills, and ending with two distillery tours on opposite sides of town.

We were looking forward to quickly dropping a few things off in our room and then heading to finally get some real food after an incredibly full day.

We glanced over to the spot we parked our car in just a couple of hours earlier, and…the spot was empty–as were the couple of spots around it.

I immediately gave my husband, Russ, that “I told you not to park there” look as we headed up to the front desk.

When we returned to the hotel a couple of hours earlier, there were no “normal” parking spots left. There were only the three spots housing the electric car chargers. As there was no sign stating we’d be towed if we parked there and knowing we were only parking there for a short time, we parked in one of the spots without a second thought.

When we arrived at the front desk, the gentleman working claimed another guest needed the spot we were in, so his manager had our car towed. We proceeded to ask a multitude of questions about their hotel parking policies, their lack of signage related to their towing policies, and where our car was towed. 

Several minutes and a crap ton of dodging and deflection later, we were calling the towing company who informed us no one would be there for at least two hours, and it would be the same price if we picked the car up then as the next morning, Russ decided to wait to get the car until the next morning.

To say I was angry would be an understatement.

I am a planner. 

I had spent hours researching, planning, and reserving for our weekend.

This snag was not in my plans.

I do not enjoy having my plans interrupted.

For anything.

Even good things (which this was not).

I like structure and schedules and plans and forethought.

I function really well in those types of situations–not so much in these types.

Even though I had only eaten some avocado toast for breakfast, I was so mad I couldn’t even eat dinner. And, sleep? Forget about that. Needless to say, I got up in the morning with a massive headache and even more massive anger.

I sat in the room while Russ went to retrieve the car–which was another hassle I won’t even get into– and had a somewhat productive conversation with the manager who credited us the amount of the Uber and towing expenses. 

I lost a solid 15 hours of my life and anniversary trip stressing out and being angry over these unfortunate interruptions, unlike my husband who just rolled with the punches, accepted the interruptions, and didn’t let them negatively affect his life.

I’ve been noticing this pattern in Jesus’s life of how He handled interruptions. His reactions to interruptions to his schedule and plans were, sadly, vastly different than mine and much more similar to Russ’s.

Unexpected Interruptions

This year, I’ve been working my way through the book of Luke and paying close attention to what Jesus did while He was here on the earth. If you haven’t read Luke 8, I would encourage you to do so today. I’m at the end of chapter 8 in verses 40-56, and I’m not going to include all the scripture here today, but feel free to hop over and read it. I really like The Passion Translation and The Message.

These stories take place during Jesus’s ministry right after He’s cast the legion of demons into the pigs. Luke tells us:

When Jesus returned to Galilee, the crowds were overjoyed, for they had been waiting for him to arrive. Luke 8:40 TPT

News of Jesus, His ministry, and His miracles was spreading. When Jesus returned to Galilee, there was a crowd of people just waiting for Him to return. I can picture this crowd patiently, or maybe even impatiently, waiting for Christ’s return. Then, He shows up, and they are so excited they probably couldn’t even contain themselves. Can you picture the energy here?

At this very moment, though, a man, Jarius,  broke through the crowd–the leader of the local Jewish congregation–and fell at Jesus’s feet, begging Him to heal his dying 12-year-old daughter. What happens next is really cool, and it’s something I’ve never paid much attention to before.

As Jesus started to go with him to his home to see her, a large crowd surrounded him. Luke 8:41 TPT

Did you catch it?

Jesus had just arrived in Galilee. He was met by a large crowd of people waiting for Him. One man with a huge need broke through this crowd and begged Jesus to stop what He was doing, to abandon His plans, to be interrupted, and to heal his daughter. 

Jesus did it without question.

He stopped what He was doing.

He deviated from His plans.

Without so much as a question or even a second thought.

It doesn’t stop there, though. As Jesus was leaving to follow Jarius to his house, a large crowd surrounded Him. Luke tells us:

In the crowd that day was a woman who had suffered greatly for twelve years from slow bleeding. Even though she had spent all that she had on healers,  she was still suffering. Pressing in through the crowd, she came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his garment. Instantly her bleeding stopped and she was healed.

Jesus suddenly stopped and said to his disciples, “Someone touched me. Who was it?” Luke 8: 43-46 TPT

I’ve written about the miracle of this interaction before, so I’m not going to get into all of it today. Instead, I want to look at Jesus’s reaction to this woman. He was on His way to Jarius’s house to see his dying daughter when this woman reached out and touched Him. 

He could have kept on going.

He could have stayed focused on the task at hand.

He could have ignored the touch and continued on with his plans.

Instead, though, again we see Jesus put his plans on hold and embrace an interruption.

Miraculous Results of Interruptions

Two amazing things happen in these few short verses as a result of Jesus embracing interruptions:

• This woman who had been bleeding for twelve years was healed.

• Jarius’s daughter’s spirit returned to her body and she lived again.

The sick were healed, and the dead were brought back to life because Jesus slowed down, embraced interruptions, put His plans on hold, and met the needs of those around Him.

I don’t think we’re going to literally heal the sick and bring the dead back to life, but I definitely think we can offer hope, healing, and life to those who desperately need it if we slow down, embrace interruptions, and abandon our plans enough to allow us to see those around us and the people God places in our paths.

I don’t know about you, but I know I am incredibly guilty of becoming so committed to and engrossed in my own plans, my own schedule, and my own agenda, I might as well have blinders on when it comes to how God can use interruptions in my life.

I don’t think I’m alone, though.

Sadly, this world we live in today doesn’t lend itself to embracing interruptions, does it?

I don’t want to be one of those older adults who looks at the world today and immediately does the “back in my day…” speech. When it comes to how overscheduled we all are, I can’t help but be that person just a little bit.

Thirty years ago, our schedules didn’t look like this.

• We didn’t have travel sports teams for every season.

• We weren’t committed to dropping our kids off for something different every night of the week.

• We had the time to cook meals and eat them at home as families.

• We didn’t have school events on Sundays.

• We weren’t “bad parents” if we didn’t attend every classroom party.

And, these are just a few of the items on our busy schedules.

Our lives are so busy and scheduled, and most of us don’t even have time to breathe before we fly out the door to the next commitment.

I wonder what it would look like if we made room in our lives, hearts, and schedules for interruptions or even if we simply quit seeing interruptions as negative and started embracing them and the good that can come out of them.

We might be surprised by the hope, healing, and life that comes out of them.

Reflections:

1. How do you typically respond to interruptions?

2. When was there a time in your life when you were interrupted, but it worked out for the best?

3. How do you think your world would change if you slowed down and made room for interruptions?