“Those Blessed Interruptions”

Mark 5: 21-43

June 28, 2009 + Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ

400 Glenwood Drive

Chattanooga, Tennessee 37404

Rev. David Brown

We’ve all had this experience: we’re walking along with a crowd going toward the exit of a stadium or theatre. We’re bumped, jostled, touched by the people around us. We don’t pay attention to them and they don’t pay attention to us. We’re all on our way to a common destination. If, later, one of the crowd should say to us, “I was touching you, trying to get your attention,” we’d be astonished. How could we be expected to know the difference between a thoughtful touch and an impatient shove? We weren’t paying that much attention to what was going on around us. We were wrapped up in our own agenda and didn’t have time for anyone else. But Jesus did – have time, that is. And that is the point of our story today from Mark. But, first, let’s set the scene.

One day, as Jesus made his way through his early ministry beside the Sea of Galilee, he was approached by a man named Jairus the leader of the local synagogue, a man of great importance in his community. The fact that he approached Jesus for help at all must have raised eyebrows. After all, just a few verses back, other local leaders were wondering if Jesus’ remarkable powers came from the devil. Approaching Jesus in this way was a risky thing for Jairus. He risked losing his reputation.

But from Jesus’ point of view, this was a community leader from whom he might have hoped for support and a positive recommendation for his ministry. To be approached by one so respected might mean that some of the early negative opinions about him might be countered. If Jesus could affect a healing for this man’s family, there would be no telling how eager others might be to support and encourage the whole movement beginning to follow Jesus. There could be a lot riding on this chance encounter. Clearly, Jairus was hoping Jesus would hurry to help his precious child. “My little daughter is at the point of death,” he said. Time was of the essence. There was no time to waste.

I think I can understand how Jesus felt. It would be as if I received a call from Mayor Littlefield. “Pastor, come quickly to Memorial Hospital. There is a little girl there who is seriously ill. I want you to come immediately and pray for her.” Of course, my response would be, “I’m sorry, Mr. Mayor, I’m busy right now. I’ll come later when I get the time.” Not!

Naturally, Jesus began immediately to go toward Jairus’ home. But imagine Jairus’ impatience when Jesus stopped to inquire about someone in the crowd of people thronging all around him who might have touched him! A little girl is dying, yet Jesus could be bothered to stop along the way, taking precious moments to exchange conversation with an unnamed woman who, for the past 12 years, had been barred from worship and participation in the life of her people because her medical condition rendered her ritually unclean. A somebody, a man of importance  with a dying daughter not yet of child bearing age, is being delayed because of a barren nobody with a chronic 12 year-long condition who hangs about at the side of the road.

Actually, we learn quite a bit about this unnamed sufferer for whom Jesus was willing to step aside and have a conversation. She had exhausted all the medical knowledge of the experts of her day because of the persistence of her ailment. She had also exhausted her financial resources in the process. She reminds me of two friends I knew in the church I served in seminary. One was a physician and one was a businessman. They had known each other for years. The businessman liked to tease his friend the physician, saying, “I went to him for fifty years, and, you know, I don’t feel one bit better today than when I first went to him!”

The unnamed woman by the road knew the feeling. She had, as Mark’s gospel says, “endured much under many physicians.” In twelve years she had spent all she had and she was no better but rather had grown worse. Who knows what prompted her to believe that Jesus could help her? But she didn’t dare to approach him directly. She quietly hurried up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak.

Two things happened immediately: the woman felt in her body that she had been healed and, at the same moment, Jesus was aware of what had happened. He turned at once to his disciples and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” The disciples play straight men for the punch line of the story: “Who touched you?! Everybody was touching you!” What a question! Jesus was being jostled on all sides by the crowd. But Jesus knew that only one had touched him as a form of prayer, and with astonishing results.

A miracle of healing? Yes, I suppose it was. But I think there was a greater miracle here. Jesus was so sensitive to the needs of those around him that he was willing to interrupt his life and pay attention to this poor woman who had no one else to care for her. Then and now, healing miracles happen all the time. But stories of an important person stopping and speaking with a nobody, well, that’s unusual.

Several celebrities have died recently: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. One of the things I have noticed about celebrities and other famous and powerful people is that they don’t like ordinary people getting too close to them. They don’t want to be bothered. I can understand that, partly – safety and all that. But you and I aren’t celebrities. More than that, we are supposed to be like Jesus and he behaved less like a celebrity than anyone I have ever known. He was always willing to respond to what I am calling “those blessed interruptions” that come in life. Jesus was never too busy to be bothered. And, as I said, that is the real miracle in this story.

But it does raise a serious question for me and, I hope, for you. Are we willing to have our busy lives interrupted by opportunities to be in touch with someone else’s needs? Are we sensitive enough to those around us to feel their gentle touch seeking our attention, our compassion, our concern? I have to be honest and say I shudder at how many of those blessed interruptions I must have missed in my life. How about you?

The irony in this story is that Jesus’ response to this blessed interruption didn’t cause any ultimate problem at all. The woman received not only her healing but also a blessing. And Jairus’ daughter was also restored to health.

Friends, I believe there is a basic truth of life here: No one, no matter how important they are, should be too busy to be concerned about someone in need. Do you remember the old joke: “Jesus is coming soon. Look busy!” No, don’t look or be busy; be aware and be compassionate. When we respond to life’s blessed interruptions, we have the opportunity to be channels of healing and blessing for others. As Paul says, we become Christ for other people. And that is the greatest blessing any of us can have in life. I want that blessing. I hope you do, too.