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January 28/29, 2006

How many times a day do we get interrupted? Right when we’re in the middle of doing something, the phone rings or one of the kids cries or has some other kind of need; or at work when the pressure is on to get something done, the interruptions seem to come a mile a minute. Some days seem to be just a series of interruptions and we never get done what we intended. Interruptions are very annoying in our everyday lives.

I started thinking about this after I read through today’s Gospel story. Here Jesus is, preaching and teaching in the synagogue in such a way that the people are astonished. I think we can safely say he was captivating his audience because He preached in such a way that left no doubt about the validity of what He was saying. And right in the middle, He is interrupted by this demon. “What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” I know that if that was me, I would be totally thrown off track…I would loose my train of thought and I wouldn’t quite know what to do.

But St. Mark tells us that Jesus acted very differently. Instead of being flustered He used the interruption as an opportunity to demonstrate how much authority He really had – as well as showing how compassionate God is about not only a person’s soul but their body as well. Jesus goes ahead and heals the man of the unclean spirit and presumably goes back to preaching His message. Of course the impact is magnified by the healing and people are amazed and awed by what they have witnessed.

If you think about Jesus’ life, how often was He interrupted when He was in the middle of something important? One time He was preaching and they lowered a man on a stretcher from the roof; another time He was leading a crowd into Jericho and a blind beggar clamored for His attention from the side of the road. Other times when He’s in the middle of something, someone is sent to fetch Him to come and cure the gravely ill.

And Jesus never refuses. He never bemoans the interruption or asks them to wait until He’s finished or to come back at another time; His compassion is always primary and He’s always willing to listen to the request. And to respond then and there.

I think that tells us a lot about God and how He feels toward us. God is never annoyed when we turn to Him; He never says “I’m too busy now to listen”. He never dismisses our needs, even our physical needs, as being inconsequential. God’s primary concern is for our well being and our happiness. You maybe thinking that sometimes He has a funny way of showing that; that He doesn’t always answer or show us His compassion. But I dare say it’s that we are not always able to recognize how God is responding to us. After all Jesus role was to reach us the ways of God and He clearly demonstrates a listening, compassionate God in every way.

So, this week when we find ourselves being interrupted from all the things we do, perhaps we can remember God’s patience with us and realize interruptions can be as important as the other tasks at hand.