Interrupted
Mark 5:21-43
by Jim Westmoreland
A business executive became depressed. Things were not going
well at work, and he was bringing his problems home with him
every night. Every evening he would eat his dinner in silence,
shutting out his wife and five-year-old daughter. Then he would
go into the den and read the paper using the newspaper to wall
his family out of his life. The message was clear. No
interruptions were wanted.
After several nights of this, one evening his daughter took her
little hand and pushed the newspaper down. She then jumped
into her father's lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and
hugged him strongly. What would be his reaction to this
interruption? How would he respond? The father said abruptly,
"Honey, you are hugging me to death!" "No, Daddy," the little
girl said, "I'm hugging you to life!"
How do we respond to interruptions? Do we resent them?
Are we closed to what the situation might be? This was the
greatness of Jesus. He made a ministry out of being interrupted?
There were always people in the middle of that interruption.
There were opportunities to listen, to care, to heal and to teach.
He took people where they were and hugged them to life! That
is precisely what we see Jesus doing here in this dramatic
passage in Mark 5. He is loving needy and hurting people,
hugging them to life. This passage is a fascinating one because
here we have a story within a story, an interruption within an
interruption, or two healing stories rolled into one and the
people involved could not be more different.(1)
On the one hand, the family of Jairus represented the "upper
crust" of society. Jairus was the ruler of the synagogue. He was
a man of substance, rich and powerful and religiously
prominent. In the synagogue, he managed the synagogue
deciding who would preach, what scripture would be read, and
what hymns would be sung. But this day, Jairus was troubled.
His
12-year-old daughter was dying.
On the other hand, the hemorrhaging woman in the crowd was a
social outcast. She was considered unclean and therefore not
allowed to set foot in the synagogue, much less be in a crowd
and touch anyone, which would make them unclean. In this
magnificent passage, these two vastly different people, the down
and out hemorrhaging woman and the upper-crust daughter of
Jairus, are loved into life by our Lord …Jairus and the woman
provide the interruptions, and Jesus provides, the love,
attention and healing.
Jesus had been in the region of Decapolis, which was a 10-city league on the West side of the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, and Mark tells us he crossed over the Sea of Galilee again in a boat and was with a great crowd of people near the shore, probably about 10 miles northeast of Nazareth, his hometown.
That is when he is interrupted by a curious event. The ruler of the synagogue suddenly came up and threw himself down at the feet of Jesus, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live."
Mark has already shared in Mark 3:20 when Jesus went home the first time after he had begun His ministry that they said he had lost his mind and was possessed by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons, and that his power came from Beelzebub. So, when the ruler of the synagogue in the neighboring town comes to Jesus for help, something special is happening. When prejudices are overcome that say Jesus is of the devil, when dignity is forgotten to fall down at Jesus' feet, when pride is forgotten to go ask for help, and, when the opinion of family and the community are set aside to go to Jesus, this is a "God-thing."
Each of us, in our own faith walk, have probably had times when we went against what someone else thought we should do because we felt God's impulse to go a different direction. In my own faith story, my Dad never did approve of my going into the ministry. He always wanted more for me. Only in the last couple of years has He shared with Janet that He feels I am where I am supposed to be.
Jairus went against everything to have the audacity to go interrupt Jesus. Surely, Jesus was in the middle of teaching, or preaching or healing someone. He may have been in conversation with one or more people when this interruption came. How did He respond? Mark simply says, "So, he went with him."
Now He was on a life-saving mission to go to Jairus' house to save his little girl. The crowds were all around as Jesus and His entourage tried to quickly proceed. But, then Jesus stops! He is on a life-saving mission, and He stops and asks, "Who touched Me?" And, He stands there and looks around.
Imagine trying to move through the crowds at somewhere like Disney World or the Super Bowl to get to a dying child. Your doctor is with you, and he stops and asks who touched me? It is hard to move through a crowd and not be touched by someone.
Jesus waits and a woman steps forward. Probably, everyone except Jesus and the woman thought he was losing it. Mark tells us that she had already been healed. What this untimely interruption? Why now? Why did Jesus have to stop? . . . So the woman could tell her story of rejection and being unclean, and so Jesus could touch her with His love and grace, as well as His healing. Jesus came to heal us and to reconcile us to God through His love and forgiveness.
Just as Jesus starts again with Jairus, the messengers arrive saying, "Don't bother; she's dead now." But, Jesus goes on and into the little girl's room, and He takes her hand and tells her to get up and for them to get her some food. Imagine the explosion of joy in the heavy hearts of her parents!
So much power, so much faith, so much love and healing flowing out of two annoying interruptions. Love has the power to heal, and Love has the power to reconcile. And God's love living in us will change our reactions and our reaction speed when life's interruptions come to us. Nearly all of Jesus' ministry grew out of the way He responded to the people who interrupted Him. When we get interrupted "doing life" is often the time that God is knocking trying to give us something special to do for Him.
Veronica Shoffstall tells the following story about a boy who interrupted the small-town grocer, Mr. Miller, by hanging around the store but not buying anything. "Babs Miller was bagging some early potatoes for me. I noticed a small boy hungrily appraising a basket of freshly picked green peas. I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas. Pondering the peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller and the ragged boy next to me.
"Hello Barry, how are you today?"
"H'lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus' admirin' them peas. Sure
look good."
"They are good, Barry. How's your Ma?"
Fine. Gittin' stronger alla' time."
"Good. Anything I can help you with?"
"No, Sir. Jus' admirin' them peas."
"Would you like to take some home?"
"No, Sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with."
"Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?"
"All I got's my prize marble here."
"Is that right? Let me see it."
"Here 'tis. She's a dandy."
"I can see that. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?"
"Not zackley. but almost."
"Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble."
"Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller."
Mrs. Miller, the grocer's wife, came over to help me. With a smile she said, "There are two other boys like him in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever. When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, perhaps."
Ms. Shoffstall writes, I left the stand smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Colorado but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering.
Several years went by, each more rapid that the previous one. Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died. They were having his viewing that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them.
Ahead of us in line were three young men. One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts ... all very professional looking. They approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by her husband's casket. Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her and moved on to the casket. Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the old pale hand in the casket. Each left the mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes.
Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and mentioned the story she had told me (years ago) about the marbles. With her eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me to the casket. "Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about. They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim "traded" them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size....they came to pay their debt."
"We 've never had a great deal of the wealth of this world," she confided, "but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho." With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles.
We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds.(2) Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath. When interruptions come to us, how will we respond? Amen.
Century Christian Church, July 2, 2006 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
www.centurychristian.org
1. Sermon, "The Healing of Jairus' Daughter and the Hemorrhaging Woman," received 6-26-06 from esermon.com.
2. Veronica A. Shoffstall, retrieved 7-1-06 at http://www.azildalions.ca/inspirational_stories.htm#Red_Marbles .