Divine Interruptions and God's Perfect Timing; Matthew 9:18-26

My personality profile is that of a task-oriented person. I’m a “get’er done”, kind of girl, a “work, first play later” type person. I’m also a bit of a perfectionist, so I’m get it done and do it right. Multitasking often means I am less efficient and more scatterbrained. I have had to learn over the years when an interruption is important so that I—A. don’t allow myself to become as easily distracted by that which is unnecessary, and B. that I pay attention to important interruptions, some of which are divine encounters. When we are interrupted necessarily, that which is important is what gets done, and the rest falls into place because God’s timing is always perfect. In our gospel reading today, Jesus is divinely interrupted twice. Jesus was in the middle of responding to a question and using it as a teaching moment when He is divinely interrupted by one of the rulers of the synagogue. While Jesus was fully divine, He was also fully human. I am convinced that though Jesus often knew what was coming ahead, He didn’t always know because He didn’t use His divine powers without direction from the Father. He allowed Himself to be led by the Holy Spirit and only did the Father’s will. Therefore, I don’t think Jesus foresaw either of these interruptions. But along comes Jairus with an urgent request. We know his name from the gospels of Mark and Luke. Here is a Jewish leader who has great faith in Jesus. He kneels before Jesus, a position of humility and worship. According to Matthew, Jairus tells Jesus that his daughter has just died. According to Mark’s gospel, she is about to die. Regardless, it is clear that Jairus believes Jesus can raise the dead. Jesus had already raised a widow’s son to life as he was about to buried, being carried out of the house in a funeral procession. Jairus has great faith in Jesus. Jesus, seeing Jairus’s faith, gets up to follow him. Interruptions that seem like inconveniences at first can be life changing events. I visited ancient Capernaum when I was in Israel last winter. It’s not that big, and it probably would not have taken long to walk from where Jesus was to Jairus’s house, but the crowds are thick and Jesus is interrupted a second time. This time because He is touched. This interruption is important. We cannot talk about the healing of Jairus’s daughter without acknowledging the woman that touched Jesus. The gospels won’t allow it. Jairus doesn’t seem too perturbed about the interruption because he believes Jesus can raise the dead. Jesus is the one who makes a point of addressing the interruption. The woman could have touched Him, and He could have gone about His business, but He makes a point of stopping to have the woman identify herself. It is the disciples who are most concerned with the interruption. In the gospels of Mark and Luke, we hear the disciples saying all kinds of people were touching Jesus because of the crowds, what’s the deal. But Jesus stops. He wants the woman to identify herself. He intentionally takes time for her. She too believed in Jesus’s power to heal. She didn’t even need to touch Him, just the tassel of His garment. She too takes a position of humility towards Jesus. In making the woman acknowledge herself, Jesus affirms her wholeness that has come out of her brokenness. Jesus takes time to acknowledge her faith and affirm her position in the kingdom as His daughter. She is part of His family. Sometimes people realize we are busy, and they don’t want to take up our time, but if we allow them to go away and dismiss them, we might be missing an opportunity to deepen a relationship--when your kid tugs on your pantsleg when you are trying to cook dinner, when your spouse wants to talk when you are watching tv, when someone comes to your office door, when an acquaintance stops to greet you in WalMart, when someone asks for help that “will only a take a minute,” we might need to give them 30 minutes, we might even need to reorder our day. Sometimes what is being asked of us isn’t all that’s needed. The woman didn’t just need the blood to stop, she needed to be recognized as a person with dignity and worth. Interruptions can not only mean being inconvenienced, but interruptions can be messy. In both of these interruptions, Jesus makes Himself unclean. It was unclean to touch a dead body. It was unclean to touch a woman on her period, and this woman had been bleeding for 12 years. She was perpetually unclean. Jesus was the only one who could make each of these ladies clean again. Jesus takes our uncleanness upon Himself so that we might be made whole. Jesus takes our isolation upon Himself so that we might be made part of the covenant community. Being interrupted may mean that we might have get our hands dirty in order for someone’s problem to be fixed. It may mean that our reputation gets tarnished or that it is costly for us in some way. But in God’s economy, the benefits always outweigh the costs. Notice the repetition of the number 12. The girl was 12 years old and the woman had been bleeding for 12 years. The number 12 in the Bible symbolizes Divine Rule. These were signs of the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God and the acknowledgement that God is in control and Jesus is the King. It didn’t matter that Jesus had gotten interrupted because God’s timing is always perfect. By the time Jesus gets to Jairus’s house, the girl has been dead long enough that the professional mourners have gathered. There is music and wailing and a lot of hullabaloo, but Jairus is calm. Jesus tells the mourners to give way, for the girl is asleep. In the gospels of Mark and Luke, only Peter, James, John, and the parents actually witnessed Jesus bringing the girl back to life. He tells them not to tell anyone, but the word gets out and gets out quickly. With a crowd already gathered and in the mourning process, it would have been virtually impossible for the word not to get out. They knew she had really been dead and not just in a coma. Despite the delay, the girl lived. Jesus’s power is not limited by our time tables. Some of us tend to get panicked when we feel like we are running behind schedule, but Jesus is not anxious. If what we are doing is what God wants us to do, we need to relax and trust in God’s perfect timing. Are there interruptions in which you know God was trying to do something through you? Have you missed divine encounters because you have been too busy to be bothered? Are there times when interruptions have proven to be an amazing blessing, perhaps you ended up being encouraged by someone else’s faith? Think of a time when you were glad that you stopped for an interruption. Have you ever been the recipient of a blessing because someone stopped what they were doing to offer you help? May we be those who are open to divine interruptions. May we look for opportunities to exhibit the Kingdom of God and to bring healing and wholeness to others, even when it seems inconvenient or costly. May we trust that God’s timing is always perfect and that if we allow God to order our steps, God will accomplish that which is necessary, good, and right through us. The next time you face an unexpected interruption, take time to consider whether it might be a divine appointment or a distraction from the devil. Because God’s timing is perfect, you can take a few moments to pray for God’s direction as you seek to discern your next steps.