There are two stories that come to mind when Jesus allowed interruptions in the Bible… and both times people died because of it.

A DEAD GIRL AND A SICK WOMAN

The first time Jesus had been asked by a religious leader named Jairus, to come and look at his 12-year-old daughter who was sick with the hope that He would heal her. We can read the story in Mark 5. But as Jesus is on His way to see her, we read this account:

A large crowd followed and pressed around him.  And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.  She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.  When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,  because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.  He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

This woman had been sick for twelve years and you kind of think that surely Jesus could have let her wait another few hours. Especially when Jairus receives a message that his daughter has died. Jesus was too late.

A SICK FRIEND AND A SLOW JOURNEY

In the second story we witness the news that Jesus has heard that His good friend Lazarus is quite sick. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha who both feature prominently in the Jesus’ story and so we can assume that they were really close. But once again Jesus responds in a less than urgent way, which we can read about in John 11:

So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

We are told that on Jesus’ arrival, Lazarus had not only already died, but had been in the tomb for four days. Again, Jesus was too late.

WHEN INTERRUPTIONS ARE GOOD

Both stories I shared show Jesus allowing, on the one hand, and inviting, on the other, interruptions to what seemed like urgent and important journeys.

And we could read them both as failures, except for the fact, that in both cases, the interruption was not the end of the story. It may seem like the end as we are not used to much happening after someone has died. And yet on both occasions we read how Jesus miraculously brought both the daughter and His friend back to life.

The story with the woman feels a little more incidental. Jesus being aware that a whole crowd of people wanted His attention but that this particular case deserved or required it.

But the story with Lazarus feels completely intentional. There wasn’t even a good excuse for Jesus to not rush to His dying friend’s side. He chooses to “waste time”. As if He knew that the work God wanted to do (raising Lazarus from the dead) was so much bigger than a simple healing miracle.

LESSONS TO LEARN

I have never been personally used by God to raise anyone from the dead. So the lessons may not seem to apply to me. Except that I do think there is still a lot we can learn from the way Jesus interacts.

Jesus never seems to be hurried or rushed, even when circumstances would seem to dictate it. He had a plan, but even in His plan there was space for an interruption, when He chose to allow it attention.

Perhaps that is how Jesus has been working in your life. Not pressuring you, but slowly working, enticing you towards Him and waiting for the moment when you feel ready to allow Him to interrupt your life. If you have a sense that this might be the time for something like that, please click on the banner below and hear a little more.