Be Willing to Be Interrupted
“When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” - Matthew 14:13-14
As a mom of a toddler and two year old, to have a complete thought is a rarity and a gift. I get interrupted probably a million times a day (a tad dramatic, but it sure does feel like that many!) and really have to work on not losing my patience after the thirtieth “HEY MOM!” of the day.
As I’ve been reading through the book of Matthew this year, one thing I’m noticing is how often Jesus is interrupted. He’s on his way somewhere with the disciples and more times than not, someone stops him to ask for healing. The disciples regularly try to shoo these people away, but Jesus doesn’t.
He stops, engages with the person, and not only heals them, but often gives them what they didn’t know they needed (forgiveness for their sins). To Jesus, people are not interruptions. And goodness, do I want to be more like Jesus.
So often we live our lives on overdrive, rushing from school, to work, to soccer practice, to dinner, homework, and bed, that we can’t slow down enough to listen to the Spirit and see the people around us. Any interruption in our day is a major inconvenience, and if we’re really in overdrive, causes us to lose our cool and behave in a way we will probably regret.
Instead, can we slow down, take something out of our schedule, and put our phone down for a minute? Can we keep our eyes and ears and heart open, looking to see who we can interact with and who might need the good news of Jesus today? People’s lives were miraculously transformed because Jesus was willing to be interrupted. May we be willing to be interrupted and allow God to do the same through us.