Jesus is Interrupted in the Midst of Hurting Lives

Introduction (5m)

Do you ever get interrupted during an interruption?

Clients - ringing on mobile whilst I was picking up voicemail on landline!

Sunday - take this money, no sugar, leak in the toilets!

Maybe your reaction would be like PM Jim Hacker?

Video - Yes, Prime Minister - The Key | 3:00

Explanation (5m)

Jesus was constantly being interrupted at this point in his ministry

Ch.8 - full of rapid stories of hurting, desperate people interrupting Jesus:

Followed by large crowds, and heals man with leprosy.

Returning to Capernaum, interrupted by Roman Officer - heal his young servant.

Going to friend Peter’s house, interrupted by illness of Peter’s MIL - healed her from her fever.

Whilst there healed many demon-possessed people, and healed all the sick.

Crossing lake with disciples, interrupted by storm.

On other side of lake, interrupted by two demon-possessed men - cast out their evil spirits into a herd of pigs, interrupted by town to tell him to go and leave them alone!

Ch.9 - Came back to his own town and people brought paralysed man on mat to be healed.

Then two incidents we heard - heals two blind men, and the demon-possessed man who was mute.

What these people had in common was that they were outcasts/marginalised

Almost all ʿammê hāʾāreṣ - “people of the land”. Unprivileged, outcasts, despised, could not be holy. Even Roman Officer, though privileged would be despised and could not be holy.

Rabbi would never bother with them. J defies convention.

He healed them physically and spiritually.

Jesus loves and cares for the outsiders with no thought for his own reputation

Matthew 9:36 NLT

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Saw they were tormented, exhausted, led astray. Moved. Stirred deep inside to do something for them.

Moved to compassion by their pain

Sick, blind, demons, all afflicted.

Moved to compassion by their sorrow

Roman Officer’s sorrow at thought of losing young servant.

Moved to compassion by loneliness

Leper, banished from society.

Moved to compassion by their bewilderment

Longing for God, misled by their religious leaders.

Application (5m)

As his followers, are we prepared to be interrupted by the needs of those around us, and to respond in love and compassion like Jesus did?

Will we slow down to see those around us who are harassed by pressure, exhausted by the pace of life, going nowhere, being led astray by what the world says is important?

Or will we content with entertaining ourselves, enjoying each other’s fellowship, unwilling to make sacrifices, powerless to witness, and failing to pray?

Will we care? Will we go out on mission? Will we look out and invite in?

Are we willing to risk our respectability? Are we willing to live lives of holiness so that our lives shine out and we can be salt and light to those around us? Or would we rather keep this place as a social club for ourselves?

The Little Lifesaving Station

On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought of themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and gave their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little lifesaving station grew.

Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the large building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely, because they used it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in the club’s decoration, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and a hired crew brought in the boatloads of cold, wet, and half drowned people. They were dirty and sick and some of them had black skins and some had yellow skins. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where the victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside.

At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did. As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.

Theodore Wedel

Let’s not let people drown. Instead, let’s pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more workers into his fields, and then let’s be the answer to those prayers!

Let’s give those around us hope.

People can endure horrible sickness, if hope.

People who are deeply discouraged and depressed can hold on if hope.

Let’s tell those on the outskirts of our society - the despised, the rejected, the marginalised, the forgotten to Come As You Are.

It will be messy, it will be disorderly, it will risk our reputation, it will mean sacrifice, it will mean interruptions, but it will be doing as Jesus did.

Next Steps

Video - Come As You Are

Video: Come As You Are | 5:00

Come flunkies and junkies whatever you do,

‌Come trannies and grannies and a hoodie or two,

Come the high and the whore, we don't mind anymore,

‌Come and join us we’ve opened the door!

‌

Come tipsy and gypsy to a place you belong

Come play boy and gay boy and join in the song,

‌Come the hard and the horde, your way in is assured,

‌Join the gang and you won’t be ignored.

Bring your bones, bring your skin,

Bring the mess that you're in,

‌Bring the demons that are dancing inside you,

Bring your heels, bring your hair,

Bring the clothes that you wear,

‌And let somebody sit down beside you.

‌

You should come as you are,

As you already are,

‌Because nobody here will condemn you.

There's no standard or bar,

No front door registrar,

Only Jesus, who died to redeem you.

You should come as you are.

Come looters and shooters and lay down your arms,

‌Come dealers and stealers and soak in the psalms,

‌Come the weird and the worst to be valued and versed,

‌Feel the love where the last shall be first.

Come bruisers and losers and sit at his feet,

‌Come crazy and lazy to the place we all meet,

Come deprived and depraved for the love that you crave,

‌You belong, you believe, you behave!

Bring your doubts, bring your fears,

Bring your anger and tears,

‌Bring the hopes that you have for tomorrow.

Bring your pain, bring your pills,

Bring your skull and your skills,

‌Let the sanctified share in your sorrow.

‌

You should come as you are,

As you already are,

‌Because nobody here will condemn you.

There's no standard or bar,

No front door registrar,

Only Jesus, who died to redeem you.

You should come as you are.

‌

Come racists and rapists and give it all up,

Come healthy and wealthy and drink from his cup,

‌Come the hip and the hot, we could use what you've got,

‌Let's have church that we'll all like a lot.

Bring your slang bring your swing,

‌Bring your thang and your thing,

‌And our lives will be better and broader!

‌

Bring your lover, bring your friend,

‌Bring the ways you must mend,

‌And in time you’ll cross over the border.

You should come as you are,

As you already are,

‌Because nobody here will condemn you.

There's no standard or bar,

No front door registrar,

Only Jesus, who died to redeem you.

You should come as you are.

Karl & Alvin Allison