Jesus Interrupted 35 Times

I want you to look at Jesus’ life and the many, many, many interruptions that came to Him also. In the book of Mark 1:21-39; 2:1-5; and Mark 3:7-10, we see that Jesus had more than 35 interruptions! Jesus was teaching in the synagogue, and a man who was demon-possessed interrupted His teaching. Jesus healed the man, while the teachers of the Law talked amongst themselves about His authority. The teachers and the Pharisees were argumentative and jealous of Jesus. Then, the people of the nearby towns and villages heard about Jesus’ teachings, and He constantly had people coming to Him looking for answers. Jesus then went to Simon and Andrew’s house, where Jesus healed Simon’s mother-in-law who was sick in bed with a fever. That evening after sunset, the whole town came to His doorstep, and He healed all of their diseases and cast out all of their demons. Following all of these interruptions, Jesus tried to get away to an isolated place in order to pray. But Simon found Jesus and said, “Everyone is looking for You.” So He went to other villages and touched the people and healed them.

Interruptions, interruptions, interruptions! This is His life! But not all interruptions are bad; some are good and divinely ordered by God. One minister said, “Sometimes interruptions are the ministry.” I want you to know, my friend, as long as you have breath in your lungs, you’re going to have interruptions! What are you going to do about it? What did Jesus do about it?

He dealt with demon-possessed people. Has this been your life? An entire city needed Him. We want to go away from the crowds. People were sick, paralyzed, and had fevers (like the Coronavirus). He was the top physician in the whole country. Through all these interruptions, Jesus handled them well. Why? How? It’s simple. He had compassion on people. We need to be very careful how we act and respond to others during this time of quarantine. We have more time on our hands, more time to think, critique, observe, or form an opinion about this or that. But let us stop and think before we respond. Maybe God is trying to check our hearts and speak to us about repentance, perspective, priorities, and compassion.

Think about all of the interruptions you face in your life. Now look at Jesus’ life. Jesus went from delivering a man from an unclean spirit (demon-possessed) to an entire city that demanded His attention. (Mark 1:33) The crowds were coming full-speed towards Him. Then He was interrupted by four men in Mark 2:1-5 who carried a paralyzed man in need of healing. Shortly after that scene, there’s another great multitude looking for Jesus. Jesus wanted to get away. He called His disciples to get into the boat and head out to sea. It was getting crazy, but still crowds followed Him. The interruptions kept coming. But what was the key to all of the interruptions that He faced? The answer is compassion. Everyone needs compassion! Jesus our Savior compassionately handled all of these interruptions well. We can learn from His example! Christ always responded graciously. He never conveyed the attitude that people did not have a right to interrupt Him. People were a priority for Him. Interruptions did not deter Him from doing His Father’s will. Let’s do the same, especially during this time of unprecedented interruptions in our lives. Be the compassion this world needs right now!