Pardon the Interruption

People keep interrupting me when i’m trying to get stuff done. Sure, sometimes i’m only resting or doing something for entertainment, but other times there are important things i need to finish that i had specifically allotted time to complete. Who do these people think they are, interrupting my schedule?

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.            -Philipp1ans 2:3-4

The heart of man plans his way, but the L0RD establishes his steps.            -Pr0verbs 16:9

So often i will elevate my to-do list to such importance that i feel as though everyone else—even people i don’t know—should know exactly what i want to do, how i want it done, and stay out of the way unless they are of some value to my task. But no matter where i’ve lived, for some reason people just can’t get on board with this. i’ve found this to be a source of my frustration in my life, and thankfully, Father in his mercy has convicted me in regard to my pride and broadened my perspective a bit through watching the life of Chr1st.

J3sus was often on his way to do something (pretty much always something of more significance than anything i’ve got going on) when life was interrupted by other people.

On his way to restore life to a little girl, he stops to talk with the bleeding woman who touched him (Mt 9).

On his way out of the temple, he “passed by” a man born blind and stopped to heal him after his disciples asked about that man’s sins (Jn 9).

On his way to seek Father in private after the death of John the Bapt1st, he stops to heal the sick and feeds the five thousand (Mt 14).

On his way to Jerusa1em for Passion week, “passing through” Jericho he stops to stay a while with Z@cchaeus (Lk 19).

There are so many times throughout the G0spels where it speaks of J3sus as being en route to a place or event only to be stalled by an interruption that he seizes as an opportunity to give glory to G0d. Even more striking is that the interruptions are almost exclusively by people whom society had deemed unworthy of their time. These were the blind, the lame, the lepers, the sinners, the outcasts. A good, ch-going man wouldn’t be caught dead speaking to them or spending time with them, just like the priest and Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan; however, J3sus

touches the unclean leper,

takes the hand of the lame,

speaks with the blind beggar,

eats with the sinners and tax collectors.

He has very close and personal contact with people who most (i must confess, often myself included) would pass by avoiding eye contact, although perhaps offering a silent pr@yer to Father on the person’s behalf in an effort to maintain a clean conscience. All too often i have asked Father to send someone to help a person when i am already standing right there, available if only i would lay down my task, my reputation, my pride.

i am called a part of the Body for a reason. A living body doesn’t just exist; it has function and purpose. As a part of the Body, i do too. In working, sometimes hands and feet get dirty. i must be willing to do the same. J3sus is not asking me to do something he didn’t do; rather, he is asking me to follow the very model he set forth.

He had tasks of eternal importance, and yet he was willing to be present in every moment of his time on this earth. Though he did finish every bit of the mission that he came to complete, he was also aware of the numerous “good works, which G0d prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).

This has been a difficult lesson to learn, and quite often i find myself still frustrated when i’m interrupted. (Ironically enough, as i was writing this blog post, my wife asked me to go to the store with her. Thankfully, this was already on my mind!) It is in meditating upon J3sus that my pride and frustrations melt away. Philipp1ans 2:3-4 is quoted above. The next verses put the focus completely on J3sus:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Chr1st J3sus, who, though he was in the form of G0d, did not count equality with G0d a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.            -Philipp1ans 2:5-8

J3sus, completely holy, absolutely pure, fully satisfied, perfectly joyful in his communion with Father in heaven was interrupted.

By me.

i was dead in my transgressions, a hater of G0d, lover of darkness, worshipper of self.
J3sus saw me in my blind, dead, helpless state, and allowed himself to be interrupted from glory in heaven to come and die a gruesome death on a cross, facing the wrath of G0d on my behalf. Even the small interruptions during his ministry when he would pause to help the helpless point to his overarching mission. Perfect relationship with Father was interrupted by his death, burial, and resurrection. And what a glorious interruption it is.

Therefore G0d has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of J3sus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that J3sus Chr1st is L0rd, to the glory of G0d the Father.            -Philipp1ans 2:9-11