Interrupting Interruptions

The Gospel text for this week was Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Have you ever just wanted to get away? To get away from the stress of your daily life, or an awkward moment you are caught in the middle of or maybe you want to get out of a boring family reunion, lecture or possibly even a sermon? Have you ever just wanted to find a quiet place, a place of solitude to spend time either by yourself or with a few close friends? A place were you could relax, let the stress melt off of you, regroup and possibly reconnect with some close friends that you haven’t been able to spend much time with lately.

So you go. You go to a spa to be pampered, or watch a movie or read a book in order to live someone else’s life for awhile. Others may pack up the car head out to the wilderness and go camping to be alone, just you and nature, or you nature and a few friends. Maybe for some of you, you go to a bustling city were you can wander shops and museums anonymously. Or maybe you, especially when pressed for time, you just go and draw yourself a nice bath so you can sit and soak alone. And you begin to feel the stress starting to melt off of your shoulders; you start to feel normal again, like you aren’t going to explode at the next person who asks you a stupid question or demands your time because they cannot find their shoe, send an email or make dinner on their own.

And just when you are about to let your guard down and truly relax and give in to that reoccurring dream you have with you and the movie star being alone on an island, or your swimming in a pool of money, the cell phone rings, or your child screams from across the field or a knock comes to the door and immediately you are back in real life. And all the stress that has just melted off has come right back on and you are back to being mom or dad or grandma or grandpa, a home-owner, a person with bills to pay and a to-do list a mile long.

Oh those interruptions how I hate thee. What a way to ruin a perfectly good day is to have a hundred interruptions. Nothing goes as planned and everything needs to be taken care of NOW! And it is so hard to love the interrupter. Sure there are times when you are procrastinating on a work project, a home repair or writing a sermon and the interruption, and therefore the interrupter, is welcomed. You go out of your way to find such interruptions, checking your email every few minutes, making sure the house or your desk is spotless before you begin your task, but on a relaxing day, a vacation day or a day off those interruptions are completely unwelcome and therefore so is the interrupter.

GO AWAY!! You want to bellow out. LEAVE ME ALONE! You scream silently to yourself. But yet you put down your book, slosh out of the tub and stop what you are doing in order to attend to your interrupter. It takes all your willpower to put on a smile and help the co-worker, neighbor or your own child who needs your help. And there is no way on God’s green earth that you are going to spend more of your time, your well deserved time for relaxation, actually helping the individual anymore than minimally needed.

So you can only imagine how Jesus and the disciples felt in our gospel text today. There they were trying to go out to a deserted quiet place – a short camping trip with the boys. The disciples had just come back from being sent out in groups of two to preach Jesus’ message. They wanted time to reconnect with each other, to regroup, to tell stories, to recollect how their time apart went. They wanted to hear who had a great experience and to lift up the ones who had a difficult missionary experience. That wanted this time but yet did not get it. For the crowds, the town’s people had heard that Jesus and his disciples were going and they followed them. 5000 people showed up and invaded the camping trip, their personal time. 5000 uninvited guest to a campsite meant only for 13.

Any of us probably would have been more than frustrated; we would have been crazed to not have had this time with our friends and brothers that we were so looking forward to. We would have go into a panic trying to either hid or make accommodation for these unexpected visitors.

But Jesus is not upset, he does not shoo the crowd away, or put a blanket over his head like modern day celebrities hiding from the media. He does not run and try to hid. No Jesus welcomes the interruption and the many, many interrupters. He begins to teach them, and next week we will hear how he feeds them. Jesus has compassion for these people, for those who came and followed him. He takes joy in those people who interrupted him for they are like sheep without a shepherd.

And Jesus takes joy in us. Jesus does not turn us away. He does not wish to only hear the prayers of his closest confidants and followers. Jesus took time to listen to, heal and teach all people and he still does. Jesus’ body and blood of communion is not offered only to the very pious, the ones who have been gold stars by the religious authority.
No Jesus’ body and blood, the bread and wine is offered to all people, whether you are completely confident in your faith or if your faith feels like you have more questions than answers.

And believe it or not but Jesus takes time to listen to each and every one of our prayers. Jesus listens whether we offer a silent prayers of thank you, a mournful lament at the death bed of a loved one or a communal prayer of contrition, of confession, like we did at the beginning of today’s service. Jesus takes the time to listen to us personally. He is not distracted by the interruption, for our prayers are not interruptions. Our prayers, in the form of worship, thanksgiving, pleas, requests, petition, or even begging are all listened to by God. And yes not all of our prayers are answered, at least not in the ways we would like but Jesus is listening. Prayer is how we communicate with God, it is how we are able to reconnect and regroup with Jesus. We do not need to get away, to find a quiet place, to be alone in order to talk with God, in order to pray. No Jesus is there in the midst of our lives regardless of how chaotic they may seem at times. Jesus is there, ready for us to interrupt our lives and reconnect with him.