In today’s Gospel we encounter Jesus preaching to great crowds when suddenly a man interrupts and approaches, begging him to save his daughter’s life. Jesus immediately leaves to go to the bedside of the young girl who is near death…but almost immediately is interrupted along the way… yet again.
In the Gospel of Mark, biblical scholars often refer to this “interruption” of a new encounter between Jesus and someone in need as a “Mark-an sandwich.” This “sandwich” is created when Mark begins to recount one story about Jesus’ ministry, and while Jesus is in the midst of responding to the first request, he is interrupted by another request from someone else in need.
Once he meets the need of the second request, Mark returns to telling the original story of the first request for healing, which Jesus has reembarked upon. Thus, a “Mark-an sandwich” -- the second encounter “sandwiched” in the middle of the first story.
This time the second interruption is by a woman who has suffered for twelve years with hemorrhages. She, who is an interruption, becomes the center of his attention. Jesus stops to attend to the woman’s needs knowing the little girl lay dying.
We see a pattern in the ministry of Jesus -- a pattern of “interruptions” that become moments of healing, moments of the Reign of God bursting forth because Jesus takes the interruption and turns it into a grace-filled encounter with The Divine!
Jesus senses this woman’s suffering; he listens to her plea that she has spent all she has on cures and now places her life in his hands and places her faith in him.
And even though she has broken all the social and religious laws around being in public spaces because of the type of illness she has, Jesus calls her “daughter” bringing her close to himself and signaling a relationship to her. He praises her for her faith and proclaims her healed and sends her on her way to a new life, restored to health, and restored to her family and to her community. She is no longer an outcast due to her illness; rather she has been made whole by Jesus and returned to a fullness of life!
Henri Nouwen famously once said that he used to get annoyed with all the interruptions in his ministry until he realized that the interruptions were his ministry. What an incredibly challenging way to look at interruptions!
We all know we must get things done! But the truth is that we can miss occasions to minister to a sister or a brother in need because they arrive as we are “busy about many things.” They appear to be interruptions, but perhaps they are “opportunities”!
These “interruptions” could be opportunities for us to become the love of Christ present in the world through our response to another’s moment of need.
In the midst of this woman’s darkness, she recognized Jesus as a beacon of hope! In the midst of the darkness in our country and our world, our lives are interrupted by the suffering of the poor and the homeless, the refugee, and all those people who are marginalized or demeaned by society. And throughout the day, our lives are interrupted by family members and friends in need.
The Gospel calls us to be beacons of hope for others in their moment of need…for us to be moments of encounters of grace for the other.
When was the last time God interrupted my life in the form of someone in need? Was it a moment of grace? How is God interrupting my life today?
Blessings,
Fr. Tim
In the Gospel of Mark, biblical scholars often refer to this “interruption” of a new encounter between Jesus and someone in need as a “Mark-an sandwich.” This “sandwich” is created when Mark begins to recount one story about Jesus’ ministry, and while Jesus is in the midst of responding to the first request, he is interrupted by another request from someone else in need.
Once he meets the need of the second request, Mark returns to telling the original story of the first request for healing, which Jesus has reembarked upon. Thus, a “Mark-an sandwich” -- the second encounter “sandwiched” in the middle of the first story.
This time the second interruption is by a woman who has suffered for twelve years with hemorrhages. She, who is an interruption, becomes the center of his attention. Jesus stops to attend to the woman’s needs knowing the little girl lay dying.
We see a pattern in the ministry of Jesus -- a pattern of “interruptions” that become moments of healing, moments of the Reign of God bursting forth because Jesus takes the interruption and turns it into a grace-filled encounter with The Divine!
Jesus senses this woman’s suffering; he listens to her plea that she has spent all she has on cures and now places her life in his hands and places her faith in him.
And even though she has broken all the social and religious laws around being in public spaces because of the type of illness she has, Jesus calls her “daughter” bringing her close to himself and signaling a relationship to her. He praises her for her faith and proclaims her healed and sends her on her way to a new life, restored to health, and restored to her family and to her community. She is no longer an outcast due to her illness; rather she has been made whole by Jesus and returned to a fullness of life!
Henri Nouwen famously once said that he used to get annoyed with all the interruptions in his ministry until he realized that the interruptions were his ministry. What an incredibly challenging way to look at interruptions!
We all know we must get things done! But the truth is that we can miss occasions to minister to a sister or a brother in need because they arrive as we are “busy about many things.” They appear to be interruptions, but perhaps they are “opportunities”!
These “interruptions” could be opportunities for us to become the love of Christ present in the world through our response to another’s moment of need.
In the midst of this woman’s darkness, she recognized Jesus as a beacon of hope! In the midst of the darkness in our country and our world, our lives are interrupted by the suffering of the poor and the homeless, the refugee, and all those people who are marginalized or demeaned by society. And throughout the day, our lives are interrupted by family members and friends in need.
The Gospel calls us to be beacons of hope for others in their moment of need…for us to be moments of encounters of grace for the other.
When was the last time God interrupted my life in the form of someone in need? Was it a moment of grace? How is God interrupting my life today?
Blessings,
Fr. Tim
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