WaitSample

When’s the last time you were interrupted?

I don’t know about you, but it can be easy to get upset and lose patience when we’re doing our thing and something unwanted or unexpected comes up. 

In the passage you just read, a man named Jairus came to Jesus and told him his 12-year-old daughter was dying. 

Jesus agreed to go to Jairus’ house to heal his daughter. On the way to Jairus’ house, a woman who had been sick for many years came out from the crowd and touched Jesus’ robe. There was an interruption - a change of plans. 

What did Jesus do? He stopped. He gave the woman his full attention, asked her some questions, spent time with her, and healed her. 

Now, imagine you’re Jairus. How would you have responded?

I don’t know about you, but I would be a bit upset, confused, maybe even mad at Jesus. I would be thinking, “Come on, man! We have to go. NOW!” 

Now, we don’t know for certain how Jairus responded. The text doesn’t say.  

There’s no mention of Jairus saying anything. To the best of our knowledge, he didn’t tell Jesus to hurry up or remind Jesus about his dying daughter. 

We can infer that Jairus stood there waiting for Jesus to get done healing this woman. He stood by patiently. 

Instead of acting out in anger or frustration towards Jesus, Jairus showed understanding. 

Do you have that kind of patience? Do you have the kind of patience that can stand by and wait when things don’t go according to plan? What might it look like to show understanding to someone else or a situation the next time you’re interrupted?