[This reflection by David Makanjuola was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 23/Aug/2026]
You must have had those days….. You find that you are running a bit late and then someone says something like “Ah, just the person. Have you got a couple of minutes?”, or “Oh could you please tell me how to get to …?”
Much as you’d like to help, you feel that you really can’t. If you do stop to help, it’s hard to hide the fact that you’re doing this reluctantly. Can’t they see that you’re busy, that this is an inconvenient time?
Well, you are in good company, but please don’t copy my example. Let me tell you of someone who modelled how to handle it differently.
In chapter 9 of Matthew’s gospel, he takes us through a time when Jesus healed a paralysed man, then after that, he called a tax collector named Matthew (yes, the same one who wrote the gospel), to follow him. He went to have a meal with Matthew later on and while he was there, a leader of the synagogue came to him. The sequence of events that follows is described in Matthew chapter 9 verses 18 to 25, as follows:
While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.
Jesus had had a very busy day, but was willing to be interrupted, first by the synagogue leader, then by the woman. He didn’t tell either of them he was too busy, or too tired, and rather than show resentment to the woman, he encouraged her to ‘take heart’.
Some in the crowd may have seen these interruptions as ‘pesky’, but for the woman and the synagogue leader, they turned into blessings.
Is there something you are praying for God to do in your life? Well, take it to Him. He won’t mind being interrupted again and again, and again.
In the meantime, follow the example of Jesus and allow yourself to be interrupted. You just might be the channel of God’s blessing to that individual.
Have a blessed week.
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Contributed by David Makanjuola; © David Makanjuola