Distractions on the Way

July 2, 2006
4th Sunday of Pentecost B
Mark 5:21-43

A priest was walking down a nice neighborhood of old homes on his way to making a pastoral call on an elderly woman who was planning to make a gift to the parish. It was a beautiful day, and as he walked along he saw a young boy on the top of the steps of a house jumping up and down trying to ring the doorbell. He was in a bit of a hurry, but he stopped and went up the steps, put his hand on the boys shoulder and leaned over to ring the doorbell. “Now son,” he said, smiling, “what happens next?” The little boy, looking surprised, said, “We run like hell.”
The priest got distracted on his way somewhere else.

If you want to be successful you know you are supposed to remove distractions from your path. Clear your desk, don’t check email all day long, turn off the phone. Don’t wander into side topics, don’t let people draw away your energy. Keep focused. No distractions.

Yet I suspect there is something interesting about this idea, distraction, the thing that happens on the way to somewhere else. I asked on my blog if people knew of movies where people were on their way to one place and ended up in another. The new Superman, Elizabethtown, Garden State, Walk in the Clouds…there are quite a few stories involving distractions: the hero is going about his or her life and something happens to distract them from their plan, their path: and then everything is different. It seems to be part of making a good story -- someone thinks they are going one way, then something happens to interrupt them.They got distracted.

So did Jesus. He was on his way to heal Jairus’ daughter when this other woman, who had been sick for twelve years, grabbed his cloak. He stopped to see who it was; his disciples urged him on. Delaying would not help the little girl; they were in a hurry. Who touched me, he said. How could you possibly tell, look at this crowd, the disciples replied. But Jesus stopped, and the woman came forward and told him the whole truth, and he spoke to her gently. “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

But it was too late - while Jesus spoke the woman, saying she would live, others came to tell them Jairus’ daughter had died. It’s not the only time Jesus was too late to heal someone while they were still alive…But Jesus went on, and came to the girl, who was twelve years old, and with a word he raised her. Jesus got distracted, yes. But in the end, two daughters were healed.

Sometimes, God works in the distractions.

In fact, sometimes, for those of us who aren’t Jesus, it seems God prefers to work through the distractions. Maybe we don’t get it right the first time, and we need that knock on the head, the detour, the unforeseen path.
Like Moses, who was distracted while herding sheep on the mountain.
Like the people of Israel, who got distracted in the wilderness.
Like Jonah, who was trying to go the other direction. He got distracted by a whale.
Like Peter, who got distracted from his fishing.
Like Paul, on the road to Damascus. He was going to persecute the Jews. He met Jesus. He got distracted.
Sometimes God works in the distractions.

As a young pastor I was told to watch for the distractions, for they were holy. I was told that, hard as I was working on my to-do list, and important as that was - the one who came in my door to interrupt me just might Christ at the door.

We forget that every daughter is a child of God, every son. We forget that every moment is a gift from God. We forget that the presence of Christ is deep within each person we meet. We forget that in the end, it isn’t just where we got to but who we touched along the way. We forget, but God remembers. And God will find a way to remind us. So we get distracted, and then we find ourselves in the right place at the right time after all, just where God meant us to be.

(Painting is by Corinne Vonaesch, Femme touchant Jésus, 2001)