Jesus said to [Bartimaeus], “What do you want me to do for you?”  Mark 10:51

A young social worker complained to her supervisor that she had difficulty completing her work. “The trouble,” she said, “is that people keep interrupting me.”  Her supervisor replied, “But those interruptions are your work.”

All of us experience interruptions. However, we can also see possibilities that come to us with them. Looking back, most of us can see how some of the most important relationships we have made, some of the most rewarding services we have performed, have come from what we first saw as interruptions.  Jesus gives us a model for dealing with interruptions. During Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem, blind Bartimaeus boldly called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47). This journey to Jerusalem was an important moment in Jesus’ ministry; the salvation of the world was at stake! But Jesus heard Bartimaeus, stopped, and healed him.  The mission God gives us is always about people. We can never justify disregarding God’s children. The interruptions in our lives may be God calling us to serve.

Teach us, Lord Jesus, always to be sensitive to the cry of someone in need. Amen.