May 10th, 2021

The First Reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter is again from the book of Acts, and we get to the farthest point in that book during this ‘B-series’ season of Easter. We are at Peter’s speech to Gentiles and its great results in Acts 10[:34-48]. Within the text (see verse 44), there is this great interruption, and then there is this great ‘Gentile Pentecost’.
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Whether or not Peter’s first Pentecost speech in Acts 2 was interrupted by the hearers being ‘cut to the heart’ (verse 37) and responding (‘What shall we do?’) is unclear. But there is a clear interruption in the second speech of Peter, in Acts 3, and this time, it is a terrible interruption. The authorities come upon Peter and John while they were still speaking, and they are arrested (see Acts 4:1).

Many things can be interrupted, and interruptions can seem either good or bad. I thought it would be nice to look at other interruptions of one or more persons talking, but especially in the Gospel according to Luke. If there are significant interruptions in Acts, there might be a hint of why they appear in the gospel account by the same writer.
Sometimes there are interruptions in more than one account, and this heightens their importance. Interruptions appear in Matthew 9:18, Mark 5:35, and Luke 8:49, and all three deal with the raising of Jairus’ daughter, but they appear at two different points in the story. What is the same in all three stories is that, at the point of the interruption, the news that the daughter has just died has just been shared. The news of a death is definitely worth an interruption.

Another interruption that appears in the Gospel according to Luke deals with the so-called transfiguration of Jesus (Luke 9:34), and this one also appears in the Gospel according to Matthew (17:5). Peter has some ideas of what should be done with this Jesus who looks so brilliantly white, and who is with Moses and Elijah, and Peter is interrupted by God the Father with some more important information. It seems like interruptions have to do with some important death and life issues.

The importance of interruptions continues as Jesus gets closer to the cross and the empty tomb. In all of the three most-similar accounts (Matthew 26:47, Mark 14:43, and Luke 22:47), Jesus, of all people, is interrupted this time, as the religious leaders are coming to arrest him.

It is interesting that, at this point in the Gospel according to John, there is not an interruption, but there is Judas who KNOWS the place where Jesus was and Jesus who KNOWS literally all the things that are about to happen (18:2 & 4). There is essentially no interruption when it comes to the Lord’s perspective. Interruptions are things that are unexpected, but that is not an issue when it comes to the Creator of the universe. All interruptions, whether they seem good or bad, have been brilliantly planned.

The great contrast between Jesus and us is seen in the last interruption of simple speech in the Gospel according to Luke. In Luke 22:60, Peter is interrupted by the rooster crowing, and this worked out exactly as Jesus said it would happen—with only seconds away from him being wrong! While Peter was still speaking and denying that he knew Jesus for the third time, that rooster crowed, and Jesus was in the right.

That leaves Jesus with the potential for ‘showing off’ and for us of only being reminded of how sinful and selfish we are. But the final interruption changes all of that. In Luke 24:51, Jesus is interrupted and is taken up into heaven while he is not simply speaking, but when he is blessing the disciples. That cannot be a mistake. There is no better occasion for Jesus’ ascension into heaven than that of being in the midst of blessing his followers, his disciples, his witnesses, his martyrs (that is the Greek word for ‘witness’). And the great thing is that he did not have to stop what he was doing.

Interruptions are not always bad. No interruptions happen without the Lord’s knowledge. Until that Final Interruption, the Lord continues to bless his people.