When God interrupts

By Bill Chambers

Deacon, Immanuel Baptist Church

Jesus’ disciples had just returned from a trip of teaching and healing and exorcising and they needed a break. The Lord decided to take them to a secluded retreat, ordered them into a boat and off they sailed. But as they approached their destination a crowd recognized them and ran to meet them as they landed. No vacation for the exhausted disciples. What’s a Messiah to do?

Some time earlier, Jesus had been teaching in the synagogues of the villages he visited. As a rabbi, he knew these houses of worship were ideal places to connect Judaism with the birth of Christianity. One day, though, a leper ran up to him and, kneeling, asked for healing. Of course, Jesus touched him and removed his disease then ordered the healed man to keep this miracle to himself. No sense stirring up unnecessary attention. And, of course, the man spread the word with the result that Jesus couldn’t enter a synagogue for quite a while because the crowds were too great. The best laid plans … .

These events remind me of some of my own failed plans.

For several years, our church has provided breakfast, friendship and the Gospel to the carnival workers who man the rides at the Great Northern Fair. Many of these workers are Mexican, and most of these understand English poorly and speak it even worse. As a former Spanish teacher, I work as an interpreter with the added benefit of hearing their stories and earning their friendship. My brothers and sisters and I have been able to give them rides to Walmart to wire money home, find medical help for them and simply enjoy the give and take of friendship with these brothers. We are blessed to bless them — it is a highlight of our year.

Until that time when there were no Mexican workers at the carnival and I felt as useful as a solar-powered flashlight.

Or the year that nearly none of the workers, Mexican or white, came at all, even for breakfast.

Like Jesus, we meant to do good, but we were disappointed.

God, apparently, had other plans.

Before I go on, one thing needs to be clear: God is not the only one who scatters a Christian’s meticulous plans to the wind. Satan is always ready to raise an un-scalable mountain to foil our best intentions. Other people, even without meaning to, can trip us up as well. But God is more powerful than these. Satan can only do as God allows, and no human is going to thwart God’s intentions. He is always in control. No one, not even Satan, can blindside God. When obstacles push their way into our paths, either God sent them, or He allowed them.

So, was it God or the dark lord who sent a crowd to interrupt Jesus’ planned R and R? Who was it that prompted the ex-leper to disobey Jesus and shout the news about this itinerate rabbi who worked miracles?

I don’t think it matters. What matters is how Jesus responded.

Jesus had one plan, a good one, but God presented another. Jesus could have initiated a battle of wills and pushed ahead, head down and teeth gritted, to conquer the field and get what he wanted. But he didn’t. He surrendered his will to God and moved ahead with the larger plan. After the incident with the leper, he didn’t stop healing; he healed all the more and simply preached outside the villages instead of in the synagogues. After leaving the boat he taught the crowds, and then, out of compassion, fed them, employing his tired disciples as waiters.

Even for Jesus, the mission wasn’t about his own desires. It was about our salvation. But when God got in the way of his intentions, Jesus knew God’s plan would be better. Every time Jesus had to change tactics, he trusted God’s good will. Even in the darkness of the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he died, he asked God for relief, but ended his prayer with, “not my will but Yours be done.” The human side of Jesus recoiled at the torture of the cross and the greater agony of separation from God, but the God side of Jesus trusted his Father, knowing that crucifixion and death were the only ways to achieve the goal for which he was born. And, of course, without death, the resurrection that would spell death’s defeat forever couldn’t be.

In the case of the ministry at the fair, when no Mexican men came to eat or talk, we served the others who came, just as we did every year. God said, “no Spanish this year.” What else could I do? I admit I was disappointed and considered going home, but God used me in English just as well. I only had to see my purpose from a different angle, surrender my will, and go ahead with the larger purpose of loving others in Jesus’ name.

I recently heard on the radio two different approaches to God’s sometimes shocking interruptions. Each of two speakers faced a horrible, tragic situation. One speaker ended up doubting God’s power: in her mind, God was incapable of resolving the ordeal she and others faced. The other, however realized something powerful: God knew the problem was coming and could have stopped it, but He didn’t. Not because He couldn’t but because He had a better plan for her. The first speaker gave in to despair, but the second walked the new path, trusting God’s better way.

Did Jesus have to do without what he wanted? Not really. As the writer of the book of Hebrews said, Jesus “learned obedience through the things he suffered.” Jesus wanted desperately to obey his Father, so I think it was a joy for him to surrender his will, trust God and adjust his plans.

And that means the Lord of the universe gets what he wants after all.