Jesus had just delivered a powerful rebuke to the Pharisees. When He finished, they asked Him for a sign. He did not accept their challenge, but rather used Jonah as an example of the power of God to show that the “signs” had already been shown for hundreds of years.

While Jesus was speaking, His mother and brothers were seen standing outside. Someone told Jesus that they wanted to speak to Him. His answer was, “Who is my mother? And who are my brethren?” Looking to His disciples, He declared that they were His mother and brothers. He is trying to make a point. The spiritual relationship is greater than any physical relationship. Jesus had already said this once in Matthew 10: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” This is a simple interpretation—“Love me more.”

This simple interruption resulted in a powerful lesson for the Pharisees, the disciples, and anyone else who happened to be listening. This was not the first time God used an interruption to teach a valuable lesson. We read examples of this over and over again throughout Scripture. One such example is in the text between the Pharisees’ request for a sign and the interruption. Jesus spoke of Jonah and His miraculous three days and nights in the belly of the great fish.

Jonah was minding his own business, going about his daily activities, when he had an interruption. The Lord said. “Go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry against it.” But Jonah was not in any mood to go to see an entire city of heathen people and try to persuade them to change their ways. His solution was to run! And run he did, onto a ship headed in the other direction. Once again, the Lord interrupted his plans. He sent a storm as a sign that he needed to fulfill his spiritual obligation over his own personal feelings; and to get His point across, He put Jonah inside a great fish to think things over. After three days and nights, Jonah went to Ninevah and changed the entire city.

Noah had a similar experience. He was living his life, raising a family, and doing things God’s way. The Lord looked down on the earth and said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” Noah found grace in God’s eyes, and He determined that He would save him and his family. So, Noah’s life was interrupted to build a boat—not just any boat; but one big enough to take animals of every kind. On top of building a boat, he had the responsibility of trying to persuade the people to repent. For some 120 years, Noah preached and built until the Lord finally put him and his family on the ark with the animals to be saved.

Acts 8 finds a man named Philip, having been called into service to care for the Grecian widows, going about his daily routine. An angel of the Lord spoke to him and told him to go to the desert and there he would find his assignment. Like Noah, Philip didn’t question his mission; he just went. On the way, he found a man, a treasurer of Queen Candace, riding along in his chariot reading from the book of Isaiah. The man saw Philip, invited him into the chariot, and asked for help in understanding the prophecy he was reading. Philip taught him about Jesus; and, seeing water, they stopped so Philip could baptize him. The man left Philip and went on his way home, never to see this evangelist again.

These are three stories out of many in Scripture which show God interrupting daily lives and pressing someone into His service. Jonah didn’t want to go. Noah and Philip showed no resistance but were called into service and obeyed.

God’s interruptions are for a purpose. They fix the attention, not on us, but on the task. We don’t always know why our lives get interrupted, but there will always be a reason. Jesus used the interruption of His mother and brothers to fix the attention of the hearers on the spiritual rather than the physical. The same was true in each of our examples. They will surely be the same with us today.

Sandra Oliver