“Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, ‘My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.’ So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”
Mark 5:22-29
In Lifestories, Mark Hall uses one chapter to talk about how much of Jesus’ ministry happens when he’s on his way somewhere else. On the road to Jairus’ house, he heals this woman who has had a flow of blood for 12 years. On his way through Samaria, he brings an entire city to believe in him. And the list goes on. Jesus never let his destination or timeline get in the way of his ministry.
Ministry is not something that Jesus did when he got somewhere. If he was on his way to Capernum and someone asked for healing, that person received healing. Jesus wasn’t waiting for “the next thing” or “the right time” to do ministry. His ministry happened exactly when someone needed ministry, and the same should be true for us.
I frequently catch myself thinking about that day when I’ll be a pastor. But it doesn’t take an MDiv and ordination to make a person a minister. Jesus does that for us. A piece of paper doesn’t change who God has already created me to be, and I am called to be a minister to God’s people. There’s no waiting. It’s happening right now, and whenever I think of school as “planning” for ministry, or seeing the churches here as “practice.” There’s no waiting. My ministry is now, every day, in every action.
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