How to Live at the Startling Pace of the Kingdom of God

Following the unhurried Christ.

In his book, Tell It Slant, Eugene Peterson comments that in the gospels we find Jesus “unhurried, continuously interruptible.”

I love this.

While reading of Jesus traveling through Israel and Samaria we find that he’s constantly interrupted. Pharisees and lawyers ceaselessly question him. Crowds swarm to him to find healing and hear the good news. His disciples doubt him and—at times—pester him with silly questions like which of them will be greatest in the kingdom.

What’s fascinating is that it seems that Jesus is never bothered by these interruptions.

In fact, he welcomes them.

The unhurried Christ

It interesting, really. Jesus never seems to be in a hurry.

Aside from his triumphant entry into Jerusalem and his occasional trip across the Sea of Galilee, he walked everywhere. Traveling wasn’t a matter of hopping into a car and cruising down the interstate at 75 mph. No—traveling for the Son of God was slowly and rhythmically placing one foot in front of the other, strolling along at casual pace.

And notice what happened.

The interruptible Christ

When you’re not in a hurry, you’re interruptible.

And when you’re interruptible, you’re available to the work of the kingdom.

Because he was never in a rush to get anywhere, Jesus was primed for the work of the kingdom. Just look at the fruit of this! Almost all of Christ’s healings, teachings, and miracles came as interruptions to his unhurried pace.

Jesus was free to answer questions, tell stories, and even raise the dead because he wasn’t in a rush. He knew all things were unfolding according to the divine plan and was always available to usher in the kingdom of God—no matter how inconvenient it may have been.

What about us?

What’s our pace of living?

Are we quick to get from point A to point B, always charging on to the next thing on our calendar? Do we live our days in an underlying panic that we’ll soon be late to our next meeting? Or the one after that? Or the one two days after that?

If we can’t slow down, how will we see God at work? How will we be able to see the pain in our neighbors eye or join in the sorrow of our suffering siblings when we can’t think past our next appointment? How can we work to usher in the kingdom if we can’t slow down enough to ask God for that kingdom to come?

It seems Jesus was onto something in his unhurried pace.

Consider this an invitation to slow down, breathe, and join Christ in his journey of interruptible grace.