Mark 1:29-39
Jesus Heals, We Serve
In just ten verses, Mark’s Jesus challenges us in two distinct ways, which remain ever relevant. First, Jesus establishes a connection between our healing and service in the Kingdom of God. Second, Jesus retains his laser-like focus on the mission of God. This week’s passage takes place in three distinct scenes.
Scene #1: Jesus Heals, We Serve
Scene one is the home of Simon’s mother-in-law. Jesus and his entourage enter the house, and we are immediately told that Simon’s mother-in-law is in bed with a fever. Unlike today, a simple fever could become life-threatening quickly, so Simon is concerned for his mother-in-law. Simon might have mentioned his mother-in-law’s sickness either as a precautionary measure or as a veiled request for Jesus to do something about the situation.
Whatever the reason may have been, Jesus acts immediately and decisively to rectify the situation. Jesus took the sick woman by the hand and lifted her up. Immediately, the fever left her! No words were spoken; no spell was cast; Jesus’ touch was enough to make her instantaneously well. After Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law, she immediately gets up and begins to serve Jesus and his companions. There is no trace of the fever or the malady that might have caused it.
The word that Mark uses here for “serve” comes from the word diakonos. In Mark, and the larger Christian tradition, this word, from which we get Deacon, is associated with Christian ministry. Simon’s mother-in-law is healed and immediately sets about serving Jesus and his companions in response to her healing. In many ways, this should be a model for us as we experience Jesus’ healing in our lives. As we are healed, our response should be to rise and engage in Christian ministry!
Scene #2: Success!
The word begins to spread quickly of Jesus’ deeds of power. He has taught with authority. He has cast out unclean spirits, and now he has healed a woman of her fever. Not only has word spread about his actions, but his whereabouts as well. At sundown on the Sabbath, people begin bringing their sick and demon-possessed in hopes that Jesus might heal them as well.
Mark tells us that the whole city comes out to the house’s door where they were staying. It is unlikely that they showed up en masse but perhaps as a steady stream of those seeking help from Jesus. Regardless, Jesus heals many people with various kinds of diseases and casts out many demons. Jesus commands the demons not to speak because they knew who he was.
Jesus’ stay at Simon’s mother-in-law’s house has been a rousing success. By all accounts, Jesus has established himself as a person of power and authority. Indeed, Simon and the disciples were pleased as well. Would the home of Simon’s mother-in-law become the new center of the Kingdom that Jesus is bringing? Surely, they should stay put because people know where they are and are already coming to him. This setup could be an ideal way for Jesus to continue to establish his authority.
Scene #3: Focus
Mark does not tell us how long into the night Jesus was with the crowd. It may have been late into the night due to the large number of people seeking healing. Mark tells us, though, that Jesus gets up early in the morning while it is still dark and sets out to find a place to pray. He arrives at a deserted place, perhaps one that he had used before. When Simon and the others wake, they realize that Jesus is not in the house. So, they set out to find him, and upon doing so, they encourage him to come back into town.
Why would Simon and the others want Jesus to head back to town? Everyone is looking for Jesus, and they do not want to disappoint the crowds. Behind this suggestion may be an urge to stay where they are because they have enjoyed success there. Jesus’ reputation is growing among the people. Greatness is achievable when you have the support of the people. Perhaps, Peter is already thinking about the positive political ramifications of a man who has such great power.
Jesus, however, refuses to go back to Capernaum. He tells us that his primary mission is preaching the message of the Kingdom of God. Jesus insists that they must go to the neighboring towns (which were not larger towns than Capernaum, but smaller) to preach. This is, after all, what he was sent to do. So, we are told, Jesus heads out throughout the region of Galilee preaching the message of the Kingdom of God.
I think two things are vital for us as we consider this text. First, the way Simon’s mother-in-law responds to her healing, and second, Jesus’ laser-like focus on his mission.
As soon as Simon’s mother-in-law is healed, she gets up and serves Jesus and his followers. As we have said above, the Greek word that Mark uses carries with it the sense that as she was caring for Jesus’ needs, she was engaging in intentional ministry in service to the Kingdom of God. Whether or not she understood her actions in that way is, perhaps, inconsequential, for this is how Mark wants us to read her response. Mark has been upfront with his readers about who this Jesus is. He is the divine Son of God. While the characters in the story will need some time to figure this out, Mark’s narrative is mainly about helping us discover what it means to be faithful disciples of Jesus.
Our faithful discipleship begins with our healing. For some, in early Christianity, anything that has enslaved us, any sin, any addiction, was seen as life-sucking fever. “For each and every one of us suffers from fever. When I grow angry, I am feverish. So many vices, so many fevers.”[1] However, Christ has come and touched our hand, lifting us up and freeing us from our fever. We are never freed just from our fever, though. We are released so that we might serve. In our healing, we are given the immediate opportunity to get up and to serve in Christian ministry. We become more mature disciples of Christ when we are actively and intentionally engaged in serving in some kind of Christian ministry.
Secondly, our passage indicates Jesus’ laser-like focus on his mission. Jesus could have stayed in Capernaum while word of his deeds of power spread throughout the land. No doubt many would have made a pilgrimage to him so that their loved ones might be healed. From this, he could have begun to garner great political support as well. Jesus, however, was not tempted by this initial success and the desire to build on it. He knew the plan. The plan was to proclaim the Kingdom of God throughout the land.
At times, we are not always as focused on our God-given mission as Jesus was. Too often, the tendency is to stick with whatever is causing us to have success. The temptation is to spend a lot of time trying to find that one thing that will bring us success. It’s not wrong to be successful, but we can be tempted by it and neglect our real mission of bearing witness to the Kingdom of God in word and in deed.
[1] Jerome, Corpus Christianorum, LXXVII, 468 quoted in Lamar Williamson Jr, Mark: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 55.
Comments