Mark 1:29-39
Lesson Focus
Jesus heals us so that we might engage in active and intentional Christian ministry.
Lesson Outcomes
Through this lesson, students should:
Comprehend that our healing from sin and death prepares us to engage in Christian ministry.
Be encouraged to serve others.
Catching Up on the Story
Mark’s narrative is off to a fast start. He introduces us to John the Baptist, a preacher who begins to prepare the way for Jesus’ coming. John the Baptist and the context in which he is set places the narrative that follows squarely within the scope of Israel’s hope for the future found in the Old Testament. Jesus is seen as a continuation of what God has been doing for Israel in the past.
Jesus is baptized at the hands of John. It is his public commissioning. Even though the crowds do not hear the voice of God proclaiming his pleasure with his Son, we, the readers, hear it.
There can be no doubt that Mark wants us to understand that Jesus is the divine messiah who has come to set Israel free.
Immediately after his baptism, Jesus goes off into the wilderness and is tempted by the devil. While the narrative is sparse, Jesus does not succumb to the temptation and emerges from the wilderness to begin his public ministry. Jesus begins to preach about the coming kingdom of God.
He also begins to call men to follow him and be his disciples. His mission will consist of preaching and healing. Both of these things he will do, not as the crowds have experienced others doing these things, but as one with authority.
The setting of our text for this week is the small city of Capernaum. Jesus and his followers Simon, Andrew, James, and John were in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Jesus has begun to teach and cast out unclean spirits. Word is beginning to spread about this Jesus fellow. His authoritative teaching and works of power begin to be known in the surrounding area.
Scene #1 - Simon’s Mother-in-Law’s Home
While the passage takes place entirely in Capernaum, there are three distinct scenes. Scene one is the home of Simon’s mother-in-law. Jesus and his entourage enter the home, and we are immediately told that Simon’s mother-in-law is in bed with a fever. A few things need to be noted here about fevers.
They were not seen as a symptom but a terrible force that could bring about death. A simple fever could become life-threatening very quickly.
Simon mentions the ill fortune of his mother-in-law to Jesus upon entering the home. Simon could have chosen to point out the situation for a few possible reasons.
First, it could have been a veiled attempt to ask Jesus to heal his mother-in-law. However, at this point in the narrative, Jesus has yet to heal anyone. He has cast out an unclean spirit, so it might stand to reason that the disciples believe he also has the power to heal.
Second, Simon may have mentioned the fever as a precaution and warning for his guests. Contact with a sick person was frowned upon, not from our normal understanding of contagions, but because it would have made the individual ceremonially unclean and thus keep the person from full participation in community life.
Finally, Simon could have mentioned the fever as an excuse for the lack of hospitality that his mother-in-law would have normally provided.
Whatever the reason, Jesus acted 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, and no spell was cast; Jesus’ touch was enough to make her instantaneously well. As we have already mentioned, touching a sick person would have made Jesus ceremonially unclean. In the same way, men did not touch women who were not a part of their family.
Additionally, Jesus performs this healing on the Sabbath, which could be constituted as work. Thus, Jesus touches an unrelated sick woman and heals her on the Sabbath.
In performing this act in the way he did, he broke more than just a few social and religious taboos. Mark, however, does not believe that Jesus is doing anything wrong but that he is faithfully bringing about God’s kingdom.
Sabbath
Touching a woman, a sick woman at that could be overlooked. Working on the Sabbath was a greater offense, one that would land you in serious trouble with the religious authorities. A proper understanding of Jewish Sabbath theology is important to grasping why Jesus heals on the Sabbath.
For the Jewish people, the Sabbath had become a symbol of rest and peace (shalom -wholeness) that would happen when the messiah finally arrived, ushering in the age to come. Creation, and all its inhabitants, would be relieved of all the turmoil, disease, destruction, and death that existed as a consequence of the fall. This rest and peace was much anticipated and longed for by Israel and her religious leaders. Honoring the Sabbath was a mini preview of the peace and wholeness that would accompany the coming of God’s dominion.
Jesus, by beginning his work of healing on the Sabbath, intended it to be seen as the first act in bringing about the end-time Sabbath rest and wholeness here and now. What better way to honor the Sabbath than by offering healing to a woman in the midst of suffering?
Like the exorcism that took place earlier in the chapter, Jesus’ healing of Simon’s mother-in-law is part of the breaking in of the kingdom of God. Unfortunately, Jesus’ actions on the Sabbath would not be seen this way by the religious leadership.
After Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law, she immediately gets up and serves 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 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 serves 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
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. Word has spread not only about his actions but also about his whereabouts.
At sundown on the Sabbath, people begin bringing their sick and demon-possessed. They gather at sundown because sundown marks the end of one day and the beginning of another.
This is unlike our conception of time, with the beginning of a new day at dawn. Now that the Sabbath was over, the crowds did not have to fear that they were breaking the Sabbath by bringing their sick to Jesus. Realistically, some of the sick would need to be carried, constituting work.
Mark tells us that the whole city comes out to the door of the house where they are 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 diseases and casts out many demons. The demons were instructed not to speak because they knew who Jesus was. Why would Jesus need to instruct the demons not to speak?
It could be that it was not yet the right time for Jesus to proclaim who he was.
Or, Jesus may not have wanted the proclamation about who he is coming from the mouths of demons. Either way, Jesus shows his power over the demons by casting them out and keeping them from divulging what they know.
Scene #3
We are not told how long into the night Jesus was with the crowd. It may have been late into the night due to the large crowds. Mark tells us 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 he had used before.
Soon enough, Simon and the others realize that Jesus is not in the house where they had been staying. They set out to find him, and upon doing so, they encourage him to come back into town.
The reason that Simon and the others use for a return to Capernaum is because everyone is looking for him. 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 can be achieved 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 they must go to the neighboring towns (which were not bigger than Capernaum but smaller) to preach.
This is, after all, what he has been sent to do. So, we are told, Jesus heads out throughout the region of Galilee, preaching the message of the kingdom of God.
So What?
I think two things are important 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.