Abstract
The first chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark moves quickly. John the Baptist baptizes Jesus in the River Jordan, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness for forty days and nights, the first disciples are called on the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus teaches with authority in the synagogue in Capernaum where he performs his first healing miracle of the Gospel. With the same swiftness of these opening verses, today’s lectionary reading recounts the movement of Jesus from the synagogue in Capernaum to the home of Simon and Andrew, and then to the solitude of a deserted place. From the center of public worship in the synagogue, to the relative privacy provided by the home of his trusted disciples and one of their families, and then on to a deserted place where Jesus prayed in the dark hours of the morning, Jesus demonstrates that he always acts with authority. This authority is expressed differently in different times and places, but it is always the same authority that comes from God and reflects God. For this reason it is an authority that brings both comfort and life.
Upon Jesus’ arrival at the home of Simon and Andrew, he is at once told about Simon’s mother-in-law, and as Scripture tells us, “He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them” (Mark 1:31). This encounter is significant. We already know that Jesus can heal. Immediately before these verses, Jesus heals a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum on the Sabbath. Jesus rebuked the spirit’s cries with authority, and after “convulsing” and “crying with a loud voice” the spirit left the man’s body. Jesus has healing power and authority over not just demons and spirits, but what can also be understood as strictly more physical ailments as well. Unlike the man who is healed in the synagogue, enslaved by the spirit that convulses and cries with a loud voice when healed, Simon’s mother-in-law was lying in bed with a fever. The man with the unclean spirit cries out to Jesus before being healed, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). In the case of Simon’s mother-in-law, there are no accusatory or fearful cries to Jesus, but a woman perhaps too sick, and too tired to speak. Rather than the identification of Jesus as the Holy One of God instilling a fear of death, it inspires healing and life. Scripture provides no further details as to why Simon’s mother-in-law was sick. There is no account of an unclean spirit within her, and nothing to lead us to believe that this was anything more than a woman who was seriously ill, much as we might know someone who is ill today. And here, not in the public eye of the synagogue, but in the privacy of a home and among his first four disciples, Jesus demonstrates that whether in public or private, he is the Holy One of God, and demonstrates his authority over unclean spirits and physical ailments.
In contrast to this triumphant display of power over a combative spirit, the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law reflects a gentler, and somewhat different, but no less powerful, authority to heal. Another difference between this healing and the one in the synagogue is the way in which Jesus heals. Whereas Jesus commands the unclean spirit to leave the man with a spoken word, Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law when he takes her by the hand and lifts her up. It is a much gentler image, but no less powerful. The different expressions of God’s love are demonstrated throughout the Gospels and all of Scripture. In the synagogue, Jesus heals a man from an unclean spirit through a spoken command. In Simon’s home, he heals as he takes her by the hand. As we all know, love can take different shapes. At times, love involves yelling at the top of your lungs to prevent your child from running into the street, and at other times it involves embracing them in a hug and telling them that everything is going to be fine. As Scripture reflects, and life confirms, love takes different shapes.
As Simon’s mother-in-law is healed, she does something significant. The Gospel according to St. Mark states, “Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them” (Mark 1:31). Expressed simply and plainly, she models how to respond to Jesus’ love and authority. Healed by Christ, she begins to serve, and in this way serves as an example for all who seek to respond to the love of Jesus in their life. Rather than thinking strictly of this newly healed woman serving those in the household in those immediate moments, I want to picture something more expansive. Simon’s mother-in-law was healed and she responded by serving Jesus. Scripture expresses that she served “them,” not simply Jesus, but “them,” which also includes the disciples who were in the home with Jesus, and perhaps, just maybe, it included others. When we respond to Jesus’ love, certainly we are called to serve others. The response of Simon’s mother-in-law serves as a positive response to Jesus’ love and is different from some who have been healed elsewhere in Scripture. The Gospel according to St. Luke recounts the ten who are healed, while only one, the Samaritan, returns to give praise to God (Luke 17:11-19). Simon’s mother-in-law not only acknowledges her healing by Jesus but also in turn serves him and others. What could be more appropriate for each of us?
On the evening of the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law, “they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door” (Mark 1:33). As Jesus’ fame spread and as the city gathered at the door, the question we have to ask ourselves today is this, with so much hurt and need for healing in the world, why isn’t the whole city or world at the church’s door? It is all too easy to point out the hurt and areas in need of healing within our world, and even within our own lives. Perhaps the greatest difference pointed out in this sermon is not between the healing in the synagogue and Simon’s home, but between the response to love and healing within Jesus’ day and today. From vanishing physical ailments to decisions that transform lives once and for all, miraculous healings can still take place. But there will also be more gradual healings. Courses of treatment for body or mind, people who provide comfort and strength, and those who spend their lives trying make God’s love more clearly felt in the life of another. There are also, of course, those who desperately wait for healing of any sort, but continue to wait. As we trust God to work in his own will and time, may we be granted a faith and perspective that allows us to draw strength from his promises. Regardless of the shape and character of the healing God provides, whether we have received it or wait for it, Christians are called to recognize the authority of Christ in all the forms it takes, and like Simon’s mother-in-law, to serve. As we serve Christ, and as we serve others, may we too become a part of God’s work within this world, looking to Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God, the One who lives, teaches, comforts, and heals with ultimate authority.