February 8th,
2015 “Healing Community 2”
Rev. Heather Jepsen
Mark 1:29-39
This week we continue where we left
off in the gospel of Mark. We are still
in the first chapter and everything is happening at a rapid pace. Jesus has just begun his ministry. He called his first disciples by the Sea of
Galilee and then he headed into Capernaum to begin teaching. He worked his first miracle, healing a demon
possessed man in the synagogue, and now he heads to the home of a friend to
spend the night.
Jesus and the disciples enter the home
of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s
mother-in-law is there and she is ill with fever. Jesus takes her by the hand, the fever leaves
her, and she gets up to wait on the guests.
By evening word of the healing has spread, and the whole town clambers
around the door for Jesus’ attention.
Many are healed.
In the morning, Jesus is nowhere to be
found. He has gone off by himself to
spend a few moments in prayer.
Frustrated, the disciples head out in search of him and when they find
him their exasperation is evident, “Where have you been? Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus rejects the attentions of the folks of
Capernaum, and instead declares that he has set his sights on other
horizons. It is time to move on.
Just like last week, we find that
today’s stories center around healing; specifically the healing that Jesus
offers and the healing that takes place in the community. In today’s story we
find that the healing has extended from the worshipping community out into the
home, and yet it is still tied to our relationships with each other.
I have to tell you that the story of
Simon’s mother-in-law used to drive me crazy.
I could just imagine the scene as the men return home after a long day
at the synagogue. They are hungry and
tired. Like most men they are eager to
put their feet up and chow down. The
primary woman of the house is unwell so there is no food to welcome them
home. “Come on, Jesus” I imagined Simon
saying, “Heal her so she can make us some dinner!” As soon as the woman is healed she pops up
and begins waiting on the men. Most of
you can guess where I stand on issues of feminism, so it is no surprise that stories
like this really make me bristle.
It wasn’t until I had grown a bit in
my faith, that I could revisit this story with a new understanding. The men come home from church where there has
been a miraculous healing and much talk about who Jesus might be. Simon’s mother-in-law is not well, and the
temptation would be to avoid her. Sick
people are unclean, and fever was commonly associated with demon
possession. That’s why Mark writes that
the fever “left her” as if it were a person.
The men would have probably avoided her in the home, or perhaps they
would have left the house altogether.
But Jesus approaches the woman. He reaches out and touches her hand, which is
unclean, and he offers her healing. In
gratitude for what she receives, Simon’s mother-in-law is eager to serve her
Lord. The Greek word used in this passage
is diekonei, from which we get our
word deacon. Simon’s mother-in-law is
the first deacon, and she is an example of service to us. We are healed in the community, we are made
whole, and we celebrate that new life by giving and sharing with others.
Once again we come face to face with
the importance of healing happening in the community. Last week I reminded you that you can’t go it
alone; you can’t have a life of faith outside of the church. It is imperative that we gather together in
worship. That message is underscored by
this reading today. The church community
comes to the one who is not able to be there, and it brings the chance for
healing with it.
Lest you think I am making this up, I
want to share something with you that I read last week. In his article in Feasting on the Word, theologian PC Ennis discusses a recent
experiment which was designed to test the efficacy of prayer. He writes . . .
The members of one group, located on the east coast,
were each assigned the name of an ill person on the west coast with whom they
were not acquainted and instructed to pray every day for the person’s
health. The members of the other group
were each given the name of an ill person whom they knew personally and who was
a member of their own church. Similar
instructions were given, to pray for the ill people every day. The patients who had no personal relationship
with their prayer partner showed no significant difference in improvement from
the general public, whereas members of the group who had developed a social
relationship with their prayer partners through the church, indicated a decided
difference in improvement and quality of life.
So
one could say that it is scientifically proven; healing, spiritual growth, and wholeness
all happen here within the church community.
So, you may be asking, if community is
so great then, why does Jesus wander off to be by himself? Because he too needs time to heal, and he
certainly needs time to focus on his own relationship with God, his own
spiritual life. This is such a powerful
reminder for pastors and others who serve.
Those of us who are “on call” all the time need to remember that Jesus
took time outs and Jesus took breaks. We
need to remember that Jesus took care of himself.
It is difficult to say whether this
was a time of rest and renewal for Jesus, or a time of struggle and
discernment. Jesus had had a busy day at
the synagogue and a busy night healing the city of Capernaum. Perhaps he just needed some quiet time for
centering prayer. Or, perhaps it was
more. Mark says he was in a deserted
place, which is the same root word for desert.
We know in the scriptures that the desert wilderness is a scary place, a
place of wandering and suffering, a place where things are not clear. Perhaps Jesus was in a time of searching,
asking questions about what shape the future of his ministry should take.
It is clear that he has made a
decision when the disciples arrive. They
are annoyed that he has been gone for so long.
The text says that the disciples hunted for Jesus, but it doesn’t convey
the true sense of the Greek verb katedioxen
which is to pursue in a hostile sense.
This is the same verb used when Pharaoh’s army is chasing after the
Israelites. The disciples are frustrated
and annoyed and they are hunting down Jesus.
They are angry with Jesus for leaving the city when he had such a
successful following there. They are
thinking that now is the time to set up a base of operations, while Jesus is
thinking of something entirely different.
This is the first of many times when the disciples misunderstand the one
that they are following.
Jesus has decided it is time to move
on into the next city. He has not come just
to heal and care for the people of Capernaum.
Instead, he has come to preach the gospel in faraway regions. The disciples are frustrated, and Simon’s
comment to Jesus “Everyone is looking for you” is a chastisement. Jesus and his followers are gaining power in
Capernaum, if they leave now they will have to start all over again.
This portion of the reading also
contains a powerful message for pastors and others who serve the church
community. So often we are tempted to try
to take care of everyone, to try to respond to everybody’s needs. While it may seem a worthy cause, it is
actually a failing. When we do too much,
we don’t serve anyone well, and we neglect our own self-care. (I’m not just preaching to the choir today,
I’m preaching to myself!)
It is so interesting to see Jesus walk
away from the community that seems to need him.
The reality is that they don’t need him, they need each other. They have heard the message, they have
experienced healing, and now they can minister to each other as the community
of faith. Jesus is free to move on to
share the gospel in other places, because his work in Capernaum is done. It is now the community’s responsibility to
offer care for itself. It is not
something the disciples, or I would imagine the needy people of Capernaum, find
easy to understand.
So, once again we are back to the
message that healing happens in community.
We are going to have an excellent opportunity for healing today, as we
gather around the communion table. This
table is a physical manifestation of our faith.
It is a reminder that we are one when we gather in the name of the
Lord. Not only are we united as this
church, First Presbyterian Church of Warrensburg, but we are united with all
Christians of all times and places. We
are a part of the one great big healing community.
When we gather at this table we
experience healing. We are made whole as
a body of faith and we are made whole as individuals. We are nourished by this meal, we are
reminded who we are, and we are reminded how deeply our God loves us. From this table we are sent out into the
world to serve. Like Simon’s mother-in-law
we will rise from this feast renewed and we are called to take that healing out
into the world in service.
And so again today, I want to thank
you and praise you for coming to church this morning. This is the place you need to be. This is the place where we experience healing
and where we are fed. And from this
place, we go out into the world to serve, following after our servant Lord,
Jesus the Christ. Once again, we say
thanks, that we are part of this healing community. Amen.
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