The Rev. Ann R. Lougee

February 5, 2006

Mark 1:29-39

The Healing Touch

This short, familiar, passage of scripture is packed full of significance. It is typical of the writing style of the Gospel of Mark in the way it rushes from scene to scene.

The first scene leads from the synagogue where Jesus has just amazed the people by teaching as one with authority and has cast an evil spirit out of a man. Now he and the disciples he has just called to follow him come into the house of one of them, Simon. There the first healing episode of this gospel takes place, as Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law of a fever. As often happens in the gospels, it’s a woman (unnamed, except in relation to a man) who models discipleship, rising from her healing and quietly serving her guests

One purpose of the story is obviously to demonstrate that Jesus is filled with the healing power of God. In the world of the gospel, illness is often attributed to possession by evil spirits. Though we no longer consider illness to be a manifestation of evil spirits, we do know that there is a spiritual dimension to healing.

What meanings do you hear in the line, "He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up?" Are we reminded there of resurrection, of new life, of our own call to lift up the poor, the broken, the oppressed, one another?

Many women today react negatively to the picture of a woman getting up from her sickbed to serve male guests, but that is to misunderstand the complex gender and social roles of that time and place. Peter’s wife or a servant may have prepared the food, but the privilege of showing hospitality to guests belongs to Peter’s mother-in-law as the senior woman of the household. It is a matter of honor, not of servitude.

We’re not that much different, really, are we? When our guests come to dinner, the person in charge of the kitchen or the hosting may shoo away anyone else who might wander into the kitchen or attempt to help serve. So Jesus restores this woman to her social position within the household.

Another feature of illness is the isolation that it imposes. Jesus rescues the woman from that isolation and reintegrates her into the family and social context.

Mark now follows this healing with a summary reference to the response of the townspeople to Jesus’ presence. Jesus is getting a reputation.

The talk is that he can heal people miraculously, and they crowd the door with all those who are ill or demon possessed. Some of them are undoubtedly in need of his healing touch. Others may be there for the show; and so "the whole city" came to his door. Jesus’ response was full of compassion, and "he cured many."

We anticipate Jesus’ ability and willingness to heal them all, of course, but the words that "he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him" are puzzling. One reason may be that, although part of Jesus’ mission is to resist the powers of evil, he will not do it by exercising miraculous powers to win the adulation of the crowds but by being willing to suffer and die.

Another reason may be that, later in the gospel, temple officials refer to such healings and exorcisms as evidence that Jesus is a magician, that is, one who uses satanic powers. Since accusations of practicing magic may lead to banishment or death, perhaps the commands to be quiet indicate that he is not ready to attract those consequences yet. He still has work to do.

He did not come to Capernaum to settle in as a local healer and holy man, but to preach his gospel of God’s dominion of love throughout the region. Key to that orientation was prayer, so he draws away to a deserted place before dawn, and he prays.

Because there are no actual deserts around Capernaum, translations often say "a lonely place" instead. But that word choice obscures the obvious parallel with the story of Jesus’ being tempted in the desert after his baptism when he had realized his identity as a son of God.

At that time, as Jesus had struggled to decide what that identity meant for how he should live his life and what his mission should be, he had rejected courses of action that would seek his own advantage or popularity. This time, when Simon and the other disciples find him and want to bring him back to the crowds at Capernaum, Jesus insists that he must go to the rest of Galilee to preach his good news and to heal.

What might be the problem with coming to Jesus for healing and seeing him only as a healer? Jesus does not wish to be the celebrity-of-the-moment, and, to him, if not to the crowds or even to his closest followers, his purpose is clear. He is not about being a "sensation," or a success, or even popular.

Even though his disciples (clueless, as they remain throughout the Gospel of Mark) seek him out and try to get him to please the crowd with more impressive deeds, he takes them in new directions, moving on to do what he came out to do, even if it’s not well-received, even if it’s the very thing that will lead to his death. From this story, I think we can take questions to ask about our own ministry.

What is the purpose of our church? For what do you think our congregation is known or for what do we wish it to be known? How is God’s power at work within the life of our church and beyond its walls? Does our church want to receive a lot of attention for what we do? What are the perils of being well-known, as a pastor or a congregation? What are the blessings?

How do prayer and quiet time happen in the life of our church. Do we put enough emphasis on the re-charging of spirits and the reorientation of disciples who may have wandered or lost focus?

If the church truly is the Body of Christ, how do we live out our call to continue the work begun by Jesus, to be healers to those hurting people who are "gathered around the door" of our church? How do we live out our call to "proclaim the message?" Food for thought. Amen.