| February 6, 2000 | Jesus: The Healer for Life | Mark 1:29-39

Thank you to: Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn, Messiah Lutheran Church, Kenosha, Wisconsin who provided the primary source for this message.

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Mark 1:31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them.

If there is one thing that is true of Jesus, it is that He is a man on the move. Especially in the Gospel of Mark, you get the impression that He never has a moment to Himself; He never has an opportunity to simply kick back and relax. From the moment of His baptism, Jesus is a man who is driven. He teaches, He goes to his disciples' houses, He heals people and casts out demons. The words of the disciples to Jesus ring true, "Everyone is looking for you."

So this episode with Simon Peter's mother-in-law is one that is often overlooked in the midst of the mad rush of Jesus to accomplish His work. But there is much we can learn from this woman, and from the One who healed her of her fever.

After Jesus teaches in the synagogue, probably in the evening, He goes with His disciples to Simon Peter's house. Simon Peter's mother-in-law is sick with a fever, and so they tell Jesus about her ailment. It was the end of a long day, but that does not deter our Lord from going to her. Now it is easy for us to almost scoff at Jesus bothering with a fever. I mean, really, there are so many other more important things to deal with as the Lord of Life. Demons to cast out, the dead to raise, the Gospel to Preach, why bother with such a trifling as a little fever?

Well, this gives us a little insight into our Lord. What may seem like nothing to us is a very big thing to Him. He is the creator, and He loves His whole creation. He came on earth as the Great Physician, as the Great Healer who would bring about harmony and restore health and peace to a broken and wounded world. What seems like a little fever to us is to Him another sign of how cracked and crumbling this world has become. God did not create man and woman to hurt and suffer. He created them to serve Him with gladness using the talents that God had given them as His children.

And so Jesus, in a very tender moment, went to Peter's mother-in-law, took her hand, lifted her up, and the fever left her. Perhaps the moment goes too fast for you. The Creator of Heaven and earth, the giver of all good things and the Lord of all creation, leans over, takes the hand of this frail woman, and lifts her up out of her fever. And there's a very special word there that we can easily overlook: "lift up." It so happens that this Greek word is the same word used for "forgive." Do you understand what Jesus is getting at here? Jesus sees the healing of physical maladies of this world to be the same action as healing the sin that afflicts us. We can see this elsewhere when Jesus is healing people. Oftentimes Jesus will directly connect forgiving their sins and healing them. But here, He simply lifts her up so that the fever left her. And she was well. She was whole once again.

In our frail and fractured world, sickness and disease can rip through a person so that it seems like there is nothing left. Any of you who have had a debilitating disease, a heart attack, or something to that effect know what I'm talking about. There is something terrifying about this sort of helplessness. Try as we might, sometimes you just can't do anything about it. And it irks us. No one likes to feel helpless. For many, old age can have the same effect. You just can't do the things you used to do, and it hurts! It is painful and troubling, because you know what you used to do but reality seems to get in the way. From the day we are born, our bodies are on a clock to the grave.

Now, these physical ailments, which afflict us all in one way or another, are but one sign of the sin-sickness that is our true illness. The sin-sickness that eats away at us can very well destroy our lives, when it grabs hold. And that is how Satan works. He uses our bodies and our souls as His tool, to try and convince us that it's hopeless, that we are too far-gone to be any good to anyone. We don't deserve to live, and Satan would love nothing more than to see us crushed in the dirt and wallowing in our own despair for then he will have won. That despair is Satan's great tool, for it eats away at one like a cancer, so that you don't believe anything good can come of your life. Yes, physical ailments are harsh, but they are nothing compared to the spiritual afflictions which Satan puts upon us. We can understand Job's lament from the Old Testament lesson, "When I lie down I think, 'How long before I get up?' The night drags on, and I toss until dawn. My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering."

But Jesus lifts the woman up. He forgives her of her sickness, and so He forgives you of your sin-sickness. He takes your worn-out body and washes it anew in water and Word. But this water of Baptism doesn't simple get you wet with water, but it bathes you in His Word.

It is no coincidence that an early symbol for Christianity is the fish. You probably know that the fish is an acronym for the Greek words Jesus Christ God's Son--Savior. But it is also an ancient and deep symbol for the baptismal waters that make us whole and fill us up with His holy love. It is these waters that cleanse you and heal you, even though death may surround you at every side.

But there is another interesting point in our text. Jesus takes her hand, lifts her up and the fever left her. But what happened next? She began to wait on them. Or another translation would be, She rose up and began to serve them. Now at first glance we may think that is a little cruel. She had been sick almost to death, and now she gets up and they want to stuff her in her place again! They want to make her do the housework. What did Jesus heal her for anyway? Did He heal her because he needed another servant?

If we look at it this way, we really drive a wedge between our life as a child of God and our life here on earth. Jesus did not save you so that you would sit on a hill and wait for Him to come back. He didn't save you so that you could wallow once again in your own sinful selfishness. No, not at all. Jesus saves us and frees us--to be human. God did not create human beings in order to sit around on a bunch of clouds in the sky and play harps, or whatever. Remember, back in the Garden of Eden, after He created Adam and Eve, God sent them forth to take care of the earth, to work it, and to subdue it.

Working, living and doing and being human, is how God created man. If you separate that from the faith, you separate God from the world, and make the world into a meaningless place. I think this is part of the problem that many Christians have. They think of God as out there somewhere. "Sure, He did something so that I can go to heaven after I die, but until then, I'm on my own." Not true! God saved you now! He has freed you to be human, so that you may live you life, and fulfill your vocation, your calling on this earth. What Peter's mother-in-law did was serve them. She took care of the house, and made sure that everyone was fed and cared for in their household. That is a wonderful and honorable estate. Jesus healed her, so that she could live where God had placed her.

And that is how forgiveness and Jesus' healing works in your life. God forgives you and heals you of your sin-sickness. Now, you may stuff that into the closet and only bring it out for an hour or so on Sunday morning, or--it may actually take root in your life. You are in Christ. Always, not just Sunday morning. God wants you to live. He wants you to be who you are as a child of God. And He wants you to use all of the gifts and talents God has given you. True, this includes here at church, but remember, God is the one who made you a father or mother, a child, student, worker, or whatever else you may do or be. This is who you are, and God has freed you to live without fear, knowing that He is with you always.

That is why we come to the Lord's Supper. We come to be forgiven, to be healed and renewed in body and soul. And when we partake of that one body and blood, our lives are bound together with Christ, so that God uses you in all the different places of your life, to His glory and to the welfare of your neighbor. Just like Peter's mother-in-law, God has lifted you up, God has forgiven you, healed you and made you whole through that master healer, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.