After they left the synagogue, they went directly to the building of Simon and Andrew, along with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying in bed, sick with a fever, so they promptly told Jesus about her. He went up to her, took her by the hand, and helped her up. The fever left her, and she began serving them. When evening came, subsequent to the sun had set, people started bringing to him all those that were sick or possessed by demons.
In fact, the whole village gathered at the door. He healed many who were sick with different diseases and drove out many demons. However, he would not let the demons to speak due to the fact that they knew who he was. Within the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went to a deserted location and prayed there. Simon and his companions searched diligently for him.
When they located him, they told him, Everyone's receiving note of for you. He spoke about to them, Let us leave to the neighboring towns such that I can preach there, too. For that is howcome I came out here. So he went throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. Looking through the Gospel text this week I was reminded regarding the story regarding the priest who gets pulled over by a policeman subsequent to running an orange light, and when the window is wound down, the officer is immediately confronted with the smell of alcohol emanating from the car! Have you been drinking, Father? the policeman asks.
Not a drop, the priest replies. Well should you mind telling me what you have got in that flask, the policeman asks. Ah that should be water, says the priest. The policeman picks up the flask, opens it and sniffs it. I know this is whiskey, Father, says the policeman.
Mother of God! says the priest, Another miracle! And as I view through the Gospel reading currently I locate myself creating similar response: Another miracle!'We're actually only within first chapter regarding the Gospel according to St Mark, and yet already we have been confronted with an entire series of miracles!No sooner had Jesus entered the synagogue to teach than he was confronted by a wild, crazy man, screaming out at him, and Jesus healed the man. And within a day of that event, or so it seems, everybody who is sick or possessed is crowding around Jesus, and Jesus is healing them of their illnesses and driving out demons, and the activity becomes all-consuming, though the irony is that Jesus seems to be engaging within the whole process little reluctantly!We sense a degree of frustration, I think, with Jesus early on, as He tries to quieten the testimonies regarding the possessed You can be the Blessed two of God! lest the whole thing get out of hand. And yet it does get out of hand, and Jesus seems frustrated by the hordes that press on him. It appears that He wants people to listen to what He has to say, and not just to obtain carried distant with His miracles or His mysterious identity. This is created barely explicit at the end of our reading today, where we look Jesus, possessing escaped from the crowds that were pursuing him to a lonely place' vs.
35, telling His disciples that it's time to move on. Let us leave to the neighbouring towns such that I can preach there, too. For that is howcome I came out here. 38 And it seems that Jesus, subsequent to possessing taken some time to ponder things through, realises that His priority has to be spreading His phrase of hope regarding the new world coming. The best well of person need that He sees round about him is, it seems, a distraction that threatens to divert Him from His real work.
Surely there were any many others who should take up the task of healing the sick. Jesus should focus on spreading the word, for that is howcome I came out! As I say, there is a fair degree of irony in this due to the fact that despite Jesus' words, He not ever actually acts in accordance with His own pronouncement!. Perhaps indeed the ordinary wants of ordinary person beings are a distraction from the greater work of spreading the Gospel, but if so, Jesus seemed to consistently let Himself to be distracted!So many people return to him, we are told, that there isn't space at the door, and yet we do not look Jesus standing up and saying, Look! I need everybody to place their physical issues on hold for a moment. I have some things I'd like to say. No! There is a well of person misery surrounding Jesus as He begins His ministry, and Jesus wades right into it!Jesus does not detach Himself.
He allows Himself to be distracted. He liberates most the infirmed and the possessed, and He does so knowing full well that this is detracting from the work that He was sent to do, but He does it anyway!Yes, at the end regarding the day he creates some distance for Himself and He decides that it's time to focus on preaching, and yet the immediate follow-on from this pronouncement is that an lone afflicted with leprosy finds Jesus and asks for help. And Jesus does not say, Not now, buddy! I've got other things I need to be doing. At fewest wait until the end regarding the sermon! On the contrary, St Mark records that Jesus was moved with compassion' for the person vs. 41, and so He healed him.
And so the pattern of preaching AND healing where there always seems to be very many more healing than preaching continues!Now that story regarding the person with leprosy is in next week's reading, I think, and I do not need to snatch the thunder from next week's sermon, so perhaps I should focus on the first healing that is dealt with in this week's story namely, the healing of Simon Peter's mother-in-law a healing that I should speak has to be one regarding the fewest spectacular healing stories ever recorded in any regarding the 4 Gospels!It is preceded by the healing regarding the crazy demoniac and proceeded by the story regarding the person with leprosy, and it seems like a rather innocuous example to focus on relative to those two!We are told that Simon Peter's mother-in-law had a fever, but there is no suggestion there that it was life-threatening. It shall have been, of course, or she shall have just had a slight touch regarding the flu!It does make you wonder howcome the Gospel writer chose to with this specific incident when it does seem to detract from the action-packed nature regarding the adventure that is unfolding. Was it just that the Gospel writer and his first readers all knew Peter's mother-in-law personally? If so, it's a bit of a surprise that she does not receive a name within the story!Some scholars suggest that there is a movement within the story regarding the healing of Peter's mother-in-law that is archetypal for the process of discipleship. As you view the narrative, you do look that movement: Jesus goes to her He takes her by the paw He lifts her up She is healed!And it's almost like a dance that Jesus and the woman are sharing in together, where Jesus leads the dance but where, you can notice, the woman creates the final move, for we are told that no sooner has she been healed than she begins to serve' Jesus literally, to wait on Him' but the implication being that she has now grow to a disciple, and so the dance of like and healing and service shall continue!I'm sure this story has deliberately been framed to encapsulate this movement, like a sort of template for discipleship. Even so, there is no reason the Gospel writer should not have overlaid that template on any many other more spectacular healing stories tooMy guess is that Mark deliberately included this story regarding the healing of Simon Peter's mother-in-law, in all its ordinariness, basically due to the fact that it is so ordinary, and hence so familiar!We look healings like this all the time, do not we? We are many times involved in healings like this, are we not?It should be that you, like me, have seen a handful of spectacular healings and or or exorcisms in your time, but for the greatest component it is these little miracles that we are familiar with, and perhaps component regarding the spot of this passage is that little miracles are still miracles, and the fact that they can be mini and familiar does not mean that they can be unimportant!I ponder of all the little miracles I've been privileged to be the beneficiary of over the years not normally directly from the paw of Jesus, but more many times through the healing touch of two of Jesus' people.
I ponder return to the time when I was struggling with depression, trying to survive my own family breakdown many years ago. And I do not forget all the little acts of healing that took location return then the little miracle of a friend who should sit up with me and share a beer with me and let me talk until I was can leave to sleep. We've been remembering the lives of dear old Margaret and Thelma today, and I do not forget well the mini miracles that they should dispense nothing spectacular, but a gentle word, a loving embrace coming to me, receiving me by the hand, lifting me up and giving me healing and strength. Life's little miracles! Let us leave to the neighbouring towns such that I can preach there, too. For that is howcome I came out here.
38 As I say, there is a subtle irony in this pronouncement, in component due to the fact that Jesus seems to be incapable of following His own advice!If Jesus really was psyching up the team for a more focused ministry where words came first and acts of healing second, it was a program He not ever carried through with. His compassion got the better of Him. And yet there is another irony here too, and it's located within the text regarding the Gospel itself!Jesus' priority, we are told, is preaching and teaching, and yet whether you view through this extensive first chapter regarding the Gospel according to St Mark, there is not a lone phrase of Jesus' teaching recorded! It actually not until we get to the latter component of Mark chapter 3 that we get any regarding the actual teachings of Jesus recorded!I'm not suggesting that this creates the teachings of Jesus any fewer important not at all but I am suggesting that at fewest so distant as the Gospel-writer Mark was concerned these were not the things Jesus was greatest remembered for!And this is true to life!As we are remembering currently the lives of dear Thelma and Margaret, I should speak that I do not forget them very well, but it's not their wise words I remember, though I'm sure Thelma in specific had plenty for me. It was her compassionate touch, her loving looks, the affectionate kiss, the healing embrace St Francis of Assisi is spoke about to have said, Preach the Gospel at all times, and if compulsory use words. I do not have knowledge of if he really spoke about it, but it creates sense.
Of course we do not do anybody any favours by holding return the words regarding the Gospel, for indeed these words shall be the source of life and hope. And yet words by themselves shall be very hollow. When we die it shall most likely not be our words that we are greatest remembered for. Most likely it should be the little miracles that we were a component of. And it shall seem sometimes that our contribution is not that best ah another miracle' and yet every miracle best and mini is a component of that best dance that Jesus is leading us in.
For Jesus is higher than just a teacher, just as His teaching is higher than mere words. He is the visible image of our invisible God, says St Paul Colossians 1:15. Or within the words of Charles Wesley:Jesu, Thou art all compassion. Pure, unbounded like Thou art. Visit us with Thy salvation.
Enter every trembling hear!.
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