“He cured many”

Mark 1.29-39

Pastor Tom Johnson, February 5, 2012

 

Right after synogogue—right after public worship service, Jesus goes to Simon Peter and Andrew’s home for a meal. James and John are also invited. These former fishermen—now fishers for people—are staying close together. Peter’s mother-in-law is unable to show them her normal hospitality. She is lying in bed. She is so weak that she cannot even get up to properly greet them. She has a fever. Her body’s immune system is fighting some kind of bug or infection. “By the way, Jesus,” Peter says, “my mother-in-law wasn’t at synagogue today and will not be able to help out with dinner. She’s in the other room flat on her back. I felt her forehead earlier this morning and she is burning up.”

Jesus does not say, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” He does not say a word but goes directly to her bedside. He grabs her hand and simply pulls her to her feet, as if to say, “Today, we are not going to do without your wonderful hospitality!” Peter’s mother-in-law immediately gets up and serves them a meal. It was Jesus’ initiative, his idea, and his insistence that she get up that seemed to heal her—even without her prayer.

Later that evening—as the sun is disappearing into the horizon—word gets out. The growing darkness and beauty of the sunset parallel the growing darkness of people who are sick and spiritually oppressed and the beauty of the Son who heals. News went out quickly of Peter’s mother-in-law. It seems that all at once everybody is at the door wanting to get a piece of Jesus’ healing power. Now it is because of their initiative, their need, and their insistence that Jesus meets them at the door. He answers their prayer just as they had hoped. He cures many who were sick—with all sorts of sicknesses.

Even those people with unspeakable and unnamed mental and spiritual oppression come to Jesus. People were unafraid and unashamed to come to Jesus even with their nightmares and disturbing stories of the spiritual forces of evil. This is the kind of stuff you don’t want to hear about—the kind of stuff of horror movies and the sensationalism of late night television. And, do you know what is just as strange as the stories? The voices of these oppressive spirits seem to know exactly who Jesus is—even better than his disciples and the people getting healed. These diabolical voices and spirits who showed no mercy even to the smallest child that they tormented had to shut up. They had to go away by the power and authority of his Word. This authority goes far beyond the healing of the body. His healing extends to the strange and unknown realms of mental and spiritual illness.

Jesus is up into the middle of the night healing and delivering people—mind, body, and soul. You would think that Jesus would need to rest. But instead, Jesus gets up well before the morning twilight and disappears. Just when Jesus’ healing is most palpable and most extraordinary and most immediate and present—he vanishes as quickly and abruptly as he appeared. Why would Jesus appear to be absent when people are seeking his healing? Simon Peter leads a group who went on a hunt for Jesus. They search for Jesus in the pitch black of the early morning hours. And when they find Jesus, he is praying. He is praying in a desolate place.

If the Healer feels the need to pray, how much more do we need to pray who seek his healing power? If Jesus, who had so much authority over illness and the spiritual forces of darkness, draws near to his heavenly Father for strength, how much more do we who are weak need to draw near to our heavenly Father?

“Everyone is searching for you,” they said. “There are so many people that need your healing, Jesus. There is so much brokenness and suffering and death around us. It’s confusing that you would sometimes seem absent at such a time of need. You can heal until the middle of the night. You display the grandeur of your glory and the glory of God the Father. Why hide that glory at other times?” “So let’s go to the neighboring towns,” Jesus says. “This is why I came, to tell all the world the good news.” And so Jesus continues to go from town to town preaching and healing people—mind, body, and spirit.

Jesus invites us to pursue and even hunt for him in the darkness of our nights. Sometimes he seems absent. But we will find that his prayer for us is more faithful than our prayer for ourselves. He shows no limits to the extent of his healing power. He takes fevers away. He cures all diseases. He drives away the spiritual forces of evil and darkness. Jesus always heals. But, as we see in our Gospel reading, Jesus keeps his own schedule. He does things in his way and in his own time. It may seem that our hunting for him in the night comes up empty. It may seem that our prayers for healing and deliverance are unanswered. But the truth is that when we find him, he is interceding for us day and night—always praying for our protection and well being.

This is why he came. He came for our well being. By his death, he overcame death. And by his rising from the empty tomb, he gives us eternal life. Even if it seems like sickness and evil have won the day, God has simply called us home. There he binds up our wounds, cures our diseases, and delivers us from evil once for all. That day Jesus cured many who sought him. One day, he will cure all.