Epiphany 5B, 2024

5th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The season after the Epiphany is coming to a close - only one more Sunday left before Lent begins. The Christ has been revealed to the world in a variety of ways so far: to the gentile Wise Men from the east, to John the Baptist’s followers by the voice of God the Father, by a demon-possessed man in last week’s reading. Today’s Gospel reading tells us that “many demons” were present as he healed the sick in Capernaum, but Jesus wouldn’t let them speak, “because they knew him.”

Just as last week, this seems to go against the theme of the season here: Epiphany is about revealing the Christ - the Messiah - to the world. Mark tells us that Jesus did not let the demons speak, even though their knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth was 100% true, which we know from last week. It’s somewhat noteworthy that Capernaum has “many” demons troubling its citizens. Mark wants us to know that this is a large number, and that Jesus dealt with all of them; he did a lot of exorcisms. It seems clear that Jesus silenced all of them, because if he hadn’t, “they would have shouted out their knowledge of his deity and his Messiahship.” [Lenski, 85] Jesus has already dealt with this in the previous scene, where the demon shouts in synagogue: “I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” [Mk 1:24] The demon reveals this openly because he knows that Jesus does not want it made public yet; he wants people to discover who he really is by his words and his deeds. Jesus never proclaimed that he was the Messiah or the Son of God but let people draw this conclusion on their own, and THEN when they drew it, whether they believed it or not, he would reinforce it. [Lenski, 79] The demons know they can’t beat Jesus, so they seek to disrupt his plans and throw off his timing by revealing him early.

Of course, even without the demons speaking out, Jesus is growing in fame. Mark 1:28 “And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.” He then goes to Peter’s home (which is mere yards from the synagogue) for what would appear to be time with friends… and Jesus performs another very simple act of healing. He doesn’t make a big show of it, he doesn’t even say anything… he simply takes her by the hand and lifts her up from the bed. Without ever a word (at least as Mark tells us), she begins to serve everyone.

Now I want to pause here for a moment. If you think about the situation here, it seems obvious that if Peter’s mother-in-law is living with him and his wife, she must now be a widow, and have no other children - or her own son would have taken her in. But Peter is a good man and brings his wife’s mother under his care. I can see the grandmother-type with guests in the house wanting to make sure everyone was fed. We all know the type. The Gospel writers give us the understanding that this woman didn’t just have a mild fever - it was serious. And since they didn’t have modern medicine, she was likely going to die from it. But Jesus just lifts her up out of bed and she heads straight for the kitchen to make sure they’re properly served. (Yes, I’m a little persuaded by how The Chosen portrays this scene…but it’s the way I would see it!)

But there is a lesson to be taken from this, that wasn’t readily apparent to me right away until I got some scholarly clarity: Jesus heals us so that we may serve. Think about that for a second. “The healing ministry of Jesus restores ordinary human lives of service. The people he touches are not freed from their human responsibilities or relationship. On the contrary, Jesus’ touch removes everything which damages or obstructs our human lives of service.” I might even add, his touch restores things we take for granted… things we might otherwise think of as unremarkable.

Now that was a very private act, done in the confines of his friend’s home, but crowds located him and soon gathered anyway. The mention of sundown is to remind us that the people waited until the Sabbath was over, so they would not violate the laws to rest by carrying their sick to Peter’s house. How many? “The whole city” is what Mark tells us. Historians estimate that to be around 1,500 people. And of those, “many” were ill or demon-possessed. We don’t have an exact number, but Jesus was faced with a fairly big task. From Mark’s telling, Jesus must have healed all of them. Every one who was brought to Peter’s door. It was certainly a long and busy night for him.

And then, well before dawn, Jesus goes off to a quiet place to pray. We have a significant number of times recorded in the Gospels when Jesus prays. Every time this act is recorded, it concerns something important in his ministry. We learn very quickly in this passage that this time, it is about “his resolve to preach the gospel of the kingdom throughout Galilee. Jesus prayed because he was a man. His prayers were communions with his Father. ... the Son had become man and as such he was dependent on his Father in all things.” And so he prayed about this and then told his followers of his love and perfect obedience to His Father. [Lenski, 86]

When Peter and the others found him, it was clear that the people were impressed by Jesus’ acts of healing. “Everyone is looking for you.” Yeah, of course they are. But if the whole town gathered last night with their sick and demon-possessed, and Jesus healed all of them, what did they expect him to do next? Interestingly, Jesus did not think his acts of healing were his primary purpose, as he explains in his response: “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” (Mark 1:38)

He came to preach the Gospel far and wide, not to stay in one place. Remember, Jesus had a home in Capernaum. He hadn’t gone very far at all yet; his mission had just started…and he was not meant to stay safely at home. He had given the people in his own town both the Gospel message he was sent to give them, and the healing and deliverance they needed. As they were seeking him, it was clear that they were hungry for more. His disciples could certainly work to feed that hunger after he was gone.

We can learn two things from these last few verses. First is that we, too, are not called to stay safely in our place. Our calling is to share this Gospel message with the world around us…especially to those who have not heard it. This is the work to which we have been sent. We, like Christ, are called to come out of our place. Vision Point #2 - grow in our outreach. If we’re going to grow in that part of our church work, we have to reach out to the world around us.

The other thing we can learn from Jesus is to follow his example of prayer. If the Son of God - who already knows the Heavenly Father better than any of us - if he can spend time in prayer with the Father, then we should take that as our example to follow. If we want to get to know God better, we have to spend time with Him. Prayer is one of the best ways to do that.

How do you think about prayer? Here’s one definition I really like: “Prayer is surrender--surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat-hook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.” [E. Stanley Jones, Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, K Hughes, Tyndale, 1988, p. 73]

Martin Luther had quite a bit to say about prayer. One of the best is this: “Pray as if everything depends on God, then work as if everything depends on you.”

But perhaps my favorite quote about prayer comes from John Bunyon (author of Pilgrim’s Progress): “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”

Brothers and sisters - the year in front of us has a great deal of potential for us in a bunch of different ways. I’ll pick just two things out of that bunch: the lake property and the election season. Both of those are bound to have a significant impact on the life of this church. Do you think it’s important that we pray about those things? I certainly do. I think we should - each one of us - pray about these things as individual Christians, as households, and as a congregation. I’ll work on the congregation part. I want to ask you to do the other two. If you don’t know how, here’s a quick guide:

“When we pray, remember:

The love of God that wants the best for us.

The wisdom of God that knows what is best for us.

The power of God that can accomplish it.”

[William Barclay, Prodigals and Those Who Love]

There, of course, far more than simply two things facing our church family that deserve our prayers. If you know what those are, add them to your prayers, and then share it with the church office so we can share it with everyone.

And if you’re not sure that prayer works, ask someone else in this very church family. There are plenty of people here who have experienced the power of prayer first-hand. I’m certain they’d love to share that experience with you.

God is doing good things in our congregation. We can never earn God’s favor, but we can certainly reduce the obstacles that might get in the way of His blessings. Prayer is one of the tools we have to do just that…it is perhaps our best tool. Let us all put that tool to good use, and ask for His guidance in the work that is in front of us. And finally, let’s pray that He will use us in that work to reveal His Son to the world that so desperately needs Him.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.