Who Can Heal Me?

Open your Bibles and turn with me to Mark 1:29-39.

The whole beginning of the Gospel of Mark unfolds this amazing story of Jesus as a new King who is establishing a different kind of kingdom on earth. Every few verses provide yet another proof of Jesus authority. Last week we learned that Jesus is worth following. He has authority to speak into your life and invites us to let go of what we’re holding onto, forgive, and follow Him. Today we will see not only does He have authority to call us to follow him, but he has authority to heal and send us out to minister to others.

Listen as I read Mark 1:29-39:

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand, and helped her up. The fever left her, and she began to wait on them. 32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. 35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” 38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Let’s pray.

Jesus has just finished preaching at the Synagogue in Capernaum, heals a man possessed by an impure spirit, and then walks to Peter’s house. Charles and I have had the privilege of visiting the ancient site of Capernaum in Galilee. The foundation of the synagogue is still there, and you can walk from it to the site of Peter’s house in about 45 seconds. It would be like walking from church here to the parsonage or maybe the house next door. The city of Capernaum was a small town on coast of the Sea of Galilee. It was a community of maybe 100-150 people. Extended families lived in houses together and would add a room when someone got married. So it’s not surprising that Peter’s home was actually the home of Simon Peter AND Andrew. We can also safely assume that Peter’s mother-in-law lived with them because she was a widow.

It is surprising, however, that Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law. Rabbis in particular thought it was safest to avoid women altogether, much less touch them when they are sick. Why? When we read the laws in the old testament we can see many of them focus on explaining what is clean and what is unclean. This was super important because you could not worship in the tabernacle or temple if you were unclean. As time went on, Jewish Rabbis took those laws and set up extra laws around them so that there was no chance they could be broken. Think of it like a particular item you’re not supposed to touch, and you set up a fence around it. Then the next Rabbi would come around and add another layer of fence. There was no way you could break the law if there was three layers of fences all around it.

This was what happened to laws about women. If you happened to touch a woman when she was bleeding then you would be considered impure and you would have to wait a certain number of days before you could go to temple to pray. So they set up a hedge around that law – a man-made law that said “never touch a woman” which became “never speak to a woman” and eventually “just completely avoid women all together.” They did this with illness too. Where the law says not to touch someone who is sick, the Rabbis added and added until it became a similar barrier: don’t even go near them. Rabbis tried very hard to follow these rules and stay clean because they wanted to be unhindered in their relationship with God. They wanted nothing to get in the way of their prayers and worship, especially their ability to worship at the temple. But there was something different about this Rabbi Jesus. Rather than things getting in the way of his prayers and worship, it seemed like things had to get out of his way when He entered the scene!

It must be that Simon Peter and Andrew recognized the difference in Jesus from other Rabbis because they immediately told him about Peter’s mother-in-law. Your typical Rabbi probably would not have been bothered with such a request. The fact that they told Jesus about her is a glimpse into their faith in him to do something miraculous.

Jesus goes to her. He takes her hand. He helps her up, and the fever leaves. What a picture of authority over illness and cultural norms! It does not say that Jesus spoke healing from a separate room, he didn’t pray all night; he didn’t even speak at all. Jesus touched her. He didn’t gingerly touch her at arm’s length, he took her hand and helped her up. What a radical Rabbi! Jesus went beyond the cultural and religious norms to heal this woman.

What happens as a result of this healing? She ministers to them. The word that is sometimes translated “serves them” or “waits on them” in our Bibles is the same word for “minister” and it’s where we get the word “deacon.” Whether this was making food or some other kind of ministering, this mother was able to do the work of mothering and ministering because of Jesus’ healing touch. She became her full self again.

As far as we know, this mother does not show up in the story again. She is not a main character in the gospels. But that doesn’t matter to Jesus. He performs the first miracle of healing someone from an illness in a mother, a widow, a woman. Women in that culture were only considered important if their husband was important, and this was a widow. A woman’s value was directly related to her wealth, and that of her husband. This was a widow who was so poor she had to live with her fisherman son-in-law! How remarkable that Jesus heals her, and heals her first.

It doesn’t matter how insignificant you may feel you are. Jesus has authority both to heal you and send you on your way to minister to others. Jesus has authority both to heal you and send you on your way to minister to others. This healing is not limited to people in the Bible. God is just as active today as He was them. Jesus has authority to heal us today too.

I’m going to invite Charles to come at this time and share his testimony of God’s healing work in his life.

Do you need a healing touch from Jesus today? Jesus has the authority to heal and send us out to minister to others.

We see what happens next after Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law in this passage is the whole town coming to Jesus for healing. And Jesus healed them. Can you imagine what it might have been like? Picture it here, at Living Word. Can you imagine the whole neighborhood here around this church coming to the door, bringing their hurts and their needs?

It’s possible they don’t know that Jesus is here. It’s possible they don’t believe he can heal them. But we know that Jesus is here. We know he has authority to heal. Perhaps you, like Charles, have experienced that healing in your own life. How will our neighbors find out about it? The final few verses of this passage show us how Jesus did ministry, and they are an invitation to us to follow His example.

First, we see that the Gospel is for Everyone. Jesus didn’t stay hunkered down in Capernaum. Even though everyone was looking for him, he knew that other towns and other hurting bodies and souls needed to hear the good news. So he left! But he didn’t leave Capernaum empty. We know of at least one person there who had been healed who could also minister: Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus has authority to heal and sends us out to minister to others, because the Gospel is for everyone.

Second, prayer paves the way. Jesus didn’t do the next thing, He didn’t continue on without first praying and spending some time with the Father. That morning before everyone was looking for him, Jesus went away by himself to pray. Even Jesus, the Holy One, who is fully God was still fully human and needed to spend time alone in prayer. We can see this pattern repeated throughout the gospel story. Jesus spends time in prayer away from the crowds and then something significant usually happens next. Prayer paves the way.

What does all this mean for us today? Our world is hurting and needs to be healed. Jesus has authority to heal and sends us out to minister. The Gospel is for everyone. Prayer paves the way. So, church, let’s pray! Let’s pray to be ready for the next thing that God is going to do in us and through us, but let’s not stay hunkered down waiting when God has called us to go and minister. My prayer is that this neighborhood will come here seeking Jesus for hope and healing. My prayer is also that you will be like Peter’s mother-in-law and experience healing and then minister out of that healing to those around you.