NOTE: This is the sermon I wrote for last Sunday, the one I inadvertently left at home. The sermon I actually gave was similar to this, but not actually the same. Since I can't replicate the one I gave extemporaneously, here is this version.
Mark 1:29-39 The Message (MSG)
Directly on leaving the meeting place, they came to Simon and Andrew’s house, accompanied by James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed, burning up with fever. They told Jesus. He went to her, took her hand, and raised her up. No sooner had the fever left than she was up fixing dinner for them.
That evening, after the sun was down, they brought sick and evil-afflicted people to him, the whole city lined up at his door! He cured their sick bodies and tormented spirits. Because the demons knew his true identity, he didn’t let them say a word.
While it was still night, way before dawn, he got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. Simon and those with him went looking for him. They found him and said, “Everybody’s looking for you.”
Jesus said, “Let’s go to the rest of the villages so I can preach there also. This is why I’ve come.” He went to their meeting places all through Galilee, preaching and throwing out the demons.
Last week’s gospel reading, if you’ll recall, was the story of Jesus, at the very beginning of his public ministry, making a splash, setting everyone talking about him, by talking and acting with an unexpected authority, and then as we see in today’s reading, disappearing.
In true Marcan fashion the author of Mark’s gospel tells us, “Yeah, that happened, now move along, no time to waste on fancy descriptions, there’s work to do – move along.”
After setting the village a-twitter (I love the irony of that word in today’s social media context) Jesus “disappears” by the simple expedient of stepping into Simon Peter’s house, which was right next door. Inside, things were a little awry, because Peter’s mother-in-law, who lived there too – the person who was in charge of hospitality in that home -- was sick and confined to bed and could not perform her usual duties of welcoming visitors – an important role in a Jewish household.
Again, in typical Marcan fashion, Jesus doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about what he is going to do – he simply walks in, takes the woman by the hand, and raises her up – well again. By evening the townsfolk will have found him again, and the whole town is lined up at the door, so Jesus comes out and spends the evening doing what he does – he heals them – sick bodies and sick spirits. Again, no descriptions, no wordy explanations, from our writer – just “sick people came -- Jesus healed them.”
In the morning, well before dawn, Jesus rose and went off by himself to pray. Even there, Simon Peter tracks him down and urges him back into the town where people are waiting. Peter wants him to basically set up shop there in Capernaum – teaching and healing and making a name for himself. But that’s not Jesus’ plan. He knows he is here to deliver a message to everyone who will hear it, and he can’t do that by sitting in one place and letting the world come to him. He needs to go out to them – to tell them the good news.
.....
I have already – in this extremely brief recounting of today’s story that I’ve just given here – used twice as many words as Mark used in the original telling. Mark’s narrative style is the very definition of the phrase “bare bones.” At times, his gospel reads more like a shopping list than a narrative. And yet, every sparse sentence is full.
It can be hard to pick-up when we read it in dibs and dabs as we do on Sunday mornings. Mark really benefits but being read all in one sitting so you get the flow of the whole thing. This morning’s reading is short, and yet, I could take two or three days just taking one sentence at a time and finding all that each one has to say.
One sentence today spoke to me most directly today: He went to her, took her hand, and raised her up.
I was stuck by the fact that Mark does not say that Jesus prayed any elaborate prayer. In fact, he didn’t say anything. He simply went to her and took her hand. No ritual, no special words – just the most human thing we can do for each other. Sharing the humanity of a simple touch. Acknowledging another as real and then sharing a part of ourselves with them. By taking her hand Jesus restored her to her family, her role in her home and community, and to herself. This is incarnation – God – in the person of Jesus -- made present in human flesh.
And, since we are called to live our lives in imitation of Jesus, it is our calling to incarnate God in our world. There is a saying we toss around quite casually: “You may be the only Jesus some people ever see.”
How often do we think this when we encounter someone new – or even someone not so new but in a new setting? Touch can be inappropriate, certainly, the news is full of that right now, but that is not what we are talking about here.
I’m talking about the touch that says to someone lost and hurting, “I see you – I recognize you as a child of God – a fellow traveler on this road of life.”
We may say that when Jesus healed by a touch it was because he held some divine secret ingredient, some magic word. I believe that the “magic” Jesus held was simply love. He loved so completely that people were healed.
When we take someone’s hand, we are offering God’s love – and we are offering our love, as well.
Can we do that? Are we willing to do that? Instead of overlooking those who are down, who are ill, who are lonely, can we offer them God’s love and raise them up, by simply acknowledging their humanness? Can we allow God’s love to shine through us – as Jesus did – and let God’s healing (not ours – we can’t do this – we can’t manufacture healing on our own) -- can we let God’s healing and love work through us and touch those who so desperately need it, whether they know it or not?
It doesn’t take training or cleverness from us. All it takes is a willingness and a desire to say “Yes.”
In true Marcan fashion the author of Mark’s gospel tells us, “Yeah, that happened, now move along, no time to waste on fancy descriptions, there’s work to do – move along.”
After setting the village a-twitter (I love the irony of that word in today’s social media context) Jesus “disappears” by the simple expedient of stepping into Simon Peter’s house, which was right next door. Inside, things were a little awry, because Peter’s mother-in-law, who lived there too – the person who was in charge of hospitality in that home -- was sick and confined to bed and could not perform her usual duties of welcoming visitors – an important role in a Jewish household.
Again, in typical Marcan fashion, Jesus doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about what he is going to do – he simply walks in, takes the woman by the hand, and raises her up – well again. By evening the townsfolk will have found him again, and the whole town is lined up at the door, so Jesus comes out and spends the evening doing what he does – he heals them – sick bodies and sick spirits. Again, no descriptions, no wordy explanations, from our writer – just “sick people came -- Jesus healed them.”
In the morning, well before dawn, Jesus rose and went off by himself to pray. Even there, Simon Peter tracks him down and urges him back into the town where people are waiting. Peter wants him to basically set up shop there in Capernaum – teaching and healing and making a name for himself. But that’s not Jesus’ plan. He knows he is here to deliver a message to everyone who will hear it, and he can’t do that by sitting in one place and letting the world come to him. He needs to go out to them – to tell them the good news.
.....
I have already – in this extremely brief recounting of today’s story that I’ve just given here – used twice as many words as Mark used in the original telling. Mark’s narrative style is the very definition of the phrase “bare bones.” At times, his gospel reads more like a shopping list than a narrative. And yet, every sparse sentence is full.
It can be hard to pick-up when we read it in dibs and dabs as we do on Sunday mornings. Mark really benefits but being read all in one sitting so you get the flow of the whole thing. This morning’s reading is short, and yet, I could take two or three days just taking one sentence at a time and finding all that each one has to say.
One sentence today spoke to me most directly today: He went to her, took her hand, and raised her up.
I was stuck by the fact that Mark does not say that Jesus prayed any elaborate prayer. In fact, he didn’t say anything. He simply went to her and took her hand. No ritual, no special words – just the most human thing we can do for each other. Sharing the humanity of a simple touch. Acknowledging another as real and then sharing a part of ourselves with them. By taking her hand Jesus restored her to her family, her role in her home and community, and to herself. This is incarnation – God – in the person of Jesus -- made present in human flesh.
And, since we are called to live our lives in imitation of Jesus, it is our calling to incarnate God in our world. There is a saying we toss around quite casually: “You may be the only Jesus some people ever see.”
How often do we think this when we encounter someone new – or even someone not so new but in a new setting? Touch can be inappropriate, certainly, the news is full of that right now, but that is not what we are talking about here.
I’m talking about the touch that says to someone lost and hurting, “I see you – I recognize you as a child of God – a fellow traveler on this road of life.”
We may say that when Jesus healed by a touch it was because he held some divine secret ingredient, some magic word. I believe that the “magic” Jesus held was simply love. He loved so completely that people were healed.
When we take someone’s hand, we are offering God’s love – and we are offering our love, as well.
Can we do that? Are we willing to do that? Instead of overlooking those who are down, who are ill, who are lonely, can we offer them God’s love and raise them up, by simply acknowledging their humanness? Can we allow God’s love to shine through us – as Jesus did – and let God’s healing (not ours – we can’t do this – we can’t manufacture healing on our own) -- can we let God’s healing and love work through us and touch those who so desperately need it, whether they know it or not?
It doesn’t take training or cleverness from us. All it takes is a willingness and a desire to say “Yes.”
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