That Simple

Mark 1:29-39 (American Standard Version)

And straightway, when they were come out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever; and straightway they tell him of her: and he came and took her by the hand, and raised her up; and the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were sick, and them that were possessed with demons. And all the city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many that were sick with divers diseases, and cast out many demons; and he suffered not the demons to speak, because they knew him. And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed. And Simon and they that were with him followed after him; and they found him, and say unto him, “All are seeking thee.” And he saith unto them, “Let us go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for to this end came I forth.” And he went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.

**************

This little paragraph could be developed into the first half hour of a movie. There’s much here to talk about. First let’s look at Simon’s mother-in-law. It says she had a fever. Remember that medicine then and medicine now are very different. This woman’s fever is likely no mild thing. We don’t know how long she was sick or what her other symptoms were, but we see that they told Jesus about her “straightway.” There was an urgency to her healing and Jesus responded to their request.

Next notice that after Jesus healed her, she immediately began to minister to them. Many translations use the word, “serve.” This word can be translated as serve or as minister. Often what happens though is that when the word is used in reference to a man, the word gets translated as minister. When it is used in reference to a woman, it is translated as serve. This has a lot to do with assumptions about roles, and about what those two words mean to us. Also, did you notice that Simon’s mother-in-law’s name is not mentioned? She is anonymous like many women in the Bible. Anyway, back to this woman ministering … many consider Simon’s mother-in-law to be the first deacon. That’s high praise.

Then, in our story, evening comes. As the sun sets we see that the whole town begins to gather at the door of Simon’s house. Jesus works during the night, healing people and delivering them from demons. Eventually it looks like the crowd falls asleep. It appears that Jesus might have taken a nap too but that isn’t for sure. What we do know is that “a great while before day” Jesus takes off to get some alone time so that he can pray. In the morning the disciples wake up to find him gone so they go out to search for him. So much for his alone time. At least he had some time away. His disciples tell him that everyone is seeking him. It really looks to me like the whole town that gathered at Simon’s house is still there, they all just camped out for the night. They just fell asleep where they were and when they woke up they wanted more from him.

Jesus tells them no. He didn’t come to stay in one place. His destiny is to go from place to place preaching, healing, and casting out demons. And so that’s what he does. The story in Mark continues from there with Jesus going from one place to another. The whole of Mark’s gospel is filled with urgency and intensity. It is an action packed gospel.

In spite of all the action, we do see Jesus trying to get time to himself. He wants to pray and to recharge his soul. It is often interrupted, but in spite of the fact that he appears to be exhibiting poor self-care – working through the night, meeting the demands of those around him – still we see him craving time with his God. He would rather spend time with God than sleep. Jesus may not be the best model of self-care, but if nothing else he knows that he cannot continue his ministry if he does not recharge his soul. And let’s remember that Jesus is capable of things like going 40 days without food and water. Angels minister to him. So I want to make it clear that I am not advocating we pray all night instead of sleep. However, I am advocating that we carve out time to be with our God. There is no replacement for recharging our souls.

Let’s return to the moment of healing for the woman. All that I’ve said is a kind of set up for this moment. From the rest of the story we see the fast pace and the intensity. We see the crowd and their needs. Jesus is willing to go beyond his reasonable strength to do what needs to get done. However, that moment of healing for the woman … in that moment all his does is the simple act of taking her by the hand.

That’s it. He took her by the hand. Granted, the power of the Living God flowed through his hand … but think about it. He didn’t have an elaborate prayer. He didn’t have to quote scripture. He just took her by the hand.

All of his prayers. All of his study. All of his dedication and loyalty to God were made manifest in one simple moment of taking the hand of a sick woman.

Sometimes I think we believe we really have to do elaborate ministry. But we don’t. What we need is a depth of relationship with God and the willingness to do the simple things. Spend time with people. Listen to someone’s pain. Take the hand of a sick person. Comment on the facebook page of someone you know who is going through a hard time. Be with people and care about them. Jesus didn’t have a goal of growing his number of followers. People followed him because they believed in him.

People need to know that they can believe in us. Not that we are perfect. Not at all. We will all make many mistakes. But if we take time to listen and to care, if we simply reach out with our hands – our physical hands and our spiritual hands – people will know that they can believe in us. We don’t have to have answers and we don’t have to make miracles happen. We have to stay in direct communication with the Living God so that the power of the Holy Spirit flows through us.

Friends, with my whole heart I believe that it is just that simple.