Mark 1:29-39
In the gospel of Mark, the first miracle of Jesus was the one we heard about last week, the exorcism of a demon from one of the people in the synagogue. But the first time, according to Mark, that Jesus cured someone’s illness was when he healed Simon’s mother in law. You can find humor in this passage, I think. Maybe the mother in law had the flu or something; what she might have really appreciated would have been someone to bring her some chicken soup and fluff up her pillow. But, no, Jesus and at least four grown men enter the little house and Jesus cures the mother in law so that she can get up and wait on them. And we can look at this story through modern eyes and wonder why this woman, probably older than Peter, is expected to wait on them. It’s the patriarchy, I suppose.
But consider how this miracle might have looked to someone in those times. Because Jesus doesn't just heal her, he restores her to wholeness, to the function that she probably enjoyed, and made her feel and be useful. That’s the kind of healing Jesus offers -- restoring us to wholeness. And what might that mean in our day and age? We don’t see a lot of miraculous healings, although I’m sure they exist. But we don’t know how God is acting when someone is healed. There are many reasons given for why we don’t see miracles of healing much. The reason I like best is that as the human race matures, and you can question whether it actually ahs matured much, God leaves more and more in our hands. And we have powers of healing today that would seem miraculous in Jesus’ time.
But our healing heals the body. We give radiation for cancer, put stents in hearts to open up blood vessels, and give antibiotics for infections. But restoring someone to wholeness, that’s not part of medicine’s bag of tricks. And Jesus desires that we live lives filled with purpose, with joy, with gratitude and generosity, and he restores that possibility to the mother in law, who demonstrates that she gets it.
And then Mark draws back and shows us a pattern of life that Jesus follows; he works, driving out demons, curing the sick. Then he withdraws to be with the Father, to rest in the Father in prayer. His disciples try to distract him from his mission -- It would be tempting to return to that town and keep doing good things for the people. We all like to be appreciated for what we can do. But Jesus knows why he has come and does not allow himself to be distracted.
But another thing we might miss in this story is that Jesus says, “Let us go into the neighboring towns and villages…” Jesus didn’t spread the good news alone; he took along companions. I imagine in the beginning they simply followed him and listened, and as time went on they took on more and more of his mission for themselves. We will see Jesus sending them off later on, without anything except the good will of the people they visit -- and they will return with joy since they have been preaching and teaching and yes, working miracles themselves.
To answer God’s call to follow Jesus, we need several things. First, we need public time gathered around the word of God and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Second, we need the support and conversation of like-minded people. I think we truly miss this aspect in our busy American lives. We need to talk about our faith with other members of the faithful. You remember when the two disciples on the way to Emaus had been speaking with Jesus, and they remembered, “Were not our hearts burning within us?” That actually happens when you are deep in conversation about your faith. The third thing is that we need private prayer and meditation. Sounds difficult, but it’s not. If we are serious, we set aside some time every day, even a few minutes, to just pray to Our Lord about our concerns, and then listen for a bit before diving back into life. The more you do this, the easier it is. That’s why the rosary is such a great prayer. When you are saying those hail mary’s, thoughts come to mind. Distracting thoughts, sometimes, but sometimes you remember someone you haven't’ thought about for years, or you recall something that you’ve been meaning to do but keep putting off -- I think God finds ways to get our attention if we let him. Finally, we need to be out in the world sharing God's love in word and deed. Everyone needs God to fill up the empty places in our hearts. And when we master this rhythm that Jesus demonstrates for us, like Jesus we will be doing what we have been sent to do.
