The first chapter of Mark’s Gospel gives us a day in the life of Jesus. It was a very busy day and the way Mark tells the story, everything happened at break neck speed! Jesus was busy with the activities that shaped his ministry: going to the synagogue, healing, casting out demons, spending time with his disciples, and time alone in prayer. It was typical day for Jesus.
And today is a typical Sunday, you might say. No special holiday. Even though the word “super” might be applied to things happening later today, when it comes to the CHURCH calendar, we are in what is called “ordinary time.” Thus the green paraments. But for one person Jesus encountered on the day recorded in our Gospel, this was no ordinary day. In fact, it was Easter day.
No, there was no resurrection performed on this day in Jesus’ life. And Jesus is not raised from the dead until Chapter 16. We’re still in chapter 1 here! But this one person experienced Easter and was joined to life of Christ.
Her name is not given to us, but she is the mother in law of Simon Peter – one of the disciples Jesus had recently called to follow him. Jesus goes to visit the home of Simon and his brother Andrew; James and John tag along. And he takes time to go to the bedside of Simon’s mother-in-law who was in bed with a fever. Doesn’t sound all that serious, but a fever in Jesus’ day is potentially fatal. There are, of course, no medications to make her more comfortable and no antibiotics to fight an infection. Sometimes the sick person survived; often they did not.
Now there were no trumpets, no choirs singing and no Easter lilies, but in this one sentence . . . in one WORD . . . we hear the echoes of Easter. “He came to her, took her by the hand and LIFTED her.” The word for “lifted” is the same word Mark uses later in chapter 16 to say that Jesus was lifted – or raised – from the dead!
It’s interesting to note that when Gospel writer Matthew tells this same story, he changes the tense of the word so it simply means that she got up – or lifted herself up. But Mark places the action in Jesus’ hands – in his touch – in HIS lifting her! Jesus RAISED Peter’s mother-in-law! In healing her, he did more than take away her lift-threatening fever. He performed a life-giving Easter miracle.
The day this all happened – this day in the life – was a Sabbath day. Now no one can accuse Simon’s mother-in-law of working on that Sabbath. She was definitely resting! It was a forced rest because she was ill; she was in bed. But Jesus is working. We are told Jesus took her by the hand, a wonderful loving detail, and raised her — lifted her up. Sabbath laws prohibited any lifting. But in lifting her – in raising her — Jesus is doing the very work for which the Sabbath was intended: giving life.
Today is our Sabbath – our Lord’s day. It’s the first day of the week, not the seventh day, because Jesus’ resurrection — his greatest work – has transformed the meaning of Sabbath rest. God raised and lifted Jesus and he lives! Jesus raised and lifted Simon’s mother in law and she lived! He lifts US and we are raised up and we live.
Our rest comes not from lying down in bed – although on Sunday afternoon, nothing feels better! But rather our ultimate rest comes from the work Jesus has done FOR us. We need to be lifted. We need Jesus’ life giving touch.
Do you ever feel like you can’t get out of bed? Or take the next step? Like you are just bed-ridden with anxiety and paralyzed by uncertainty? We can’t lift ourselves up sometimes. We need Jesus to do this work for us. He’s lifting us with words of hope and promise. He lifts us and we are healed. And he raises us up to do what he’s called us to do!
We’re told that Simon’s mother in law got up and started serving as soon as the fever left her. Now before we get the wrong image in mind here, let’s dispense with some stereotypes. We ought not to imagine that the poor woman immediately upon her recovery is expected to make dinner for her boys simply because they don’t know how to boil water. “Hey Ma! Glad you’re feeling better. We’re starving!” It’s not like that. She was returned to her vocation.
In order to see this in a better context we need to fast forward a bit in the Gospel of Mark — a few chapters later. James and John – present here in Simon’s home to witness this healing – are caught arguing about which one of them would be the greatest in the kingdom of God when Jesus finally seizes power – the biggest cringe inducing conversation in the Gospel! Jesus responds, “The Son of man”– meaning himself – “did not come to be served but to serve and give his life.”
So Simon’s mother in law is not just performing an expected domestic duty. She is exemplifying the life of Christ. She was served by Christ and given life. In response, she is serving and giving life. It’s what we are all called to do.
What would a day in YOUR life look like? Life seems to come at us sometimes at a break next speed! Life can get pretty packed with demands and expectations — with disappointments and frustrations dragging us down! Our days can feel a long way from the Easter life Jesus intends for us. What we do with each may not always feel that exemplary or even productive.
But the hand that lifted Simon’s mother in law is lifting us. Resurrection is not something that happens only after we die. Even now, without doing a thing ourselves, he is lifting us – raising us to an Easter life with him. That hand is available to touch us now. “He took her by the hand” – it’s not just a loving detail in the story – it is indicative of the powerful love that takes us in the midst of ordinary days to serve him in newness of life.
Leave a Reply