Healed Servants Serving the Healer

A Sermon Preached by the Reverend Patricia Rowe-Jones

Poland Community Church

February 11, 2001

“As soon as they left the synagogue,” we are told, “they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.”

It might not seem like one of Jesus more spectacular healings, after all, this miracle hardly was to be ranked in importance with curing someone afflicted with dread leprosy, or raising someone from the dead. But the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law does take its place in rounding out the account of the many types of miracles performed by Jesus during his earthly ministry. On first glance it might appear that the purpose of this miracle might have been so that the men could have their expected dinner served to them. But that is hardly fair because Jesus was a champion of woman’s rights, treating them with dignity and respect always! This miracle requires and deserves our rapt attention. Earlier that morning in the synagogue, Christ healed a badly troubled man, thus emphasizing his right to heal on the Sabbath and now, for a second time, he was asked to do so.  He was following his conviction that the Sabbath was made for human beings, and not human beings for the Sabbath. Now picture the scene, Jesus has been invited over to the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. They were coming from worship at the temple which scholars speculate may well have been located right next door to the synagogue for scripture tells us that “As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew” This is the house where Simon Peter lived while he was in Capernaum. It was a place open to the disciples and to Jesus through the gracious hospitality of Peter’s mother-in-law. Sure, they were anticipating a nice meal cooked for them with loving devotion; but this was not why Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus healed this woman because of his concern for the suffering woman. And those who traveled with Jesus and believed in Christ’s healing power were also concerned for her and this is why “they told him about her at once.” So, don’t you see, Sabbath or no Sabbath, meal or no meal, the impulse to heal others, not for personal gain or glory, and not for a meal, but out of love and empathy is what this miracle is all about. It is a miracle pre-empting Christ’s death on the cross an act of the greatest love and empathy and now we can bring our burdens to Jesus Remember his encouraging words: “Come unto me and I will give you rest” and don’t we continue to ask Jesus to heal us and to heal those we love? Don’t we all long for rest? Whether it is our Holy Sabbath or the middle of the week, don’t we feel compelled by our faith in Jesus to pray for healing for ourselves and for others?  Jesus carried his divine power from the synagogue to Peter’s house where he healed Peter’s mother-in-law.  Like Jesus, we make our way from our house of worship back to our residence. But how far does the inspiration of the service carry with us? How soon do we lay aside the inspiration of Sunday and return to involvement in the many claims of everyday life? The influence of the worship service is meant to apply to our daily interests and efforts. The power of God, proclaimed in church, can be a power we do not lose, but one that pervades our daily life of prayer and good works. It is something to be held always in our hearts as a source of inspiration and a guide for daily living. What a shame, to leave behind, at the church door, the influence of the worship service. Christ in the home.   It is a blessing when Christ moves beyond our church experience and into our hearts, our communities and especially our homes! Peter’s mother in law was healed, in her home, by Christ, and then she began to serve him and his disciples immediately. But this was not because she felt that she was a lesser person, a mere woman in the company of the savior. No, don’t you think that it is more likely that she began to serve the Lord immediately because that was what she wanted to do. Here she was, healed by Jesus and so grateful was she that in response to being healed by Jesus she simply wished to serve the great healer himself, not out of some sense of drudgery and duty, but out of an overwhelming sense of gratitude and of love. Why do you serve Jesus? Now there are several points to be taken here this morning. First of all, to the claim that this is one of the ‘lesser’ miracles of Jesus. Sure, perhaps this is the case, but on the other hand, how many times in our lives do we pray for miracles that one might consider lesser. Sometimes a prayer to Jesus might simply be a prayer to make it through another day or a prayer to have increased peace and inner serenity or to simply have help in becoming a nicer person who doesn’t blow up at others so easily. Don’t you see, there are no miracles that are lesser or greater. Sure, it was more dramatic that Christ raised Lazarus from the dead or that he was raised from the dead himself, but the main point of this mornings message is that our healer heals us, he heals us out of compassion and love and, although our response is to serve the healer, like Peter’s mother in law, we don’t do this begrudgingly, for once we ourselves are healed and loved by Jesus, then we ourselves will want to serve the healer, the great physician of the soul out of a profound sense of love and gratitude. Jesus love is so powerful and his healing so unique, that if we invite that presence into our lives and devote ourselves to following Jesus light, then we become disciples of Jesus, and this is the exciting truth about being a Christian. Truly, it is in giving that we receive. But the flip side of being a disciple of Christ is, being human, how easy it is to forget him, and for us to become involved in each of our own personal interests and pursuits.  Christ can be squeezed out so easily so that we do not even sense his absence.  Like Sampson in the Old Testament, so blessed by God, but by his own neglect he lost contact with God. It happened so gradually and silently that we are told, “he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” So let us together welcome him! Let us welcome him here this morning, let us worship him and be re-assured that Christ can and will meet all of our needs and all of our family’s deepest needs. Like the disciples in this morning’s story, do we think of turning to Christ with our concerns, no matter how petty we might think they are? Do we allow ourselves to be healed by the healer and then turn around and live a humble lift of gratitude serving the healer, Jesus, the physician of the human soul? Truly, there is no honor greater than this, to serve the great healer, in whose image all that is noble and true within our natures is reflected back to us in order that we might become all that God meant for us to be. So won’t you consider this on this morning, along with Peter’s mother-in-law, we too are healed servants of God called into discipleship, which is a service to others, a service of healing and of proclaiming God’s good news for the individual life and for our collective world.