Mark 1:29-39
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
God Is Not Your Golden Goose
I just want to say this right away: Faith is not a force field and God is not your golden goose, but he does care for you and he does intercede for you in every way that matters.
Let me say it again for good measure: Faith is not a force field and God is not your golden goose, but he does care for you and he does intercede for you in every way that matters.
We just read a portion of Mark’s Gospel that continues the theme from last week about the amazingly authoritative words and works of Jesus. Just like last week, we find Jesus, on the same day no less, driving out even more demons and preaching and teaching and healing diseases. It’s almost shocking when you think of how many demons there were and how disease-ridden the population seemed to be.
Last week it was a member of the synagogue who was afflicted with an impure spirit. This week we see Simon Peter’s mother-in-law laid up with a fever. Later in the Lesson we read some reports of “the whole town” gathering at Jesus’ door so that he could heal “all the sick and demon possessed.” There were a lot of people with a lot of needs.
But did you catch the theme here – the thread that ties so many of these cases together? So many – if not all – of these sick and demon-possessed people were members of Capernaum’s faith community. The impure spirit from last week was inside the synagogue. The fever was in Simon Peter’s family. The people who brought their sick and demon-possessed loved ones had come because they had heard Jesus preach.
I said before that faith is not a force field. Let me put it in a less sci-fi way: Believing in Jesus doesn’t mean that bad things will never happen to you. Bad things can still happen to you even when you believe. And as hard as that may be to accept, it’s important for you to know.
When your mother ends up in the hospital for the umpteenth time, it’s not because she or you have too little faith. It’s because we live in a diseased world. There are dangers all around us, both physical and spiritual. And believers aren’t immune.
For us to go through this life thinking that we are invincible or exempt from danger or pain is not only physically reckless; it’s spiritually dangerous. Christians can and do get sick. Believers can and do suffer loss. But if you went through life thinking that your faith would act as a force field fending off every minor inconvenience and major catastrophe, then you’d be left asking a lot of unnecessary questions about God and his goodness when tragedy does come.
God actually warns us that life will be harder for believers; that we should not be surprised to suffer. This is the expectation and it’s the reality we see in our lives and in the pages of Scripture. The believers in Capernaum had faith, but they still faced danger and disease and demon-possession, because faith is not a force field.
Neither is God your golden goose.
Jesus does some amazing things in Capernaum. He addresses and resolves the dangers and the diseases and even the demon-possession that were afflicting the faith community there. He has this miraculous ability to solve any conceivable earthly problem. But that’s not why he came.
I’m not entirely sure the people of Capernaum understood that, though. Mark tells us that “after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door…” There was miracle-fever in Capernaum, and everyone wanted a taste.
And who could blame them? Wouldn’t you want Jesus to cure your sick and ailing loved one? I know I would. Sometimes I do. But it’s so easy to treat our God like a golden goose or a genie in a bottle with phenomenal cosmic power but who is bound to our beck and call.
I’ll admit that I leaned on God a bit that way just this last week. I can’t tell you how many times I silently – and sometimes not so silently – prayed, “Lord, just let him sleep. Let my newborn, six-day-old baby find some rest so that I can sleep.”
I also got word this week that my mother was hospitalized again. She’s stable, thank God, but I did pray that he could make her well again.
Now, I want to be abundantly clear, here: it is in no way whatsoever wrong to pray to God for what you need – great or small, whether that’s 5 minutes of sleep or your mother’s health and life. What I feel compelled to confess, though, is that far too often my impulse to pray is purely needs-based.
Maybe you go through that too. You go through your day like any other, whistling a happy tune because everything’s going well. You get out of bed, you eat your meals without saying your regular prayers. You make it to the evening without having read your personal devotion. But then you get a piece of news that knocks you to your knees, and then you start thinking about God.
Then your prayer life wakes up and goes into overdrive. Then every 5 seconds you repeat the same prayer like a personal mantra, e.g. “Lord, just let him sleep. Lord, just let him sleep. Lord, just let him sleep.” And when God answers your prayer and gives you the relief you request, you say your quick prayer of thanks, but then you go right back on your merry way, stowing your genie back in his bottle until the next need arises.
I don’t want to slander the people of Capernaum. I can’t look into their hearts any more than I can look into yours. But I can tell you what’s in mine, and I can admit that if I had a sick or demon-possessed family member I would bring them to Jesus too. Not because Jesus is my golden goose or magical slave, but because Jesus cares.
Look at the care that Jesus showed to the people of Capernaum. After a full day of teaching and driving out demons, Jesus heads to Simon Peter’s house to rest, to eat a home cooked meal and lay his head on a pillow, but no sooner does he walk through the door and Peter is throwing another need at him. Immediately, Mark writes, Peter tells Jesus about his sick mother-in-law.
Again, it’s not bad to ask Jesus for help. It’s good to pray to God for your needs. But what I want to emphasize here is how this moment speaks volumes not about Peter, but about your Saviour.
Remember, at this point, Jesus isn’t in heaven anymore. He’s a real human with real human needs. But as much as he deserved a moment of rest to himself, Jesus jumped at the call. And not only did he act as immediately as Peter asked, but he showed careful, intimate, personal care to Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus could have waved Peter off with a flick of the wrist and healed his mother-in-law with a snap of his fingers and moved on. But Jesus went to her, put her hand in his, and physically, personally helped her up.
Later that same night – Mark tells us it was “after sunset,” when people should be in bed – “the whole town gathered at the door.” Again, Jesus must have been exhausted. Again, Jesus deserved a moment to himself, but he doesn’t hesitate. He stays up late, and in compassion he meets people in the midst of their needs. “He healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons.”
Jesus was personal and intimate toward Peter’s mother-in-law. He was selfless and compassionate to the people of Capernaum. But he makes it clear to his disciples that he didn’t just come for them. Jesus came for and loved all the people of Galilee, and Judea, and Samaria, and Assyria, and Rome, and Egypt, and Canada. Jesus came to do more than just heal some diseases and cast out a few demons.
He came to heal the world. He came to defeat the devil. He came to save souls. And while Jesus may not visit us this morning the way he visited Capernaum and heal all of our diseases, Jesus does care for you too and he intercedes for you in every way that matters.
What I find absolutely remarkable about our Saviour in Mark’s Gospel is how intent he is on caring for you. After being kept awake well after the sun set, and waking up before the sun rose, Jesus, tired as he must have been, did what we often fail to do. He took the time, he made the time and manufactured an occasion to pray. He had eyes for the people and world around him without ever losing sight of the mission he was sent to this world to complete.
If you thought that Jesus was selfless and compassionate to the people of Capernaum, sacrificing his time and sleep for them, what does it say about our Saviour that he sacrificed his life on a cross for you? If you thought that Jesus was personal and intimate toward Peter’s mother-in-law, taking her by the hand and healing her with his Word, what does it say about our Saviour that he continues to come to you in Word and Sacrament today, through the waters of Holy Baptism and the wine and the wafers of Holy Communion that you can hold in your hand for the forgiveness of your sins?
Our Saviour cares for you and intercedes for you in every way that matters. He does not promise that your faith will fend off every evil. He does not promise to solve all your earthly problems. But he has promised to forgive your sins. He has guaranteed your salvation. He died and rose to rescue your soul. He ascended into heaven and is still interceding for you at the right hand of his Father, just as he was that pre-dawn morning in Capernaum.
So, even when you fail to pray the right way – even when you treat Jesus more like a genie than your Saviour – you have the promise of his loving compassion and the proof of it in his cross. You have a Saviour who gave everything for you so that you might live – not a life of luxury here, but eternally with him in heaven.
I said it twice. I’ll say it a third time: Faith is not a force field and God is not your golden goose, but he does care for you and he intercedes for you in every way that matters. Amen.