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| ps from ps… This week, I want to share some reflections from Pastor Lee Miller, a friend and colleague who serves as pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Buffalo, as well as the Dean of the Conference churches in this area. – ps Mark 1:29-39 29As soon as [Jesus and the disciples] left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. “Every time we read through the cycle of the Gospel-writers I’m struck by something new. A new detail. A pattern I hadn’t realized before. Or maybe I’m just forgetting what I once already learned. How about you? What are you hearing new in Mark this year? For me, I’ve been impacted by these early occasions for healing. We know that Mark does not include a birth narrative, that “the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” begins with a baptizer and some water. In Mark’s reluctance to offer fine detail, the whole 40 days in the wilderness only requires 2 verses (12-13) and before we are halfway through Mark’s first chapter the first disciples have been called. On the next sabbath day Jesus taught in a local synagogue, but unlike Luke, the words of the scroll he read are not recorded, only that he taught with authority. And then… Mark spends a little more time as he shows us that, just then, Jesus made whole one with an unclean spirit. The spirit recognized the authority of the Christ, was silenced, and left the man. And as soon as they left the synagogue, with Jesus’ fame beginning to spread, he accompanied Simon to the home of his mother-in-law, and here again is another story of healing. Jesus took her by the hand, accompanied her, and lifted her up. It is then that the fever leaves her. The Greek word used here for “lifted her up,” kratesas, may be translated “to hold.” So it is as Jesus takes her hand, and holds onto her, that the fever departs. God’s word incarnate, let loose in the world, seeks us out, comes into our very homes, takes our hand and takes hold of us, reducing and drawing out the fever of this world. This is good news. I am struck in Mark by these early stories of healing. For me, this year, I am clinging to these stories of healing. God’s word has an impact on this world, and it is for our benevolence, for our welfare and wholeness. God is at work healing us, driving down the fever pitch of anger and hatred, and restoring us to relationship with God’s own self, and each other. Thanks be to God! Where do you see God’s healing at work today? How are you a part of God’s healing work in community this day?” |
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