The Eliot Church of Newton Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Debra Pratt Peckham February 5, 2006

Texts: I Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39

According to Mark, Jesus’ public ministry begins in Capernaum. Jesus’ home town located right at the top of the Sea of Galilee. The area between these two areas has rich vegetation. It’s not a desert, which we often attribute to Jesus’ ministry. Capernaum was a very prosperous and well traveled city, with people using the "Great Road" from Damascus, across lower Galilean hills to the coastal plain and Egypt. Merchants, scholars, camel-men, and even diplomats traveled through Capernaum from Persia (which is modern day Iran) and Mesopotamia (Iraq) on one side and from the Nile side, travelers from Africa, Greece and Rome. That made Capernaum a melting pot of sorts and actually, a city with varying religious perspectives and people who didn’t mind sharing their opinions. It was there in a large synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus began to do and say things that caught the attention of many people.

It is written that Jesus was in the synagogue at Capernaum that day. He had with him Simon, who we will later call Peter and his brother Andrew;

James and John also brothers were with him as well.

A demon called out to Jesus from inside a man while Jesus was in the synagogue. The demon knew who Jesus was because the demon was a spirit. Jesus commanded that the demon leave the man and silenced it because he was just beginning Jesus’ public ministry and they did not know who he was.

When Jesus and the other four men went to the house of Simon, they found Simon’s mother-in-law, the matriarch of his household, was very sick. At that time, when people became sick, they died because they didn’t have antibiotics. Jesus walked over to the woman, reached out and took her by the hand, and he raised her up. She, whose name was not mentioned, got up and was able to welcome their guests, probably preparing food and drink for them, as was the custom.

We take Jesus’ miracles for granted. We’ve been hearing about them since we were children. But think about it. He only needed to touch her and her body was healed. Is that miracle a taste of what was to come? Something we might consider foreshadowing?

After they had eaten, it is written that people from all over the region brought their sick to Simon’s door and Jesus healed them and cast out demons.

Now what do you think Jesus’ disciples were thinking, as they witnessed these miracles? Perhaps they wondered if Jesus was the one, the Christ, for whom they and all Jews had waited. They wanted Jesus to show everyone what he could do. These are fishermen who lived close to the earth and the sea. What do you think they might have seen in Jesus? What would it take for you to leave everything and answer a call, a call from God? It could not have been easy for these men to witness the miracles that Jesus was performing. They might have even been afraid.

But what about Jesus?

It is written that, "In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed… " MK 1:35

Jesus went off by himself to be alone. I can picture Jesus leaving in the silence of early morning darkness, aware of his need to pray before the day began, aware of the fact that now that people knew he could cast out demons and heal the body, there would be questions from Scribes and Pharisees, and even Romans. His fellow Jews would no longer see him as one of them. His public journey had begun, and I imagine he needed time to be alone, to be apart from the expectations… the expectations of the people who needed healing, the people who needed answers, the people he had called to follow him into the unknown, and most of all time to be with God the Creator.

WE sometimes forget that Jesus often went off to be alone. He prayed alone before any of the major events noted in the Gospels.

He did that over and over again, from the time he was a boy who stayed behind in Jerusalem. His mother and father found him in the temple. When he was tempted in the desert, he was again alone. What about the Garden of Gethsemane? The three days in the tomb, where he lay hidden before rising to fulfill the needs of the people, those faithful to God? Jesus did amazing things but first he went off to be alone with God the Creator. How do you gain your strength?

I met with the President of Andover Newton, Nick Carter, one morning and we had a conversion about Jesus’ apparent need to be alone. First he reminded me that being alone is very important and then he told me that Jesus was like the great humpback whale. The whale dives down so deeply into the ocean that it’s no longer visible. We search for the whale looking out over the water and then with great force it leaps into the air and we are amazed. We are somehow connected to the life force of that whale. We are connected to the life force of Jesus, who dove deeply into the unknown depths of death and leaped again, while his followers gasped with awe.

So what is the Gospel message for you today? Is it about watching and waiting? Is it about healing those things that you can take care of? Is it about finding time to be alone with God? Only you know for sure, but I’d like to remind you that Jesus our teacher, went off to be alone in silence, to be rejuvenated, to pray, before going out to meet the needs of the people. What do you do to regain your strength when you’ve given all that you have?