Text: Mark 1: 29-39
Have you noticed? Everything is a miracle. At least that’s what people say. Maybe we find ourselves saying it. It’s a miracle. Something unexpected happens. We get through a thorny problem. Things turn out surprisingly well. We’re bound to hear somebody say: It’s a miracle. And there are times when that is the case. Ask a doctor about some cures they have witnessed. Ask a person rescued from certain death. I won’t argue against a miracle. But sometimes people set the bar much too low. Everything is a miracle.
But here we meet Jesus where there can be no debate.
It’s a Miracle!
I. Jesus’ power over sickness
II. Jesus’ power over Satan
III. Jesus’ message of forgiveness and life.
It was the Sabbath in the town of Capernaum, what we might call the base camp of Jesus’ ministry. That morning, he had worshipped in the synagogue. There he preached with an authority not seen in their religious leaders. He preached a message they described as a new teaching, because that message, God’s message of grace and mercy was sadly lacking in their teachers. But in church with Jesus, there was more to that epiphany. A poor soul set free from an evil spirit by just Jesus’ words.
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 told Jesus about her. Simon of course, is Simon Peter. His mother-in law was sick with a fever, which by the way tells us that Peter was married. Luke tells us it was a high fever. And realize, this was before the days of antibiotics. She had some kind of infection that could have taken her life.
So Jesus went to her. Luke tells us he rebuked the fever. Then Jesus took her by the hand and the fever was gone. And notice how quickly she recovered. We know how we feel when we’ve been that sick. But she suddenly has the strength to go and make them something to eat. It would have been nice to sit at that table. It’s a miracle. Jesus’ power over sickness.
Even without cell phones, word spread. But nothing happened till evening. For then the Sabbath was over when people could do the work of carrying the sick to Peter and Andrew’s door.
What a sight! They looked out and it appeared as if the whole town had come. Picture it. People sick with all kinds of things. Yet looking to that house, hoping for a touch, a word that would make them whole again. And they weren’t disappointed. Jesus healed many. And they would have been right to exclaim, It’s a miracle. Jesus power over sickness.
What about our sickness though? I remember a blind lady in a congregation I served. When the gospel spoke of Jesus healing the blind, I wondered if she wondered: why doesn’t Jesus heal my blindness.
There are times when we could use a miracle from our Lord. Well first let me ask. Do we pray for them? Or do we think it’s too hard or too unreasonable to ask. We should not be afraid to ask our Lord Jesus for big things, even for miracles.
Yet God often answers that prayer in a different way, in a less immediate way, but no less wonderful. Do you think that the medicine or the efforts of your doctor or surgeon would succeed in healing you if not for Jesus’ power and blessing? We can easily overlook that. That those doctors and nurses are really masks behind which stand our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet sometimes we don’t get better in spite of our prayers. The surgery does not go well. The disease, the pain, becomes chronic, a constant cross to bear. Or even terminal.
Jesus has power over that sickness too. To give you strength in your weakness. Maybe not physical but a strength to persevere. Jesus has power to give you wisdom, the wisdom to accept that God has different plan for you. The wisdom to understand Jesus’ power over sickness and that is this. No matter what afflicts you, cancer heart disease, in Jesus Christ you will be a survivor.
I think of a fellow pastor just 58 years old. This past week he was swimming with his children, suffered a heart attack and died. But he survived, in fact he more than survived through the one who says to us, I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live, even though he dies. Yes, It’s a miracle. Jesus’ power over sickness. So his family will come together to mourn his loss but also to celebrate that miracle of life in the face of death.
But it wasn’t just the sick who were brought to Peter and Andrew’s door. Some of them suffered what I pray none of us ever does. They were afflicted by Satan’s minions, demons. Yet here again we can say: It’s a miracle. Jesus’ power over Satan.
Some claim that the people in Jesus’ day were backward. They did not understand things like epilepsy, seizures or mental illness. So they attributed such things to demons. But there are times when science and medicine can provide no answers, no explanation. Years ago in Milwaukee, there was a rumor that some of our pastors were working with a person who exhibited the signs of demon possession. Everything else had been ruled out by professionals.
Demons and demon possession are real. And I’m not just talking about people who are steeped in evil, like what we saw last week with that captured pilot. There are times when people are physically possessed, under the control of a demon that hates us and wants to destroy us. It’s frightening to consider.
But look here. It’s a miracle. Jesus’ power over Satan. The demons which possessed these poor people were powerless against God’s Son. Jesus cast them out and those people were set free.
And did you notice that Jesus would not let the demons speak of him. Why? Remember David Duke, a member of the Khu Klux Klan. Over the years, he’s wanted to endorse certain people for public office. Any candidate with the slightest smarts wanted none of that them from David Duke, a known racist. So too here. The demons knew that Jesus is the Son of God. But Jesus wanted the people to hear nothing of that kind from a servant of Satan. So think about it. Demons cast out of so many, even silenced. It’s a miracle. Jesus power over Satan.
A few years after I heard that rumor about an exorcism, I got talking to a woman visiting one of our churches. What an amazing meeting! In the course of our conversation I realized, this was the person those pastors had ministered to. She too had been set free by Jesus’ power from something too terrible to consider. Yes frightening. And yet what does our God promise us who cling to Christ. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, …nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. (Rom 8:38,39)
But back to the miracles. Without a doubt Jesus’ miracles testified to our Lord’s compassion. His heart went out to people in their distress as it goes out to you. But Jesus’ miracles were more than acts of supernatural kindness. They were signs, signs that pointed people to Jesus, that pointed them to his message. And here you and I can say, It’s a miracle. Jesus’ message of forgiveness and life.
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. He got up early enough to be alone, away from the crowd that would come to his door again. Jesus had not told his four disciples where he was going. They went looking and when they found him, our Bible says it well, they exclaimed, everyone is looking for you!
But to their surprise, Jesus told them, he was ready to move on. To go to another town, and then another. And he tells them why. So I can preach there too. For this is why I came. This was why came. To share a message the Jewish people had not heard from their religious teachers. The forgiveness of sins and life with God. And the miracles pointed to him as the one who could do more than speak of God’s forgiveness. He would make forgiveness and eternal life possible for us dying sinners.
And think of what a miracle that message is. It’s so undeserved. The psalmist says: if you O Lord kept a record of sin, who could stand. None of us could. There is no one righteous, not even one. Yet we hear Jesus say, your sins are forgiven. And one day we will hear him say, Come, you who are blessed. What a miracle that message is. If we are honest with ourselves, we can’t help but see, it’s so undeserved.
And it’s so costly. That message cost Jesus an awful price. On him was put all our guilt, all our shame, the punishment we deserved. That message of forgiveness to you cost our God dearly. He did not spare his own Son but gave him for us all. So when you heart your sins are forgiven. When we sing, Heaven is my home, never forget the cost. It’s a miracle.
And here is the amazing thing. It’s so free. God puts into your empty hands the gift of forgiveness and life in his Son. We can’t earn it. We sure can’t deserve it. It’s free. And it’s a miracle. It’s a miracle that comes to our ears and our hearts in gospel of Jesus Christ. Let that sink in, friend, and praise God. Amen.