February 7-8, 2009

Mark 1:29-39

“Jesus Raises Us Up”

Pr. Tom Schoenherr

Precious Lord, take my hand,

Lead me on, let me stand;

I am tired, I am week, I am worn.

Through the storm, through the night

Lead me on to the light.

Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.

      Peter’s mother-in-law marks the beginning of what the Christian church is all about. Jesus takes her by the hand, heals her and raises her up, and she begins to serve. That is what our mission statement: Following Christ, Growing in Faith, Sharing God’s Love is reflecting: the path from healing to serving.

      We don’t know much about Peter’s mother-in-law, except that she lived in a house with 2 men who were not her children, Peter and his brother, Andrew. Peter’s wife, her daughter, was probably there too, and she may have had grandchildren in the house. We wonder if she was married, or if her husband had died. We don’t know how old she was, but it seems like she was honored to serve others.

      Peter and Andrew were with Jesus in the synagogue where Jesus had just healed a man who was possessed by a demon. When they left the synagogue, Peter may have said, “Jesus, my mother-in-law is really sick. She has a fever, but we don’t know what is wrong. Could you come and do the same for her that you did for this man?” It sounds much like the prayers that we offer for our loved ones who are sick. We wish Jesus would heal them.

      Peter must have loved his mother-in-law and cared about her. She has a fever, indicating an infection somewhere in her body. When you have a fever, it is a way in which our bodies are letting us know that there is a deeper problem that needs to be healed. I know when I have a fever I don’t feel like doing much of anything. We don’t feel like eating, let alone preparing food for anyone else. We don’t know how severe the fever may have been. But Peter’s mother-in-law may have been shivering, sweating, and she could have been delirious. I can picture the family, especially her daughter, with a cold cloth she has just brought to lay gently on her forehead.

      Then Peter and Andrew come in with Jesus. I wonder how well she knew Jesus. Did she believe and trust that Jesus could heal her?

      I wonder about you and me. I wonder about the infection in our bodies. Where is our life broken? Are we feverish with worry and fear about the economy, and all that may be troubling us? Do we think that we can handle things on our own, that the infection deep in our hearts and minds; the sin that makes us think that we can heal ourselves, and that we don’t rust Jesus to make us whole: will just go away on its own? Believing that can leave us shivering, sweating, alone.

      Michelangelo’s picture of the creation of human beings, painted on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel in Rome, shows the hand of God reach to give the spark of life to the outstretched hand of Adam. Maybe in the same way Jesus comes to make a house call on Peter’s mother-in-law, and on you and me. He takes our sweating, shivering hands in his own and raises us up to assure us that people in need are most important to Jesus.

      Jesus touches us and is willing to take on himself our infection of sin and death that would keep us curved in on ourselves. Jesus becomes the fevered and infected one as he takes our sin to the cross. In the meal of Holy Communion he raises us up, forgives us and heals our deep infection, setting us free from the fever that grips us.

      Jesus is our servant. In Luke 22, Jesus says to the disciples, “Who would you rather be; the one who eats the dinner, or the one who serves the dinner. You would rather be served. Right? But I am among you as one who serves.” We know that our loved ones are not always healed in the way we would like, but Jesus is the one who keeps drawing us close to him, and his healing may be that all of us are drawn closer together and closer to God in the praying.

      In the midst of the worries and fevered concerns that we have; in the face of our broken lives and broken relationships, where life is just not working out the way we hoped and dreamed it would; where we struggle with disease in ourselves and our loved ones, and fears of all kinds, Jesus comes to make a house call on you and me.

      He touches you through his Word and through his people who pray for us and care for us. He raises us up from the darkness and fear we know so well, from the shivering and sweating fevers of guilt and worry that grip our lives. Jesus serves us in the meal of the Lord’s Supper, giving us his own Body and Blood for our healing and salvation. As we come to the Lord’s Table, Jesus takes our worries, fears, our sin and death, and he returns to us through bread and wine or grape juice the forgiveness of our sins, his love and promise. Jesus raises us up to new lives of service and care for others as he has cared for us.

      Will you let yourself be taken by the hand and raised up? Will you join hands with others, reach out and raise others for healing? I believe that what Peter and the other disciples said when they found Jesus praying is true, “Everyone is looking for you, Jesus!”; everyone is searching for the one who gives us lasting hope and new life.

Precious Lord, take my hand…Amen.