Feb. 8, 2009 Mk. 1: 29-39
Connie May © 1/11/09
ENTERING THE SCENE:
“This is why I have come.” Very early in Mark’s gospel Jesus has settled on his mission and that is to reveal his understanding of God. Miracles were good and they did get people’s attention, but often the people focused on the event instead of the cause of the event, that is, God’s love. So Jesus resists the invitation to stay and build on his success so that he could get the message out to the widest possible audience. One can only feel with the disciples a disappointment at Jesus’ decision. Let us take some time with Simon’s mother in law and explore her feelings and understanding of what just has happened.
Mk. 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 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.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: Each person has a unique gift to share. The Spirit has set it up that way so that we can be part of God’s continuing creation. Have you discovered your unique gift and if so does it give a focus to your life?
PRAYER: Lord, it seems like my mission changes as I change and grow in your love. What seemed to be my calling in my teens, morphed into something very different as a young adult. Now I am beginning to see that this will continue until the day I die. Help me as I continue to wrestle with my own “this is why I have come” question. Help me to trust that your unconditional love will give me the courage to welcome everything that comes. Amen.
WORD STUDY AND QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
JAMES, JOHN, SIMON, ANDREW: We see the four disciples, who have just witnessed the first display of Jesus’ power now going home to Simon’s house.
What do you think these four men talked about as they walked home? If you would have been there, what do you think you would have made of the incident that you had just experienced?
MOTHER-IN-LAW: (see information below) In verse 21 we are told that Jesus taught on the Sabbaths. So this would seem to mean that the ministry had been going on for some time by now. Simon was present in the synagogue the day his mother-in-law was sick and then healed
If you would have been in Simon’s place, do you think the episode at the synagogue would have prompted you to take your mother-in-law’s illness to Jesus as soon as you got home? If so, what effect would the healing have upon you?
FEVER: People saw illness as a form of evil spirit possession. There were no words of rebuke as in the calling out of the evil spirits in the synagogue.
If you had been Simon, would you have wanted some sort of ritual like in the synagogue? What would you have made of the fact that just the touch of Jesus affected an immediate cure?
HELPED: In some translations the word used is lifted. This implies that the woman was unable to assist herself in getting up.
Which word, helped or lifted, is the most informative for you? Does each have a slightly different meaning? Try to imagine yourself being lifted by someone. Then imagine someone helping you up. How are the images different? What does each tell you about the woman’s condition?
WAIT: Simon’s mother-in-law immediately responded by waiting/ministering to Jesus. In effect she was one of the first recorded people to care for Jesus in this gospel.
Have you ever thought about the phenomenon of women ministering to Jesus? Take some time to list all the events you can readily think of now?
EVENING / SUNSET: In Jesus’ day the evening was counted as the beginning of a new day. Now the Sabbath was over, and people could freely move about again.
If you had someone sick at home, would you have been able to wait until evening to bring him or her to Jesus? If not, why not? If so, why?
SICK / DEMONS POSSESSED / EVIL SPIRIT: People in Jesus’ times believed that spirits were more powerful than humans but less powerful than God. These spirits readily interfered or intervened in human life, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. They were seen to have power to control human behavior. Any sickness or misfortune was seen as evidence of the power of evil
What in the text helps you appreciate the tremendous outpouring of grace in the people that day?
WHOLE TOWN: Mark tells us that the whole town spreads the news quickly. This suggests that the people were very ready for any good news that came along.
If you were the newly cured mother-in-law, what response might you have to having the whole city crowding around your door? If you were one of the four newly commissioned disciples, what would you make of this event?
HEALED: To be healed is to be free of anything that keeps you from living fully.
Would someone need to bring you to Simon’s door if you were alive that day? Is there anything that keeps you from living fully, and therefore needs healing today?
DISEASES: A dis-ease is something that keeps you from being at ease.
Is there anything causing you dis-ease now? How could Jesus’ touch heal it? Has Jesus ever ‘touched’ you through someone and caused a healing for you?
DROVE /DRIVE OUT: Mark uses the word drove frequently. He has the Holy Spirit driving Jesus into the wilderness after his baptism. Each time he uses this word he indicates a strong force. The force needed to remove an evil spirit has to be greater than the strength of that spirit.
How would the wonder that was building in the people that evening as they watched, one by one, Jesus driving out the power of disease and torment from the multitude of people, affect you?
KNOW: To know someone’s name in Jesus’ day, was to have power over him or her. The evil spirits wanted to ward off Jesus’ power by a good offense. When their power was overcome by Jesus’ power this must have caused the crowd to gasp. Once again we are told that Jesus does not allow the force of evil to name him. He will not give them that power.
Is there any malign force that attempts to name you? Have you accepted the label, or have you rejected it?
MORNING / DARK: As the sun begins to rise, overcoming the darkness, Jesus is found praying.
What might the symbols of darkness giving way to light suggest in this part of the gospel?
LEFT/WENT: Mark tells us that Jesus leaves everyone and goes off alone to pray.
Where do you go off to in order to pray in quiet? What time of day is best for you to do this?
SOLITARY PLACE: Jesus chooses a solitary place to be alone with God.
Is being alone with God nourishing for you or challenging?
PRAYER: It seems that just before, or just after, as significant event, Jesus is found off alone in prayer.
If prayer is communication with God, how then do you understand this need of Jesus to pray? Have you ever thought much about the fact that Jesus prayed?
EXCLAIMED: To exclaim is to cry out loudly, often in protest of something.
What does Mark suggest when he uses this word to tell us about the disciples searching out Jesus in the morning?
EVERYONE: When the disciples find Jesus they tell him that everyone is looking for Jesus.
What do you suppose those people want? What would you want if you had been there?
LOOKING: When you are looking for someone or something the implication is that whatever is being sought is nowhere to be seen.
Do you think part of the reason Jesus is off in a solitary place is that he knows all too well what the people are looking for, and does not want to be drawn into their expectations? What in verses 38-39 help answer this question?
SOMEWHERE ELSE: Jesus wants to go somewhere else (neighboring towns and cities) to continue his mission.
What is that mission?
PREACH/ING: To preach is to proclaim something.
What is Jesus proclaiming? Why do you think he left a promising first start in Capernaum, only to begin again somewhere else?
WHY I HAVE COME: Jesus seems very clear about his reason for coming out into his ministry.
Are you sure about why you have been created, and what you are to do with this awareness?
TRAVELED: Mark has Jesus always on the move. Now he is preaching throughout Galilee.
What do you think the disciples made of this urgency to keep moving? Do you think they might have wanted Jesus to settle down and begin building a power base to work out of? If you were tagging along with the disciples, what would you have wanted Jesus to do? Why?
PARALLEL TEXTS: Mk. 1:29-34 // Mt. 8:14f; Lk. 4:38-41; Jn. 7:46; Mk. 3:10-12; Mk. 1:35-9 // Lk. 4:42f; Mt. 12:16;
OTHER TEXTS OF THE WEEK: Job. 7: 1-4, 6-7; Ps. 147: 1-6; 1 Cor. 9: 16-9, 22-23; Mk. 1: 29-39; Revised Common Lectionary: Is. 40: 21-31; Ps. 147:1-11, 20; 1 Cor. 9:16-23; Mk. 1:29-29;
SUPPORTIVE INFORMATION:
This is a drawing of what the home of Peter might have looked like in Capernaum. Excavators have unearthed a structure that is traditionally believed to be the house of Peter, which has had many subsequent additions, built over it. Pilgrims have scratched graffiti on the walls that some interpret to be the name of Peter. The building evolved from being a private home to a worship place over the first five centuries.
More drawings and explanation available in: Leslie J. Hoppe’s book The Synagogues and Churches of Ancient Palestine. The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN. 1994. Pages 81 ff.
Infinite in its longings to know and encounter, to be known and to be met, this “Yes” – this heart – recognizes all forms, all images as but passing likenesses, way-stations, on the infinite journey of the metamorphosis of the Complete Human. It knows that any other way is idolatry. Pg. 46.
Bamford, Christopher. The God of Abraham. Parabola. 6/08/
Contemporary medical anthropologists offer some helpful insights. They distinguish between disease as a biomedical malfunction that afflicts an organism, and illness as a devalued human condition in which social networks are ruptured and life’s meaning is lost. Curing is aimed at disease; it is a rare occurrence. Healing is aimed at illness; it occurs infallibly all the time for all people. Everyone works out a new meaning in life no matter what the predicament.
…Peter’s mother-in-law, the wife of his father’s brother, should be living in her husband’s house. If he has died, she should be living with one of the sons, or if they have died she would return to her family. That she is in Peter’s house suggests that she may have no living family members to take care of her. In the Middle Eastern world, this is a fate worse than any sickness, indeed, worse than death. As often happens in Jesus’ ministry, the challenge is more than the woman’s fever.
Pilch, John J. The Cultural World of Jesus-Cycle B. The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN. 1996. Pages 31-32.
…. in the Gospel accounts that always ends with Jesus retiring for solitary prayer. It comes after the healing of many sick and diseased, after a circuit through Galilee and the healing of a leper, after the healing of a man with a withered hand that took place on a Sabbath, after the feeding of the five thousand at Bethsaida. It comes always, that is, after a period of restless activity, so restless that Jesus seems no longer to keep even the Sabbath rest. He plunges himself into time, into restless activity, but then he plunges himself into eternity, into continuous prayer. “And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place,” and “When evening came,”", he was there alone,” and “all night he continued in prayer to God.” What he is doing, it seems, with movement and rest, is undoing arrest, undoing that arrested life that is hell on earth. Pg. 49-50.
Dunne, John. The Homing Spirit. NY. Crossroad Pub. 1987.
Mispar is the calling dimension of our soul prints By “calling,” I mean the human experience of being summoned to a specific mission or destiny….The person called is summoned as a one, a singular being with a discrete, defined destiny to fulfill. The soul’s numbering says that you are singled out, unique, one and only, and that therefore you are called to a mission, a “point” of meaning, that you alone are charged to fulfill. …However, on a deeper level, only by responding to your unique call do you open up the channels in your soul print that create connection, loving, and community. Pgs. 144-5.
Gafni, Marc. Soul Prints. NY. Fireside Books. 2001.
“Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.”
Capernaum was wealthy enough to have an impressive synagogue built in it. It measured 24.5 X 18:5 meters and had a large courtyard with a portico that provided shaded space for gatherings. It was oriented so that people praying there would be facing Jerusalem. Its polished white limestone must have impressed all. The map opposite locates some of the major synagogues in the area.
More information in: What are they saying about Biblical Archaeology? by Leslie Hoppe, Paulist Press. NY.1984. Pages 58 ff.
Healing proceeds from the depths to the heights. Carl Jung
Meditation on Healing
The risen, living Christ/ Calls me by name ;/ Comes to the loneliness within me; / Comforts that which is wounded in me; / Seeks for that which is lost within me; / Releases me from that which has dominion over me; / Cleanses me of that which does not belong to me; / Renews that which feels drained within me; / Names that which is formless within me; / Empowers that which is newborn within me; / Consecrates and guides that which is strong within me;/
Restores me to this world which needs me; / Reaches out in endless love to others through me.
- F. Wuellner
Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity. E Chapin
SELECTED READINGS:
Grana, Janice Ed. Images. St. Mary’s College Press, Winona MN 1976. PLANTING VINEYARDS: Donna Swanson Page 67.
PRAYER IS FOR REAL PEOPLE: Grace Adolphsen Brame: Page 35.