Scripture: Mark 1: 29-45
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 immediately 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. 40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” 41 Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately, the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead, he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
Today's Meditation:
Mark writes in his Gospel that when Jesus sees Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, Jesus helped her up, or as some translations have rendered, Jesus lifted her up. Scholar Karoline Lewis said it best when she said:
“What if resurrection is being raised up to be who you always were and were always meant to be? That it won’t be [big houses, driving several cars or bathrooms you can play baseball in…but the radical, emotional, incredible feeling of being you. That being raised up is not just some sort of spiritual future but your present reality, here and now, to live you. Your mind, spirit, body, everything together, everything that you were always meant to be. The story of Simon’s mother-in-law tells us that God does not call us to be something we are not but is in the business of restoring us to who we really are.”
Being restored. Being lifted up. Being whole again. Being who we really are. This is the singular lesson that we can embrace and take away from the Gospel of Mark 1: 29-45.
Prayer:
Loving God, continue to heal us and restore us to our whole selves so that we may live into the person you have created us to be. Amen.
Jesse G. Mabanglo