Mark 1. 29-39
We are loved … and everything else will take care of itself!
“Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” Matthew, chapter seven, verse seven. It’s the bible’s version of that old favorite: You don’t get something for nothing! In other words, everything comes at a cost! If not in silver and gold, if not in dollars and cents, then in blood, sweat, and tears. Quid pro quo it’s called. Something for something. Everything a transaction. Everything a trade. And it’s the way of the world. So, naturally, eventually, it becomes the way of the church, as well. And verses like this one resonate. It will be given … and you will find … and the door will be opened … but only if you ask and search and knock. A holy you’ll-scratch-my-back-if-I-scratch-yours! God does nothing unless and until we do something. And created in the image, we do nothing unless and until the people around us act first.
And then, there’s Mark, chapter one, verses thirty and thirty-one … Simon’s mother-in-law is in bed with a fever and they – the disciples – tell him – Jesus – about her. Jesus comes and takes her by the hand and lifts her up! And the fever leaves her and she begins to serve them. And she does, absolutely, nothing! Before Jesus comes, she does nothing! Before he takes her hand, she does nothing! Before he lifts her up, she does nothing! She doesn’t pray! She doesn’t pay! It’s all Jesus!
Same thing happened, last week, just a few verses before this, in the synagogue. Jesus taught and the people were amazed. Astounded. All, that is, but one. A man with an unclean spirit who yelled at Jesus. Jesus rebukes the spirit and commands it to come out. And the spirit comes out. And the man didn’t do anything. He didn’t ask Jesus to do it. We don’t, even, know he wanted Jesus to do it. Jesus just did it. Simply because that’s who Jesus is! That’s what he does!
“He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.” That’s more than just a verse. It’s a mission statement! A mission statement for Jesus’ entire ministry! Especially when you consider that last phrase! The lifting up part of it! It has echoes of the resurrection! A foreshadowing, a foretaste, of things to come! You see, love doesn’t need to be asked to do what needs done! Love doesn’t need permission! Love just does it! Love doesn’t need to be asked! It doesn’t need to be sought after! It doesn’t need invited! In fact, before anyone does anything, it’s already there! Active! Involved! Taking by the hand! Lifting up!
Now, I guess, at this point, you expect me to move on to that next sentence. “Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” You expect me to describe it. To flesh it out. After all, for a preacher, it’s the perfect springboard. Diving into what you need to do! Once the fever leaves you! Say your prayers! Read your bible! Go to church! You know the list! You’ve heard it before! And over the years, none of it has changed anything. I found out, a little while ago, that Lubbock has the most churches – per capita – of any city in the U.S. More prayers are offered in Lubbock than anywhere else! Sunday after Sunday, they’re told what’s expected! What’s required! In spite of that, they’re hardly different from anywhere else. Even with all those congregations, they’re hardly the city on a hill. Hardly the light of the world.
It’s because the power of this passage, the inspiration of this reading, isn’t in the serving. It’s in the coming and the hand-taking and the lifting up! It’s not in what Peter’s mother-in-law did. It’s in what Jesus does! But for some reason, that never seems to register. Fixated, as we are on us! Obsessed, addicted, as we are, on bootstraps! But all that’s nothing more than a sideshow, a distraction. Besides, out here, in the real world, we, already, get enough of that. We, already, know about toeing the line and shouldering the wheel. We, already, know about keeping our nose to the grindstone.
What we don’t know about … what we don’t have a clue about … is the love! The love that comes to us, just like it came to the woman in the story! The love that takes our hand, just like it took hers! The love that lifts us up, as well! What we don’t have isn’t a what, at all! It’s a who! It’s Jesus! And that’s what makes all the difference! Believing isn’t obeying a commandment, no matter what the meaning or intention. Believing is trusting a promise. Standing on it. Staking our life in it. Believing is knowing – whether we feel it or not … Believing is knowing that Jesus comes and takes our hand and lifts us up! Lifts us up … without our request! Lifts us up … without our permission! Lifts us up … without our help and without our coöperation! Lift’s us up because that’s what love – what Jesus’ love – does!
Sure, we serve. Serve Jesus! Serve one another! There’s the time when we, too, go and take hands and lift up … just like Jesus! But that just happens! Without encouragement! Without insistence! Without the poking and prodding of the preacher! We love because Jesus loved … first! We love because Jesus loved … best! Because Jesus god up from the table and tied a towel around his waist and washed the feet of his friends! We do the same! Not because we’re told! Not because we’re ordered! We just do it! Do it because Jesus did it! Because Jesus does it!
Don’t be confused! Don’t be distracted! By the shiny objects and the squirrels of the shoulds and shouldn’ts, of the oughts and ought nots. They aren’t the things that change the world! Those aren’t the things that form and transform lives! They’re the things that give us only more of the same. Instead, look for Jesus! Look at Jesus! And all the rest will just happen! You’ll hear about asking and searching and knocking. But it’s easier – a lot easier – than that. It’s Jesus! It’s Jesus! From start to finish! Beginning to end! Jesus coming! Jesus taking us by the hand! Jesus lifting us up! And the only thing, my friends, we “have to” do is say, “Amen! This is most certainly true!” We are loved! And everything else will take care of itself!