(1) It tells us something about Jesus. He did not require an audience in order to exert his power; he was just as prepared to heal in the little circle of a cottage as in the great crowd of a synagogue. He was never too tired to help; the need of others took precedence over his own desire for rest. But above all, we see here, as we saw in the synagogue, the uniqueness of the methods of Jesus. There were many exorcists in the time of Jesus, but they worked with elaborate incantations, and formulae, and spells, and magical apparatus. In the synagogue, Jesus had spoken one authoritative sentence and the healing was complete.
Here we have the same thing again. Peter’s mother-in-law was suffering from what the Talmud called ‘a burning fever’. It was, and still is, very prevalent in that particular part of Galilee. The Talmud actually lays down the methods of dealing with it. A knife entirely made of iron was tied by a braid of hair to a thorn bush. On successive days there was repeated, first, Exodus 3:2–3; second, Exodus 3:4; and finally Exodus 3:5. Then a certain magical formula was pronounced, and thus the cure was supposed to be achieved. Jesus completely disregarded all the paraphernalia of popular magic, and with a gesture and a word of unique authority and power he healed the woman.
The word that the Greek uses for authority in the previous passage is exousia; and exousia was defined as unique knowledge together with unique power; that is precisely what Jesus possessed, and that is what he was prepared to exercise in a cottage. Paul Tournier writes, ‘My patients very often say to me, “I admire the patience with which you listen to everything I tell you.” It is not patience at all, but interest.’ A miracle to Jesus was not a means of increasing his prestige; to help was not a laborious and disagreeable duty; he helped instinctively, because he was supremely interested in all who needed his help.
(2) It tells us something about the disciples. They had not known Jesus long, but already they had begun to take all their troubles to him. Peter’s mother-in-law was ill; the home was upset; and it was for the disciples the most natural thing in the world to tell Jesus all about it.
Paul Tournier tells how one of life’s greatest discoveries came to him. He used to visit an old Christian pastor who never let him go without praying with him. He was struck by the extreme simplicity of the old man’s prayers. It seemed just a continuation of an intimate conversation that the old saint was always carrying on with Jesus. Tournier goes on, ‘When I got back home I talked it over with my wife, and together we asked God to give us also the close fellowship with Jesus the old pastor had. Since then he has been the centre of my devotion and my travelling companion. He takes pleasure in what I do (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:7), and concerns himself with it. He is a friend with whom I can discuss everything that happens in my life. He shares my joy and my pain, my hopes and fears. He is there when a patient speaks to me from his heart, listening to him with me and better than I can. And when the patient is gone I can talk to him about it.’
Therein there lies the very essence of the Christian life. As the hymn has it, ‘Take it to the Lord in prayer.’ Thus early the disciples had learned what became the habit of a lifetime – to take all their troubles to Jesus and to ask his help for them.
(3) It tells us something about Peter’s wife’s mother. No sooner was she healed than she began to attend to their needs. She used her recovered health for renewed service. A great Scottish family has the motto ‘Saved to Serve’. Jesus helps us that we may help others.
THE BEGINNING OF THE CROWDS
Mark 1:32–4
When evening had come and when the sun had set, they kept bringing to him all those who were ill and demon-possessed. The whole city had crowded together to the door; and he healed many who were ill with various diseases and cast out many demons; and he forbade the demons to speak because they knew him.
THE things that Jesus had done in Capernaum could not be concealed. The emergence of so great a new power and authority was not something which could be kept secret. So the evening found Peter’s house besieged with crowds seeking Jesus’ healing touch. They waited until evening because the law forbade the carrying of any burden through a town on the Sabbath day (cf. Jeremiah 17:24). That would have been to work, and work was forbidden. They had, of course, no clocks or watches in those days; the Sabbath ran from 6 pm to 6 pm; and the law was that the Sabbath was ended and the day had finished when three stars came out in the sky. So the people of Capernaum waited until the sun had set and the stars were out and then they came, carrying their sick, to Jesus; and he healed them.
Three times we have seen Jesus healing people. First he healed in the synagogue; second, he healed in the house of his friends; and now he healed in the street. Jesus recognized the claim of everyone. It was said of that great eighteenth-century man of letters Dr Johnson that to be in misfortune was to be assured of his friendship and support. Wherever there was trouble Jesus was ready to use his power. He selected neither the place nor the person; he was aware of the universal claim of human need.
The people flocked to Jesus because they recognized in him a man who could do things. There were plenty who could talk and expound and lecture and preach; but here was one who dealt not only in words but also in actions. It has been said that ‘if a man can make a better mousetrap than his neighbours, the public will beat a path to his house even if he lives in the middle of a wood’. The person people want is the effective person. Jesus could, and can, produce results.
But there is the beginning of tragedy here. The crowds came, but they came because they wanted something out of Jesus. They did not come because they loved him; they did not come because they had caught a glimpse of some new vision; in the last analysis they wanted to use him. That is what nearly everyone wants to do with God and his Son. For one prayer that goes up to God in days of prosperity, 10,000 go up in time of adversity. Many who have never prayed when the sun was shining begin to pray when the cold winds come.
Someone has said that many people regard religion as belonging ‘to the ambulance corps and not to the firing line of life’. Religion to them is a crisis affair. It is only when they have got life into a mess, or when life deals them some knock-out blow, that they begin to remember God. We must all go to Jesus, for he alone can give us the things we need for life; but if that going and these gifts do not produce in us an answering love and gratitude there is something tragically wrong. God is not someone to be used in the day of misfortune; he is someone to be loved and remembered every day of our lives.
THE QUIET HOUR AND THE CHALLENGE OF ACTION
Mark 1:35–9
Very early, when it was still night, Jesus rose and went out. He went away to a deserted place and there he was praying. Simon and his friends tracked him down and said to him, ‘They are all searching for you.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Let us go somewhere else, to the nearby villages, that I may proclaim the good news there too, for that is why I came forth.’ So he went to their synagogues, all over Galilee, proclaiming the good news as he went, and casting out demons.
SIMPLY to read the record of the things that happened at Capernaum is to see that Jesus was left with no time alone. Now Jesus knew well that he could not live without God; that if he was going to be forever giving out, he must be at least sometimes taking in, that if he was going to spend himself for others, he must constantly summon spiritual reinforcements to his aid. He knew that he could not live without prayer. In a little book entitled The Practice of Prayer, Dr A. D. Belden has some great definitions. ‘Prayer may be defined as the appeal of the soul to God.’ Not to pray is to be guilty of the incredible folly of ignoring ‘the possibility of adding God to our resources’. ‘In prayer we give the perfect mind of God an opportunity to feed our mental powers.’ Jesus knew this; he knew that if he was to meet people he must first meet God. If prayer was necessary for Jesus, how much more must it be necessary for us?
Even