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Reflection on Mark 1:29-34

Bishop Jim Jelinek and I, clergy at Trinity Church Newport Rhode Island, decided last week that we would write daily meditations during this time of pandemic and isolation. We want to offer you a connection as we share what is on our minds and hearts.

If something we say creates a question or a thought in your mind, please know that we are readily available to talk with you by telephone or skype or whatever platform you use.

What we want to do is create social nearness in the Spirit while respecting the urgent call for physical distancing.

My reflection today continues in Mark’s Gospel; chapter 1, verses 29-34

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

I have known several priests who are almost pedantically careful to say “after our worship service” rather than “after the service”. Their point, not a bad one, is that leaving church is in a sense the beginning, not the end, of service. I guess I feel irritated because I assume that pedantry is a personal monopoly!

But, here in Mark 1:29, the point is well made… “as soon as they left the synagogue” Jesus and the disciples step into an arena for service, for ministry, for making real the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. You see, worship reinstates the proper relationship between the created and the Creator, worship reminds us of our right and proper need to call upon the Lord in time of need, worship sets us in mind of countless witnesses who urge us on to complete the race and reassure us that we are not alone.

So stepping out of worship, Jesus steps into ministry; as with our Lord, so with us. I wonder if verse 30 suggests that Simon kept quiet about his mother-in-law’s illness not because he was careless of her need but rather careful for his Lord. It was “others/they” who told Jesus. Oh when will we learn that the sharing of any and all burdens, light or heavy, personal or familial, local or global… all these we carry to our loving Lord in prayer. And then notice the most beautiful healing choreography of Jesus… “ he comes near, he touches her and he lifts her up”. This is a primal, psychic dynamic in the process of spiritual healing… we see it in Mark often and I too have observed it often. We need the assurance of the closeness of Jesus, we want to know he reaches out to us and nothing would stop that movement and we want to experience the power of resurrection both now (oh so much now) and in all our future days.

There has long been a sense that with the onset of dusk and evening, the dark hours can magnify our fears and anxieties; hence the beautiful and profound liturgies of Evensong and Compline. It is, Mark tells us, as darkness falls that the people approach Jesus with a fevered energy to seek somewhere, anywhere, light and health and wholeness. Imagine (verse 33) the “whole city” was gathered around the door of the house where Jesus was staying. I imagine Jesus was gradually preparing for a gentle evening and a renewing sleep but no… this was not to happen and so he arises, moves outside and commits himself to the work of healing the sick and bringing calm to those possessed by dread beyond their imaginings. I suspect, I think that as soon as he began the work so he was equipped and renewed by the Spirit of God.
We too are searching for opportunities to be deeply and thoroughly renewed by the Spirit, but these seem hard to find. We find ourselves called to live, called to serve, called to minister in weird, strange, exhausting times… but we are promised “as your days, so shall your strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25).

The Psalmist writes, “Blessed be the Lord for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to when I was beset as a city under siege” (Psalm 31:21)

A Prayer
Good Lord, we feel indeed as a city under siege; by the power of Your Spirit show us, teach us, may we be grasped by your steadfast love and in turn share that with others. Amen