In our culture today, we find ourselves on the “other side” of the most serious pandemic most of us will ever experience. Many who have weathered the illness have said they’ve never felt so ill and depleted before. From high fevers of 104 and above to debilitating fatigue lasting sometimes months afterward, COVID-19 brought us face to face with our own mortality in ways that made us think more deeply about who we are, our time on earth, and how we spend that time. It also created within us as a people an existential fear and anxiety that has taken years to begin to dissipate.
In a sense, our culture has suffered from a kind of “feverish” uncertainty –a restlessness of mind and spirit that has caused major upheavals within jobs, homes, churches, and relationships. When you feel anxious on a “soul level,” everything in life can feel ephemeral, unstable, unsure, and troubled.
In contemplating what felt like the fragileness of life, people expeditiously wanted change. Like Jonah, they yearned in a sense to “run away” from the tenuousness of life, from the leering shadow of death which suddenly felt too close for comfort. They longed to pursue new avenues of pleasure, to seek ways to feel better about life, to chase down avenues of at least temporary happiness, to re-evaluate work, marriage, family, and career, and pursue unfulfilled dreams. They sought various way to “lift themselves” out of their feelings of mortality and despair.
Of course, when we attempt to lift ourselves out of our places of darkness on our own, we often do it in a variety of ways that can make everything worse! We may shop ‘til we drop! We may turn to alcohol or drugs to facilitate our escape. We may engage in disputes, immerse ourselves in theories of doom, or hide away in fear with our popcorn and Netflix, anything to avoid or numb our anxiety and pain.
When we get into that kind of “feverish” state of fear and foible, there’s only one true solution: We need the healing power of Jesus. Only Jesus has the power to raise us up out of those places and to put our souls at rest.
Today, we as the church are faced with the greatest opportunity of our lives, as we are living in the midst of the greatest mission field of our generation. Carpe diem never felt so imminent! We need to proclaim the healing power of Jesus to those still trying to climb out of that place of existential trauma. We know that power exists, because we have experienced it ourselves.
Think about a time in your life when Jesus has brought you out of that feverish place and into a place of wellness and rest. Remember that soothing feeling of relief and unexplained joy, as the Holy Spirit of Christ came down upon you in a present and powerful way.
Jesus has healed you, so that you as his disciples can have the power to heal and comfort others. This is the “way” of Jesus and his mission in the world. He raises us up, specifically so that we may be a blessing to others.
Jesus began his ministry in a similar kind of time as we live in –only much worse! Rome controlled most of Jewish territory. The economy was rough. Revolutionary groups were rampant. Many of the religious officials were either oblivious or corrupt. And disease ran amuck. Much of the area around Capernaum, where Jesus began his ministry, was damp, marshy, hot, and filled with mosquitos. An illness called “ague” (today we call it malaria) was common to the region. Malaria causes severe fever, chills, and shaking, restlessness, malaise, and fatigue. We can’t know for sure, but it’s likely that Simon Peter’s mother-in-law may have come down with a case of “ague.”
Now I want you to pay attention though to what’s happening in our scripture for today, because it tells us a lot not just about Jesus’ healing of physical illness but about the nature and cure of spiritual illness as well.
The fatigued woman is lying in bed with fever. Jesus comes, he takes her by the hand, and he lifts her up. The fever leaves her, and she immediately begins to serve them. Now as you know, our English translations always lack the richness of the scripture in its original language. In this case, two particular phrases are immensely important to us: 1) egeiren (Jesus raises her up) and 2) diekonei (she begins to serve them). The Greek word egeiren is the same word for resurrection in the scriptures, the same word Jesus uses to raise the dead, to raise the paralyzed man on a pallet, and the same word used to indicate Jesus’ own raising from the dead on the third day as he disappeared from the tomb! In other words, more “raising” is happening here than simply getting out of bed! Jesus is raising this woman up physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually from a state of “fever” to a state of –and here it comes –service! But that word service diekonei means more than cooking them dinner or serving as a hostess. The word means to “minister,” to actively care for the needs of others as the Lord guides. When our soul is truly healed, we will not only be filled with a sense of calm and peace but desire with all of our being to minister to others according to the mission of God.
This is Jesus’ discipleship mission –to restore (salve –salvation comes from this word which means to heal) people into “right relationship” with God, so that physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, they become whole. And in becoming “whole,” they will automatically become part of God’s mission to God’s people. For Jesus, discipleship is not just a learning and following mission, but a healing and change agency kind of mission! This is why he spends the bulk of his time not catering to the masses but cultivating disciples.
Every person Jesus heals becomes a healer and ministers to others. Jesus doesn’t need to do all of the healing himself. Because he also is empowering disciples and others to heal in his name! Of course, as usual, his disciples don’t get this at first.
For a while, Jesus goes on to heal people en masse, as his disciples excitedly start to bring all of the “sick” people, including people “possessed by demons” for miles around, so many that practically the “whole city” was now gathered outside of the door of Simon Peter’s house in order to get a glimpse of Jesus!
This went on all night long apparently. In the morning, Jesus goes out to pray, and his disciples, upon waking, go hunt him down, letting him know that still more are “searching for him.” They are totally caught up in the feverish frenzy! Jesus says instead: “Let’s go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also, for that is what I came out to do.” And so, he continued on. Why?
He had done what he set out to do there in Capernaum. Jesus was not interested in placating the paparazzi or participating in the “fever” of sensationalism. He could see the “feverish” pitch beginning as Simon’s house began looking like a Taylor Swift concert!
People were anxious, some were ill, some were simply unhappy and restless with their lives. Some were curious about Jesus. Some were wanting his attention. Some were merely along for the ride. But no matter how you look at it, spiritual fever ran high there in Capernaum.
Jesus’ message was clear. His aim was to transform the world through “raising” disciples –he would “raise up” the faithful with his imminent healing, more with his message of God’s salvation plan, and most with a “movement” that would change the world as we know it, as he gathered disciples who would truly commit to ministering to others. His greatest feat was his own resurrection, for in the raising of Jesus, we as disciples learned that we all have “raising potential,” if only we allow ourselves to trust in Jesus’ power and presence for our lives and trust in our ability to affect the lives of others.
With Jesus’ healing comes calm, peace, wholeness, and happiness –the kind we can’t find when we feverishly look for it in all of the superficial places of the world. But the kind only Jesus can offer –“deep soul healing.” Relief from our grief, our pain, our anxiety, our restlessness, our fanaticism, our depression, our worry, our insecurity –life not limited to the confines of this world but that fills us with the richness of life in the here and now and the promise of life eternal.
Jesus would try to teach his disciples this message in hundreds of ways, just as he would “heal” their spiritual “fevers” in hundreds of ways. One of my favorite stories and images shows Jesus and his disciples on a boat in the midst of the Sea of Galilee. A storm comes up, and the boat is tossing and turning, much as the disciples minds and spirits are tossing and turning, as their inner storm of insecurity and worry threatened to overthrow their faith. Jesus wakes and asks them what they are worried about? Some of these interactions would make for great comedy, I’m telling you. Can you see them, eyes wide, pointing to the storm! “Are you kidding me?” Jesus in turn calmly stills the storm. Not just the one outside, but more importantly, the one inside. Jesus’ disciples would go on beyond his death to change the world with their own healing hands and proclaiming spirits! So can you!
We live in turbulent times. Life will always bring us storms. We will always encounter things in our lives that throw us off our course, that upset us, worry us, incite us, and make us feel restless and anxious inside. But Jesus’ message is clear: when he’s “in the boat with us,” when he’s residing in our hearts and directing our lives, healing our spirits and present in our midst, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
As long as Jesus has a firm place within your heart –no matter what you may experience in life’s adventures, you will get through with a peaceful, sure heart, a contented soul, an unfettered countenance, and a faith identity rooted in God’s powerful presence.
Today, as you leave this place, I wish for you God’s healing. May the “spiritual fever” that threatens you and leaves you restless, may all of the inner “demons” that bind you and taunt you with false narratives and doubt, leave you, as your savior and healer bestows upon you his hand of peace, grace, love, and wellness.
And may you, his disciples, go out as healers into the world to heal in his name and to proclaim hope and a future filled with joy and peace.
Don’t let the “fevers” of this world keep you from being the apostle that Jesus designed you and chose you to be.
Don’t let the familiar keep you from doing the spectacular.
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As you participate today at Christ’s Holy Table, whisper to yourself as you receive his body and blood, “Jesus, I commit my life to you. Heal me, change me, and infuse me with your peace.”