Let Go Let God

5th Sunday after the Epiphany

Mark 1:29-39

"Let Go, Let God"

29 ¶ And immediately he left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her.

31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them.

32 That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.

33 And the whole city was gathered together about the door.

34 And he healed 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.

35 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed.

36 And Simon and those who were with him pursued him,

37 and they found him and said to him, “Every one is searching for you.”

38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out.”

39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Grace and Peace to your from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen

Our gospel lesson this morning follows closely after last week’s lesson. You remember last week, Jesus went to the synagogue to teach. While He was there, a man with an uncleaned spirit came in and Jesus healed him. Remember that during that healing the uncleaned spirit was going to call out who Jesus was, but he was prevented in doing so by Jesus.

Now this week, Jesus leaves the synagogue and goes to the house of Simon and Andrew. So after the service, they went to Simon’s house to get something to eat. Notice there was nothing about Simon’s mother being sick that led them to Simon’s house. They just went as Peter was a gracious host and wanted to feed his friends.

And this is where the situation gets interesting.

Notice what the text says now: "Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them."

They told Jesus she was sick, but it does not say they asked Jesus to do anything. They did not demand anything of Jesus, but only made Him aware of the problem. What faith!! They wanted Jesus to be in a relationship with this woman and somehow they knew, they felt, He would take it from there.

Simon and Andrew took a leap of faith. They saw Jesus heal in the synagogue, so they took a leap of faith by just telling Jesus she had a fever.

They had faith like the little boy in the following:

During the terrible days of the Blitz, a father, holding his small son by the hand, ran from a building that had been struck by a bomb. In the front yard was a shell hole. Seeking shelter as quickly as possible, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms for his son to follow. Terrified, yet hearing his father’s voice telling him to jump, the boy replied, "I can’t see you!"

The father, looking up against the sky tinted red by the burning buildings, called to the silhouette of his son, "But I can see you. Jump!" The boy jumped, because he trusted his father.

I think this idea of trust and faith is one of the main ideas of this passage.

The disciples had not been with Jesus very long. He had taught in the synagogue, He healed a man with an unclean spirit and now the disciples were able to let Jesus decide what He was going to do. This was remarkable faith on their part. They could have demanded that Jesus do something as they had seen in the synagogue, but instead they allowed Jesus to take the action himself.

The text says: And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her;. Notice, it was Jesus who acted out of His compassion. He took the initiative. Jesus acted, period.

And then notice what happened. The woman got up out of her sick bed and went to the kitchen to serve them a meal. Jesus acted, she responded in what she knew best homemaking.

Jesus through God handles our daily problems.

The following poem says it well:

I am God.

Today I will be handling all of your problems.

Please remember that I do not need your help.