Scripture: Mark 1:29-34
Theme: Healing/Wholeness
Title: When Is a Fever More than a Fever
This sermon centers on Simon’s Peter mother-in-law’s fever and what it really meant to her, to Jesus and to all of us.
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Cleveland Clinic describes a fever this way:
A fever is when your body temperature is higher than your normal average temp. Most providers say a fever starts at 100.0 F (37.8 C) or 100.4 F (38 C). When you have a fever, it’s your body’s normal response to fighting an infection or illness. Fevers usually aren’t a serious concern. They typically go away when the infection passes.
Wikipedia give this information concerning a fever:
A fever can be caused by many medical conditions ranging from non-serious to life-threatening. This includes viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections—such as influenza, the common cold, meningitis, urinary tract infections, appendicitis, Lassa (hemorrhagic fever,) , COVID-19, and malaria. Non-infectious causes include vasculitis, deep vein thrombosis, connective tissue disease, side effects of a medication or a vaccination, and cancer. (Wikipedia)
John Hopkins Medical Center provides this advice for treating a fever:
You can treat a fever with acetaminophen or ibuprofen in dosages advised by your healthcare provider. Please understand that switching between giving acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (aspirin) may lead to adverse side effects. Additional note: You are to never give aspirin to a child or young adult who has a fever.
You can try a lukewarm bath which may reduce the fever, but alcohol rubdowns are no longer recommended.
Now, that maybe more than you ever thought you ever needed to know about a fever – especially in a church setting and yet that is what John Mark wants us to focus on this morning.
So, let’s see what is really going on in this passage:
I. At times a fever is more than just a fever
Doesn’t it seem rather odd to you that after writing about Jesus’ encounter with a demon in the synagogue that Mark shares with us this little story concerning Peter’s mother-in-law having a fever?
I know it has been said that the information that Mark was using was from Simon Peter but even taking that into account, it seems rather odd to go from a demon in a worship service to a little old lady dealing with a 100+ temperature.
Surely, her family or friends could have just given her a little local herbal medicine – some type of tea or even a glass of wine to help her sleep, hoping that she would feel better in the morning.
However, this is one of those times that we need to do a deep dive into what was really going on with this woman and why Jesus immediately goes from the synagogue to see her.
Sometimes a fever is much more than just a fever.
The truth is having a fever was sometimes seen to be more dangerous than either being oppressed or possessed by a demon.
Yep, you heard me right.
Sometimes having a fever was seen as being more dangerous than being either oppressed or possessed by a demon.
It all goes back to some verses we find in the Torah.
It goes back to Leviticus 26:16, Deuteronomy 28:22 along with some rabbinical teachings and the writings of one well known Jewish philosopher at the time by the name of Philo.
Leviticus 26:16 reads like this:
“Then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain because your enemies will eat it.”
Dt. 28:22 goes like this:
22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.
Coupled with this was some rabbinical teaching that stated this premise:
“Greater is the miracle wrought for the sick than for Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (Sadrach, Meshach and Abednego). (For) that of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (concerned) a fire kindled by a man, which all can extinguish; whilst that of a sick person is (in connection with) a heavenly fire, and who can extinguish that.”1
And Philio was publicly writing and declaring that a fever could very well be a punishment by the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY because of a person’s own wickedness and disobedience.
In other words, a fever could be more than just a person having a little heat. It could be and was viewed by many as a sign that Hell was coming a little early for some people. That a prolonged fever was a definitive sign of a person’s wickedness and God’s judgment upon that person.
Suddenly, what was happening in Simon’s house was a big deal.
While we today might just laugh it off and say – give her a couple of Tylenol or perhaps even an aspirin and let it go, that was not the common thought of that day.
So, let’s back up for a moment and get a full picture of what was going on in these few verses:
+Jesus had just left the synagogue where he was confronted by evil and not only dealt with the evil but freed the man allowing him to enjoy a life of peace and comfort.
+Jesus immediately heads for Simon Peter’s home.
+There Simon’s mother-in-law is dealing with a fever. A fever that has been going on for some time. A fever that many had concluded was due to her own wickedness. She had in some way so sinned against the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY that He was allowing the fires of punishment to begin while she was here on this earth.
So, what happens next?
II. Jesus steps into the house
I am sure that as the crowd was following Jesus to Simon’s house there were plenty of conversations happening.
“Hey, let’s follow them and see where they are going.”
“There are going to Simon’s house.”
“Let’s see what Jesus is going to do with Simon’s mother-in-law.”
“Do you think he will condemn her.”
“No, I think he will heal her.”
“I don’t know. Come on, hurry up, let get there so we can see what happens.”
Would Jesus heal her or condemn her?
Some thought he would probably heal her since they didn’t believe that her fever was her own fault. They believed that she was a good woman. Her fever must be the result of some type of infection that wouldn’t go away.
Others quoting Lev. 26:16 and Dt. 28:22 began stating with all the authority they could muster that this woman was a woman in sin and therefore was deserving of what was happening.
And therefore, if Jesus is truly from God, then with God already punishing the woman, he would therefore not bring her any relief but would bring her even more pain. After all, if the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY had already condemned her could Jesus do anything but condemn her?
Suddenly, we see that this is not just a simple story that John Mark wanted to merely include in his Gospel.
Could Jesus free a woman who many believed was under God’s curse?
Or would Jesus further condemn her.
If you let yourself, you can feel the buzz in the air.
Can Jesus keep Simon Peter as a disciple, if he has a mother-in-law who is being punished by the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY?
Wouldn’t that put a stain on Simon Peter and therefore also on Jesus?
Afterall, Jesus is just getting started. His popularity is rising. He doesn’t need all this baggage.
Well, it doesn’t take long for Jesus to take care of the whole situation and to cause even a bigger buzz.
Jesus simply walks into the room and takes the woman by her hand.
He helps her get up on her feet and the fever leaves her.
+Jesus doesn’t condemn her.
+He doesn’t take a moment and list all her sins.
+He doesn’t even try to make an example of her.
+He simply walks over gives her His hand and lifts her up and she is free of the fever.
+She responds by waiting on Jesus and the rest of the disciples. I think we can deduce that meant she started working on some food for all of them.
Jesus gives her His hand – a hand that is pure and holy into a hand that many thought was full of sin, rebellion and the fires of Hell.
He lifts her up – He does not put her down – but He lifts her up.
The fever leaves her – the sickness and what was seen as a symbol of condemnation leaves her.
Jesus was removing any doubt that she was a woman covered with sin and condemnation.
Jesus was getting rid of a fever that many saw even more deadly than a demon just as easy as He told the demon to be quiet and leave.
Jesus was removing any shame on the house of Simon Peter.
That is just what Jesus did in that day and does in our day.
He did not come to condemn or to harm.
We know John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
And we need to know John 3:17
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Jesus was reminding all of those that followed Him that He, the Father and the Holy Spirit were not in the condemning business but in the freeing and Abundant Life business.
So, was this woman just having a fever?
Was she suffering from some type of long-term illness?
Was she suffering from God the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY putting a curse on her for her sins?
I don’t know.
+What I do know is when Jesus comes into the room it becomes a room of healing and wholeness.
+ I know that when Jesus is in the room people are transformed.
+And I know that when people are freed by Jesus, more often than not they respond by serving other people.
Mark ends this little part by telling us that after seeing and hearing what happened in the synagogue and in Simon’s house there were many people that came to experience freedom and peace that night at Simon’s place.
Instead of Simon’s house being seen as a place of condemnation it was seen as a place of healing and wholeness.
Now, when people would walk by while Simon was off traveling with Jesus they wouldn’t be pointing and saying there is a house where a woman is being condemned by God. There is that fisherman’s house whose mother-in-law is suffering the fires of Hell.
Instead, they would look at that house and say remember that night when your brother, your mother, your friend was healed by Jesus. Remember that night when Jesus brought all kinds of healing and wholeness. What a night and what a house.
The event in the synagogue and what happened in Simon’s house was not by accident. It was to allow others who needed help to experience help, healing and wholeness.
It was all a part of the Jesus Mission.
And … It’s what I believe we want to have happen around here.
It’s part of why we are here.
We come here to praise and worship the LORD.
We come to be encouraged, supported and loved by a community of faith.
And we come to let others know that this is a place of love, healing and wholeness.
We open our doors to those who are suffering from fevers and sickness.
We open our doors to those who are suffering from sin.
We open our doors to those who are suffering from the attacks of Satan.
We open our doors to those who others would condemn.
It’s why we have Church on Sunday and what I call Church on Tuesday.
It’s our opportunity on Sunday and on Tuesday (Food Pantry Day) to experience Jesus and be a disciple of Jesus.
It’s our opportunity to do just as Jesus did – to reach out a hand and help lift someone – to help them find healing, wholeness, community, peace and love.
So, this morning, Mark’s little story is more than a little story.
It’s a story that says to us – go and find those who are suffering and bring them comfort and love.
It’s a story that reminds us that Jesus did not come to condemn us but to bring us full salvation. Jesus came to bring freedom and love. Jesus came to take away the penalty of sin and the power of sin.
It’s a story that reminds us we are called to do the same. We are called to be co-partners with God and do all we can to help everyone experience the New Birth and the infilling presence of God’s Holy Spirit.
It’s a rather strange little story once you get all that was going on.
But it’s a story of God’s amazing grace.
This morning as we close, we may know someone who is in need of a healing prayer – for a physical, emotional or spiritual sickness.
So, let’s take some time and pray for them. To ask God to free them and then do what we can to help them be free.
It’s what Jesus would do and it’s what we are called to do.
Prayer – Closing Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwMg0YQcaps
Moen - I AM THE GOD WHO HEALETH YOU
1The NIV Application Commentary – David E. Garland – Mark
