Do Something Meaningful for Jesus
Luke 4:38-44
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
38 Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her. 39 And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and waited on them.
40 While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them. 41 Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.
42 When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. 43 But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
44 So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
So, in this narrative, we see Jesus entering the home of Simon and finding that Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a fever. Jesus' first reaction is to go over to her and heal her. It is an example that Jesus spent his entire life living to help other people. In Jesus' day, people believed that diseases and illnesses were caused by the demons described in a writing called the “Book of the Watchers.”
In Genesis 6 verses 1 to 6 we have a summary of who the watchers were. I will give you a short definition of who they were. The watchers were 200 angels that decided that they wanted to visit the earth. The Lord told them they should not visit the earth because they could become like humans and sin against God. The 200 angels pleaded with God and promised that they would not allow that to happen. So, the Lord allowed them to visit the earth. When the angels got to the earth, they noticed that the women of the earth were quite beautiful. They married them and had children.
To keep this a summary, let us just say that the offspring of the union of the watchers and the human women take over the earth and were killing humans. They drank the blood of humans, and that is when God stepped in. The drinking of human blood or of any animal blood is strictly forbidden. It was believed that the soul of the person lived in the blood. Ancient people did not understand anatomy to realize that when a person bled out, their body can no longer live. Rather, they believe that the spirit of the person was in the blood.
199 watchers were condemned to the foundations of the earth. Essentially, God condemned them to the rocks below the surface of the earth. Azael, who was the leader of the 200, was condemned to hell and became Satan. Therefore, if you believe Satan is a fallen angel, you are quoting from the Book of the Watchers. This book can be found in the first 36 chapters of 1 Enoch.
Let us get back to the story at hand. Simon escorted Jesus to his home, where Jesus found Simon's mother-in-law had a fever and was lying on her bed. Jesus immediately went to her, placed his hands upon her and cured her of the fever. The author tells us that the demons that possessed the woman came out and immediately recognized Jesus as the son of God. Once the demons were out of Simon's mother-in-law, she felt fine and performed her cultural duty by serving them food and water.
Hospitality was very important to people of the Near East and especially for the woman of the house.
What did Simon's mother-in-law do as soon as she was cured of the demons? That has the theological message the author is trying to bring us. Let me remind you that once the demon was driven from her, she got up and served Jesus, Simon, and any other person who came with them into the house that Sabbath day. It also tells us that there are things you may do on the Sabbath. For example, showing hospitality with food and drink was allowed on the Sabbath. Remember, the narrative says that Jesus had left the synagogue and went to Simon Peter's house.
So, Simon's mother-in-law, who was cured by Jesus of this high fever, immediately served him. She absolutely must've recognized that Jesus was the son of God and the Messiah that the people of Israel had been awaiting because He cured any infectious disease that she had.
When accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, how do you serve him? There are many people who have been baptized over the centuries who did nothing for Jesus. How can someone accept the gifts of eternal life and all the blessings that Jesus showers from heaven upon them and yet does nothing in return.
I do realize that Jesus never asks us to do anything for him directly. If you are Catholic or Orthodox you have heard about works righteousness. It is the belief that you must do something for Jesus when you accepted him as Savior. A similar thing is true for the denominations that developed under John Wesley's theology. Wesley said that we are not directly responsible for doing something for the gift that God gave us through Jesus. However, we should want to do things for Jesus because he gave us freedom from sin and Satan.
It is important to want to do things for Christ because Christ died for you. Ask yourself what you are doing for Jesus Christ right now. Also, remember that God will see what you are or are not doing. It reminds me of when the “Passion of the Christ” movie came out and so many people said that they will do something for Jesus because Jesus died a horrific death on the cross. That works well for most people for about a month and then they forgot all about what Jesus had done for them. Or should I probably say they decided they did not have to do anything else for Jesus?
It is odd in a way that God was willing to send his son to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and expect nothing in return for it. This is where John Wesley's belief kicks in. Don't you want to do things for Jesus because he was willing to offer his life for you? Think about all the things that you could do for Jesus. Most of them don't take a lot of effort, time, or money. Then ask yourself why you're not doing them?
The challenge from this message is to go out and do acts of kindness in the name of Jesus Christ. We can change the world or at least our little locality by spreading the word of Jesus through our deeds, and actions, and words. May Jesus bless you as you try to find places where you can show Christ's love to another person.
