When Jesus Comes, Good Things Happen

Mark 1: 29-39

When Jesus Comes, Good Things Happen

Last week we saw Jesus go to the synagogue and preach and heal with Divine authority. He cleansed a man of unclean spirits and astonished those who witnessed and heard. His fame spread abroad throughout all the region around Galilee. Now we see what happened after they left the synagogue.

Now I am going to take some liberty here in supposing what they did as they left the synagogue. I imagine it is not so different than what we do here, after service, we gather downstairs for our fellowship time, meeting and greeting one another, and partake of refreshments prior to our SS classes. So perhaps, they were standing outside the synagogue talking and sharing things about what just happened. Then Simon probably said, why don’t we all go to my house for something to eat, because it was tradition that the main Sabbath meal was served immediately following worship at the synagogue. Now once they arrive, Simon finds out his mother-in-law is with fever, and he simply tells Jesus about her being ill. Notice he does not ask Jesus to cure her, he just states she is ill. Then we see that Jesus came to her and took her by the hand, and lifted her up, and immediately her fever left her and she ministered to them.

There are some interesting points we need to understand in these verses, first, all Simon did was tell Jesus his wife’s mother was ill, he did not ask for him to cure her. Why do you suppose he did not say , Jesus please cure her. I believe the reason is because Simon had faith enough in that Jesus would see her affliction and cure her. You see, wherever Christ comes, he comes to do good in all ways. Jesus cures so that people may minister to him and to those who are for his sake. And this is exactly what we see here. She immediately went about serving and ministering to the needs of Jesus and all that were in the home. When Jesus comes, He comes to impart goodness in the lives of people. To those whom He comes, and they understand, lives are transformed, cured of many ailments and demons , physical and spiritual. To those who do not understand, their afflictions continue and they miss the Savior’s gracious presence.

What a day Jesus, the folks in the synagogue, Simon, Andrew, James and John, have already had, and now add to that, curing the mother-in-law, dinner and conversation. Full day in anyone’s life. So now the sun has set and evening was upon them, the Sabbath was over. Now I imagine that many folks struggled with the thought of bringing folks who needed healing to Jesus before the Sabbath was over, once they heard of the cleansing of the unclean spirit earlier in the day. But it seems they did wait, and as soon as the sun went down, we see they brought to Him all that were diseased and possessed with devils. In fact it says that all the city was gathered at the door. One thing Jesus did was to prove it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath days, because He cleansed the man in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Jesus makes it very clear, all are welcomed at any time for His authority regardless of the time or place. He is available to every one, every day, He is there 24/7. As we see, people were brought with many diseases, illnesses, demons, not just one type of affliction, or hurt, bur many. He was surrounded that day by many in the synagogue and they were amazed, and now after sunset he is swamped by people at a private home, and we can see that wherever Jesus is, so too, are His servants, and His patients.. The same miracle He did in the synagogue He did in the house of Simon. The authority of the Divine in Jesus cures and heals all wounds and is a comfort to them that hurt. Imagine if you will the scene at Simon’s home, people every where, healing all types of infirmities and casting out demons. Our scripture this morning tells us that the demons were not even able to speak this time because they knew him. The demons knew it was hopeless for them to even speak, they knew their fate.

Now we know that sometime during the night the constant stream of people being cured was finally over, and all in Simon’s house retired for the night. We know this because we read that “in the morning rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place and there prayed.” Jesus needed to be alone, alone with the Father in time of prayer. Amazing to me, though as God he was prayed to, as a man he prayed. This has to be an example to us, Jesus retired to private devotion, to be in secret prayer. This is something we all must do, take time to meet God in private, in prayer, to speak to Him and to listen to Him. Do we find ourselves so busy that we don’t have time for God? Look at what Jesus was doing, talk about busy! All that he did, he was glorifying God and doing all these good things in public, yet he found the time and needed to be alone with God. Are our lives so busy that we can’t find time to spend in private with God? I think not! Take time to be with God. I offer to you, folks who are the busiest are the ones that need to take time to be alone with God. Jesus needed to recharge, to be filled anew and people need to do the same. How often do we see Jesus going to be alone, to be in prayer, to commune with the Father?