The Work of Jesus, in our Homes
Where is Jesus and what is He doing? Mark 1:21-39 is a Mark’s programmatic statement about Jesus’ ministry.
According to Mark, Jesus came to do this one thing - to preach the Gospel in every city, and to cast out demons (or in Pauline language “he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them openly to shame…” Col 2:15). He did it in at the beginning of His ministry, and He continues to do so today, through His disciples (Mark 16:20).
But Mark is quite clear - Jesus is not only going about City to City, Town to Town, Neighbourhood to Neighbourhood, but He is also concerned for our Homes. Sandwiched between his time preaching in the Synagogue (vv. 21-28); and his time healing a city (vv. 32-34), is an important scene at Peter’s Home. In our sermon today, we have spoken about the concern Jesus had for our Homes. But here, we want to highlight an important truth - a Home, is made up of people. And in the work of establishing our Homes, Jesus is at work - reviving and restoring each individual person.
A Home is nothing without the individual person. And the individual person is not possible, without the relational space we call Home. This is the powerful truth that is underlined by the attention that Jesus pays to Peter’s mother in law. Mark is quite specific with the work that Jesus does with this person… Mark 1:31 says
”And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.”
And when he did all that, “the fever left her, and she served them”.
First, let’s observe the three verbs - Jesus came… took… and lifted her. There is no space here to go into the Greek words, but the best way to describe these words is with reference to the next time we see the words in the Gospel of Mark.
He Came
The next time we see the verb “came” is in Mark 1:38 where Jesus Himself proclaims “… for that is why I came out”. The word “came” speaks about purpose and mission. It points to the reason for Jesus being here on earth. So why was Jesus here? To “took” and to “lift”. These are the second set of verbs.
He Took and He Lifted
The next time we see these verbs “took” and “lift” is in Mark 5:41 - “Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.””
This is the moment where Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead. How did he do it? By “taking” her by the hand and calling her to “arise” - to be lifted up.
Together, all these three verbs indicate this - Jesus has come to earth for one reason - to raise people from death to life. He came to give them a new kind of life, different from the one that they had before.
Revived and Restored to the Work of Home-making
And what is the result of being taken by the hand; and lifted up and out of the grave? The result, according to Mark 1:31, is that we may be restored to the Home, and the work of Home-making. This is precisely what happened to Peter’s mother in law after Jesus took and lifted her “… and the fever left her, and she served them”.
Where is Jesus? He is in our Homes. What is He doing? He is reviving and raising people - in order to restore them to the work of home-making, and to the joy of being at Home. For the sake of one another, and our homes, may we learn to move with Christ in 2021.