MK 1: 29-39 

Marginally Mark…5th S. after the Epiphany…Revised 2018 

MK’s use of one of his favourite words, ‘immediately’ in vv. 29 & 30 is a timely reminder of the immediacy of Gospel. God’s time is always Now. Now is as important as any other dimension when we study Scripture, &, better still, live it out. 

Other preaching possibilities I see here are those of healing, the need for time apart for quiet & prayer, & today’s ‘demons’. Jesus takes them all in His stride. Can we make ourselves available anywhere near the Jesus scale without ‘time-out’ for spiritual ‘exercises’? Work-aholism isn't one of the gifts of the Spirit! How's the work-load, what are the work practices, of those who minister in our congregation, small or larger scale? Including ourself?

'How does healing work?' Some explanations leave me craving a holiness I know I don't have. Others make me tear out the little hair I have left! At this stage of my journey, the closest I can get to how it 'works' is to believe that healing takes place when God's Love, God’s Healing Energy, is brought to bear by any means to make us more whole. Whole as God is Whole. It might be the touch of a hand (as here), well targeted medicine or surgery, or a host of other ways. I’m one of those who believe the time Jesus was physically present among us on earth is a dimension unique in itself - see para 1 above. I believe, too, God's energy brought to bear with love & integrity still heals. There is no set formula; it’s always an act of grace. No-one need feel bad or guilty when someone we pray for isn’t healed, or even dies. We haven't failed if we've done what we could do. Nor has God failed them or us! Healing takes love, integrity, effort, grace, & a lot of persistence! We mortals may even have to die, physically, to be healed or have our healing, our wholeness, completed . 

Some of the too-easy answers can ‘stitch people up’ whereas God raises us up - one way or another, provided we hone our spiritual insight & co-operate. Healing, wholeness isn't a commodity, any more than Jesus allows himself to become a commodity when He opts out of what people are chasing Him for in vv. 36-38. A person on whose behalf God gives us the grace to apply the healing energy of love in any form may still die; but they will die in a state of grace because real healing has taken place, & have become whole in a new & living way.

The many kinds of 'demons' people ‘house’ today are every bit as destructive as the kind 1st C. people believed in & fell victim to. Remember, God’s time is always Now. How can we preach & minister, how can our congregation operate in healing ways? Ways that will encourage those 'bound' today to face their ‘demons’, name them, & accept the Good News that by grace Jesus can 'cast them out' like the ones of old? 

God isn’t an Observer of our lives. God is a participant, through the Spirit of Jesus, unless we shut the ‘Holy Three’ out. Doing which leaves us out in the cold, too! ‘Hell’ can perhaps as often be experienced as cold rather than hot!