One detail from this healing story in Mark rubbed me the wrong way upon first reading: “she began to serve them.”
After Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law from a fever, the story says that “she began to serve them.”
I do not know about you, but in a week of revelations of abuse and horror coming from the mouths of women who are courageously speaking up in the #metoo movement, and during a week where a nationally known pastor declared that women should not be preaching or teaching, but should rather keep in their places of learning and serving, this image of a woman snapping to it after she is healed in order to serve men seems not only insensitive, but also archaic.
And, I would be right in allowing this image to rub me the wrong way. After-all, it goes against so many other images and messages from the Bible that show women in a positive light.
It is the women who stick with Jesus through the end of his life; through the cross. All the men run away.
It is a woman who has a deep theological discussion with Jesus at the well. She discusses the depths of God as freely as any man of her time.
And, of course, we cannot forget that it is a woman, Mary Magdalene, who is the very first evangelist after the resurrection.
In Jesus’ world, women are not second rate citizens. In Jesus’ world, women are not slaves or objects to serve men’s desires. In Jesus’ world, there is neither male nor female, slave nor free.
We are all equal in God’s sight according to the Bible. We are all equipped by the Holy Spirit for the work of ministry according to the Holy Scriptures.
So I guess if Simon’s mother-in-law is healed to serve anyone, it would be to serve Jesus in the exact same way that all of us followers are drawn to serve Jesus.
Maybe, we are on to something there with that thought. After-all, Simon’s mother-in-law is not the only person to react with faith after healing. The gospel of Mark is full of people, men and women, who run and tell of the wonders of God after being healed by Jesus. It is full of people who get up and follow Jesus after their ills have been attended to. In other words, it is full of people who “serve” Jesus after they have been made whole by his touch.
Serving Jesus appears to be the natural reaction that a person has when healed by Jesus. Somehow, when we encounter the healing hands of our savior, we are immediately drawn to serve in the same way that we have been served. It is as if being healed and serving Jesus are inextricably linked together.
Listen to what Jesus has to say in Mark 10:45: “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Somehow, in some way, being a part of Jesus’ kingdom means we serve others. It means we sacrifice some of our time and love for the sake of someone who may not deserve such attention and affection.
Perhaps, that is why God made it feel good? Have you ever noticed how good you feel after helping someone else? It just feels good and right to help others.
That good feeling gets a bad rap sometimes. People will accuse do-gooders of doing their good deed only so that they can get that good feeling high.
“You should to right and good, because it is the right and good thing to do, not because you get some high from doing it,” they would claim.
Though I do not disagree that we should do right and good at all times, even during the times that it does not give us the warm fuzzies, I disagree that we should feel bad about enjoying serving our neighbor.
Love feels good. That is just the way God made it.
God created love to feel, well, loving. And, when we are serving and loving, and feels like it is good and right, then we can know that it is indeed good and right because it feels as if it is in line with the goodness of Jesus’ kingdom.
Love feels like love, and we should in no way feel ashamed about serving God in loving ways.
In fact, it is when we are not serving others that we should start to worry. The scriptures lead me to think that a lack of serving others, that a lack of loving others through our actions, is actually the symptom that indicates that we are in need of healing.
Just think about when you have the flu. Unfortunately, I can speak from very recent experience here. When you have that fever of over 104 degrees, for five days straight, there is little that your body wants to do. No matter how much you want to do the chores around the house, the minute you resolve to move around, your muscles become stubbornly weak and your lungs start to strain over the simplest of exertions. The obvious lack of serving others when you have the flu will automatically lead a doctor to believe that you need to be healed of the flu.
Other spiritual ailments are no different. When you have lacked the energy to serve others, do you remember what has caused the problem?
Sometimes grief will keep us from doing the goodness that we have always done. It is not uncommon for those suffering the loss of a loved one or the loss of a career to withdraw and not care as they normally would.
Sometimes our sin and subsequent guilt will keep us from serving as we should. I once knew of a young man who stopped coming to church the day that his girlfriend moved in with him. He felt so guilty that he was not living as he thought that he should that he could not bear to show his face to others in the faith.
Anger at others can do it. Sometimes our anger and hatred can get in the way of showing love.
Still, for others, it is some wrong done to them, some violation of body or soul, that has left them too hurt and too vulnerable to reach out to others in love. Caring can become too vulnerable of a position in life for those who have been abused.
I do not need to go on. You get the idea. When someone ceases to serve it is a clear sign that they need to be healed and made whole once again. Lack of service is the dark spot of cancer that signals a problem that needs healing.
So, I truly want to ask: how are you doing?
What are your symptoms saying to you?
Do you need to be healed?
Do you need to be made whole?
Is there anything keeping you from being the one that God made you to be?
Is there an illness that needs to be cleared?
Is there a sin that needs to be forgiven?
Is there a wall that needs to be torn down?
Is there a hurt that needs to be mended?
Then come to Jesus, and find your healing. Those who seek the touch of Jesus find their healing. Come and be made whole once again. Come and let Jesus put things right once again. Come and be healed in the name of Jesus Christ.
Come to Jesus, be made whole, and then go as the child of God that your were created to be.
Come to Jesus, be healed, and go serve.
Here is a prayer for you:
Jesus healer of our every ill,
Fill you with love,
Mend you with mercy,
And grant you peace.
You are God’s child,
now and always.
Amen.
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