Sermon on Mark 1:29-39

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

So far this year, we’ve explored what Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus have to say about Sabbath.

Today, we’re going back to the suggested scriptures for the day and back to the Gospel of Mark, and we’re going to see what Jesus’ life says to us about Sabbath and rest.

It’s still really early in Jesus’ ministry, but he’s done a lot, as the action-lacked Gospel of Mark reminds us. He’s gotten baptized, spent time in the wilderness, and called some disciples. Right before our reading today begins, Jesus was preaching at a synagogue on the Sabbath, and he cast a demon out of a man.

In this reading, we see Jesus’ ministry expanding from the personal to the local to the larger surrounding area.

After the service at the synagogue, Jesus went with his disciples to Simon and Andrew’s home, where Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a fever. It says, “He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.”

Now, it’s easy to get cynical about a woman who’s just been ill immediately getting up and serving men. And that’s a valid reading.

But I find a more charitable reading empowering. First of all, the language of Jesus taking her by the hand and lifting her up is just beautiful.

Then, the word for serve is the same that’s used to describe the angels caring for Jesus in the wilderness just a few verses before. And also, that same word is where we get our word “deacon”—ministers who are known for service. We can read her as the first deacon. I wonder if the moment the fever left her and she got to her feet, still holding onto Jesus’ hand, if she felt a clarity in her mission, a passion to serve those around her in Jesus’ name.

I admire that clarity of mission, and we’ll talk in a minute about where else I see that in this reading.

But first, we see Jesus here having a personal connection with Simon’s mother-in-law in the privacy of her home. That privacy didn’t last long as the sun set on the Sabbath and the first day of the week began.

Word had spread fast about Jesus casting out the demon from the man in the synagogue. So, the moment the sun went down, everyone brought their loved ones distressed by demons or illnesses to see Jesus. Can you imagine the crowd pressing in, full of desperation and hope?

Jesus spent hours curing people and casting out demons. He served the city, just as Simon’s mother-in-law served him and his disciples.

Jesus’ ministry goes from the personal with Simon’s mother-in-law to the local with all their neighbors showing up at the door.

There seems to be plenty for Jesus to do here.

But we know his ministry didn’t stay in that one city. So, what happened?

Our reading says in the morning Jesus went out to a deserted place while it was still very dark.

Perhaps he healed people through the night and was only able to sneak away in the early morning hours. Or maybe he got a few hours of sleep before waking with the faces of the people he had ministered to before his eyes, unable to fall asleep again.

One way or another, Jesus went to be alone and prayed.

Surely there was more for him to do, and it didn’t take long for his disciples to come looking for him in a panic.

But Jesus went to be by himself to pray.

We sometimes get the impression that Jesus was kind of lax about the Sabbath. There are many stories in the Gospels of Jesus getting in trouble for healing people on the Sabbath. In the very next chapter in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus says, “’The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath, so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.’”[1]

This can give us the impression that Jesus didn’t care about observing the Sabbath.

But in today’s reading, we see Jesus get overtaken by a crowd of people who needed him, and then we see him withdraw and pray. He could have just kept goinguntil burnout and compassion fatigue consumed him.

But he didn’t. After what must have been a tiring day, he found time alone to spend with God. If that’s not Sabbath, I don’t know what is.

And what happened when he found some time to renew himself?

When his disciples found him, he told them, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also, for that is what I came out to do.”

His time in prayer clarified his next steps. He wasn’t supposed to stay in that city healing people for the rest of his life. He was supposed to go on to neighboring towns to proclaim the message there also, for that is what he came out to do.

We see in our reading a cycle of action and then reflection that gave Jesus direction and clarity about his mission, which went from the personal with Simon’s mother-in-law, to the local need in that city, to the broader mission to share the good news in the larger surrounding area. Jesus needed solitude and prayer before deciding his next step.

That goes for us, too. How often do we take what we think is the next step in our lives, only to find that we’re moving fast toward something that isn’t fulfilling?

If we don’t pause to reflect, we can end up chasing goals that don’t light us up inside.

So how do we figure out what does light us up inside?

It takes time. It takes time to get to know ourselves, to reflect on our values, to listen to the Holy Spirit about where God is leading us.

And we can’t do any of that unless we pause.

Sabbath isn’t about being legalistic about the things we can’t do for a whole 24 hours. It’s about pausing to orient our lives toward God.

It’s not legalistic to feed yourself every day. It’s not legalistic to get a full night’s sleep at night. These are things you need for your body to feel good and to function well.

We need Sabbath rest to feel good and function well. It’s between you and God what it looks like for you. But we all need rest, and we all need to rest in God’s presence.

We, like Jesus, can find rhythms of action and reflection to guide our lives.

One thing that’s been helpful for me over the past several months is meeting with a coach as I’ve been navigating the transition in my role here at FLC. She helped me discern my values:

compassion, connection, community, clarity, and collaboration.

And she also helped me craft a personal mission statement, inspired by this congregation: I compassionately feed hurting people body and soul to collaborate in the practice of Beloved Community.

Knowing my values and mission statement gives me a starting point in the reflection part of the action and reflection cycle in my life.

Our church council will spend some time on this sort of thing at our retreat later this month, and I encourage you to do the same. Find a few minutes this week and jot down a few things that matter to you. You don’t need a formal mission statement. Just knowing your values can help you figure out life-giving next steps in your life.

Jesus could have had a successful career as a doctor in that city. He could have bought a house next to Simon and Andrew. But that wasn’t his mission, and he wouldn’t have figured that out if he hadn’t spent time in reflection and prayer.

It’s not legalistic or self-indulgent to rest and reflect amid all the action we do every day. It’s a gift from God and something we need for our well-being.

May there be rest and reflection for you this week as you seek God’s vision for your life.

Rest well, beloved.

[1] Mark 2:27-28