2-7-2021 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Mark 1:29-39 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke

Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany Sunday, February 7, 2021 “Get to Know Jesus in Your Unique Circumstances”

There is no one exactly like you. Maybe that seems obvious. Maybe you are very aware of how unique people are, but sometimes it seems that we make assumptions about people or we group them into particular categories and speak about generalizations rather than about specific, individual factors. Think about how unique you are. God has given you particular personality traits and gifts. He has placed you into this world at a particular time and in a particular place and with particular circumstances. We have different physical characteristics, different family situations, and different occupations. Sure, some of these things we may have in common with others, but only rarely would many of these factors that make us unique really line up with anyone else.

Maybe that’s a reason that it can be difficult to put ourselves in the place of people we read about and hear about in the Bible. What do we have in common with Peter or Andrew? How can we relate to James and John who were called away from their fishing business to follow Jesus? We don’t get to walk with Jesus and hear his voice in our ears and see the amazing and wonderful things he does. Maybe it doesn’t always feel as compelling to read about these things so many years later.

In today’s Gospel, we hear about Jesus spending time in Capernaum with those disciples and with a number of other people who are not named for us. We don’t know her name either, but we meet Simon’s mother-inlaw. Most of what we know about her and many of the others in this lesson are that they are sick. Others are demon-possessed. And Jesus spends time caring for them and helping them and teaching them. They got to know him better through the challenges that they were facing.

We have to admit that our situations are quite different. We live in very different times and in a very different place. And yet there are things that we have in common, needs and concerns that we share with those people. We also get to know Jesus, perhaps at times we get to know him best, when we are suffering or challenged. We get to know Jesus in our own particular times and places, and we can’t necessarily change or choose what those times and places look like. But as we examine these verses from Mark chapter 1, we will notice that even in our own unique circumstances, Jesus comes to us and meets with us in a similar way. We get to know him and to know more about him. He calls us to believe in him, to trust in him, and he leads us to respond in the way we live our lives and face our unique circumstances.

It's obvious in this reading that Jesus was dealing with the power of sin and Satan. It almost seems like everyone in Capernaum was either sick or demon possessed. Sure, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but that’s what Jesus was dealing with. The whole town was at the door. Some were sick. Some were demonpossessed. Some were helping them come to see Jesus. But there was plenty for Jesus to do. He even went away by himself for a bit, and the disciples came and found him and said, “Everyone is looking for you!”

They were looking for Jesus because they knew he had the power to help. He had helped Simon’s mother-inlaw. He had helped many. He even cast demons out of them and prevented the demons from talking about him.

So let’s talk in some general ways about our unique circumstances. To really understand what we face and the lives that we live, we need to first recognize the power of sin and Satan. I know that it is true for me, and I suspect that it is true for you, too: demon possession seems to be a far-away problem. It’s not something that I hear about or see or experience with any regularity. I am not convinced that I have ever seen or known someone who was possessed by a demon, at least not in the way that I see it happening in the Bible. But I do see, and I hope you do, too, that the devil and his coworker demons are certainly at work around us. Maybe we dismiss it at times as bad luck or unfortunate circumstances or just the sort of world that we live in, but evil is a very real thing. And even though we don’t always see and notice the demons, there are spiritual forces at work in our lives, demons who try to snare and trap us. They want our lives to be centered on anything other than the gifts and graces of God. If we are consumed by lust or greed or envy or anything else,

the demons have done their work. They don’t need to possess us. They have accomplished their purpose of keeping us away from God and his goodness and keeping us from loving him the way he calls us to do.

Illness and demon-possession sound like two very different things, and they are. But they have sin in common. Sickness and disease are parts of our lives because of sin. We can learn all the medical details about bacteria and viruses and whatever other pathogens might affect us, but that’s always a reminder that this world is no longer perfect the way that God made it. Everything has been so changed and corrupted by sin that we face these challenges and difficulties. It’s not exactly the same for all of us. Some people have been affected by the news of the world in very different ways over the past year. There are different outcomes, sometimes vastly different outcomes, even for the same disease. You can look at your own unique situation and circumstance and you can see how sin and Satan are at work in your life today. Maybe someone you care about can’t or won’t be at church with you. Maybe your job is more of a challenge than ever before. Perhaps you are or have been sick or injured or suffering in some other way.

And where is the answer? We could seek some help perhaps from medical technology and innovation, from doctors and nurses, from therapists and counselors, and even from family and friends. But there is really only one source of true help, one who is actually powerful over sin and Satan. We should be looking for Jesus just like the citizens of Capernaum were. We should be bringing our sick and injured, our troubled and all who are possessed by sinful and demonic forces. We should be bringing them to him. He’s the one that has demonstrated his power to help and heal and save. He is the one who rules over all so that not even devils or disease can withstand his power. And without his blessing, no remedy or help will meet our needs.

So we get to know Jesus as we recognize the work of sin and Satan and as we know the power Jesus has to help. But we also have to realize that he came to help in far more profound ways than healing the sick and driving out demons. As significant as these actions were, as helpful as they were to people who needed help, Jesus had a greater purpose. If he had healed every disease in Capernaum and driven out every demon, he would have still left a town of sinners behind. If Jesus had healed every disease in the world and driven out every demon that had possessed people, he would have still left behind a world of sinners. And the same is true today. If he were to with a word do away with our current pandemic and heal every disease and drive out every demon, what would be left? We would still be living in a world of sinners, and our sins would still be held against us without Jesus.

The miracles that Jesus performed, the healings that he accomplished and the demons that he drove out pointed to and validated his message. Jesus came to preach. He went with his disciples at the end of our verses to new places throughout the region and he kept driving out demons, but his primary purpose was to preach. He was teaching the people about how he had power over the devil in the most important ways. He was going to do away not with sickness, but with its sinful cause. He was going to do away with demon possession forever by bringing his people to be with him in the perfect paradise of heaven. And so his preaching and teaching and miracles were not complete until he had gone to the cross to die for the sins of the world and until he had risen from death. And even then his preaching continued. He continued to call and invite more and more people to follow him and to be his disciples.

And that is what he has done for you and for me. He directed the entire course of history so that he would live and die for us and rise again. And he has directed the entire course of our histories, our unique stories, so that we have heard and believed the preaching about him.

And Jesus invites us to respond to his call by serving him in love. When he healed Simon’s mother-in-law, she immediately began serving Jesus and the other guests in her house. She showed her thankfulness in loving service. Our situations are different once again. Our service takes on many forms. The opportunities that we have and the responsibilities that we face may be unique, but we have this in common, that we can serve God in many ways because of our thankfulness for what our Savior has done.

Yes, we all have unique circumstances and situations, but we praise God that we have this in common: Jesus is our Savior. He has called us to trust in him, and we will continue to want to get to know him better and better day by day.

The Text: Mark 1:29–39 (EHV) 29They

left the synagogue and went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30Simon’s mother-in-law was lying in bed, sick with a fever. Without delay they told Jesus about her. 31He went to her, took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she began to serve them. 32That evening, when the sun had set, the people kept bringing to him all who were sick and demonpossessed. 33The whole town gathered at the door. 34He healed many people who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. But he did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew who he was.

35Jesus

got up early in the morning, while it was still dark, and went out. He withdrew to a solitary place and was praying there. 36Simon and his companions searched for him, 37and, when they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is looking for you!”

38He

told them, “Let’s go somewhere else, to the neighboring villages, so that I can preach there too. In fact, that is why I have come.” 39Then he went throughout the whole region of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.