Our text for this morning is Luke 4:38-44. “After leaving the synagogue Jesus entered Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. Then he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them.
As the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them. Demons also came out of many, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Messiah.
At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose." So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.”
We’ll look at it in three steps as we go through the service in three different meditations.
Meditation One:
The Vision Comes in Solitude
Do you know the feeling of the pressure of so many good things that you could be doing, you feel that you ought to be doing, people want you to be doing, that it gets very hard to decide which things to do and which things to say ‘no” to? We all know that feeling. Do you ever have the feeling that all your time is going into good, legitimate things, but there just isn’t time left for the most important things? This morning we will be looking at a passage from Luke’s gospel in which he seems to have faced exactly the same thing.
Someone has said that “the good” is the greatest enemy of “the best.” Usually it is the good things that clutter up our lives, pulling us in many different directions all at once, so that we don’t have energy left for “the best things.” To live for “the best things” takes a clear vision of where you are going, what you are here on this earth to accomplish. Life can be like a gauntlet. There is a goal way down there in front of you. And to get there you have to run through a line of all sorts of things that push and pull and bang on you to keep you from getting there. “The best things” take commitment, consistency, and perseverance to accomplish.
And those “good things” are so tempting because you can just pick one here and one there and feel like you are doing good. But when they take over, they block us from “the best things.”
In this morning’s Bible passage, Jesus has a very good thing going. After worshipping in the synagogue in Capernaum, a friend, Simon Peter, invites him home. Peter’s mother-in-law is quite sick with a high fever. And Jesus heals her, suddenly, totally, dramatically. Word gets around town. And as things cool off later that evening, and the Sabbath comes to an end at sunset, so that it was allowed to carry someone needing healing, people start bringing their friends and relatives who are ill as well, surrounding the door to Peter’s house. And Jesus heals them all, one by one.
That must have felt good. Nobody is going to criticize you for healing the sick, especially if you wait until the Sabbath is over. They had just rejected him in his hometown of Nazareth, but here, in Capernaum, they loved him. That must have felt good.
But Jesus knew inside that this was not the very best. So he got up, very early in the morning, and went off somewhere to be alone and pray. And in that time of just focusing on listening to God, his Father, his direction, his next step, became clear for him.
As we work together to be disciples of Jesus, faithful followers, we often need to follow his example, to take time to just listen to God, to let him sort out for us what is merely good and what is the best, what can be sacrificed and what must be fitted in no matter what. We need to know the difference between what feels good today and what will really make a difference for the kingdom of God.
Let’s start our worship time together now, with a time for each of us to listen to God, to hear his still, small voice, to present ourselves to our God for service. May he open our eyes to see a vision of who we really are and what we can do in the power of God. To help us, Caren is going to come and sing for us, “Come and Find the Quiet Center,” a song of invitation to us to shut out all the noise of this world and listen to what God is saying to us.
Meditation Two:
The Vision Goes Beyond Local Concerns
As the story of this morning’s Bible passage continues, the sun comes up over the village of Capernaum. Jesus’ host and friend, Simon Peter, realizes that Jesus has gone out somewhere. Others start to come to the door, asking to see Jesus, but no one knows where he is. They start to look for him and eventually find him, alone, somewhere out of city. “Jesus, that was great last night. Come on back, there are more people coming again already. People are asking questions now; they want to hear what you have to say.” It would have been so hard to say no to them. But Jesus did. He could not fulfill his calling by just staying in one village. There were many villages that needed him.
How comfortable and easy it would have been for him to limit his vision to just that one town, to turn his back on the needs of other towns. Tunnel vision makes life so much simpler. And yet, he could feel his Father’s heart, which cared deeply for all people, in all villages, towns, and cities.
In our sharing of prayers and concerns we usually have our primary focus on our own, local needs. And those are very important. In our text, Jesus healed those from Capernaum, one by one, touching each one with his hands, very personally. We need to care for our own.
But as we follow Jesus, he stretches our horizons to see those in other towns and cities and countries who also need a touch from his hand. As we share concerns now, I invite you to share not only our local needs, those whom we know and love and see each day, but also those in other places who need God’s help today as well.
Meditation Three:
The Vision is First of All the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God
I only want to talk a little more about our scripture passage this morning, and that is to answer the question, just what was the new direction that Jesus recognized early that morning as he prayed to his Father? Who can tell me from the text, what was his number one purpose at this time, the thing that was “the best”? It’s down near the end of the passage. It was to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.
We Methodists often focus on what we do above what we say. I once cringed when one of my members in another church said that Methodists witness by their works and not by their words, as if keeping your mouth shut about our Lord were a good thing. We like hosting good community programs, giving money, feeding the hungry and so on. And those are so important. But for Jesus, what he said was most important at this time, the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of God.
He didn’t give up on healing. It sounds like he was healing people most every day. But he kept his priority clear. Even more than the healing of the body, people need to hear that God is near, that God cares, that God has power to make a difference in their lives. This world is not controlled by the big businesses that jockey for position on Wall Street or big government in Washington D. C or the United Nations. It is not controlled by the devil or evil powers. God is most powerful of all. And God is moving here on this earth through Jesus Christ. And that makes all the difference.
For those who are being abused or mistreated, perhaps again and again. You feel the temptation to take matters into your own hands and strike back and get vengeance. But hear the good news that God is near. God sees the things you suffer and cares deeply. And where you know deep inside that any attempt you might make to get revenge would probably only make matters worse, God, in his wisdom and his own good time will bring justice and those who mistreat you will someday pay. You can leave it to him.
Maybe God has placed you in a kind of service that is never recognized, never appreciated and you wonder whether it is worth it. Remember that God is near and God deeply appreciates any service we do in his name. Whenever we feed the hungry or cloth the naked or visit those in prison, or do anything to build his church, he accepts it as service done directly to him. That makes it an honor to serve.
If there is someone in this room or someone you know who is wrestling with a question of whether to do something that they know is right, but it seems like a lot of unnecessary trouble and bother, then you need to hear that God is near and God sees what we do and when we set out on that difficult path of doing the right thing, he will give us the strength to make the right choices. He will give us the wisdom to do it the right way. And he will reward us when it is done. Because our God is king, when all is said and done, righteousness will stand on earth and righteousness will be rewarded. Find hope and encouragement in that.
If there is someone in this room or someone you know who is facing a severe trial, perhaps a major illness, perhaps a profound grief. You may feel very weak and very alone. Listen to the proclamation of the good news of the Kingdom of God. God is near. You are not alone. His strength will be there for all who reach out to him in faith.
When a marriage is under strain, you may look at yourself and look at your spouse and just plain not see the resources to put it back together again and be sorely tempted to save yourself any more trouble and just bail out. Then remember that it is not just the two of you. God is a partner in your marriage, too. God knows how to guide his people out of the wilderness and into a good land. God can give you the words to say and the strength to hang in there and say them. You are not alone. Because God is here there is hope.
When we present our offerings to God, it may feel like it’s not that big a thing. How far can the money go? But remember that we are putting that money into the hands of Jesus Christ, who took a few loaves and a few fish and fed 5,000 people. Let’s present our offerings with excitement and anticipation. Try to imagine how far God can stretch your offering. Try to picture in your mind people all over the world who are receiving life through it. God is here and that makes all the difference.
We look around us at all the terrible things in the world. Tobacco companies are poisoning millions of people. Big industries are raping the earth and polluting the air and the water. Vulnerable immigrants to our great land are being exploited. Children are being neglected and abused. Millions of people are living in such crushing poverty that they can barely get together food for one day at a time and have no hope of adequate education or medical care or economic opportunity for their children. There are deep seeds of mistrust and hatred among the peoples of the world, with fighting between Russians and Chechnyans, Irish Catholics and Protestants, Palestinians and Israelis, and on and on. It can all sound so hopeless so quickly. But God is here. God can raise up people to go and make peace, to heal the sick and feed the hungry and educate the ignorant and empower the helpless. But the hope isn’t in our own power. The hope is in the good news that God is king and God is near, and as a good king, God has a special concern for the neediest of his people.
And maybe it is hard for you to feel for yourself the closeness of God. But still hear the good news. God is near. Let that encourage you to hang in there, seeking, a bit longer, to reach out to God, to search for his will for you in the Bible.
And maybe you have thought you might be hearing God’s still, small voice speaking to you, calling you, to give up some of the good things in your life in order to make room for something that, in the long run, is the best thing. Maybe you are scared of it, afraid it will consume you, afraid it will cost you, afraid you’ll step out in faith and then be abandoned. Well, hear the good news of the kingdom of God. God is near. God is powerful. God is faithful. He has never let his people down. God is loving. God is wise. Let his presence give you the courage you need. It is his presence that makes all the difference. AMEN
