“Silent witness: a fever”
Mark 1:30
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
In November of 1962, author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn published a novel called, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. It’s a story that describes a day in the life of a prisoner in a 1950s Soviet labor camp.
The prisoner, Ivan Denisovich, was a Soviet soldier, but he was accused of being a spy. Even though he was innocent, he was sent to prison for ten years.
As you can imagine, life in that prison was intolerable. Every prisoner was assigned a number meant to identify him and dehumanize him. Food was scarce and clothes were thin, making it nearly impossible for anyone to survive. The only act of mercy came when the temperature dropped to 42 degrees below zero. That’s when the prisoners didn’t have to work outside.
And on that particular day, Denisovich woke up late and sick. And since he was late, he was punished by having to clean the guardhouse. When he finished, he was sent to his regular work station to lay bricks for a building that would hold even more prisoners.
Such was a day in the life of Ivan Denisovich.
Mark, in his account of the gospel, tells a story about a day in the life of Jesus. Listen again to the words of today’s gospel reading, chapter 1, verse 29: “And immediately He left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told Him about her. And He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them” (Mark 1:29-31).
Now we don’t know all that much about this woman, nor do we even know her name. About the only thing we know is that she was sick, until Jesus came and stood by her side.
Let’s step back for a moment to see what’s going on.
The Bible says Jesus had just come to Capernaum, a small fishing village that lay on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And it says it was the Sabbath, a Saturday, so He went to the synagogue and began to teach.
Imagine how it would have been to hear Him speak: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not murder.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment...You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” And He said: “Don’t think I’ve come to abolish the Law or the prophets; I’ve come to fulfill them.”
And when He finished speaking that day, what happened? Two things--first, the Bible says the people who heard Him were amazed, because He didn’t speak like all the other teachers of the Law. And second, as He was speaking, a man possessed by a demon suddenly cried out, “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!”
“Be quiet!” Jesus shouted. “Come out of him!” And as the man shook violently, the demon came out with a shriek.
Then when their time of morning prayer and worship was done, they went to Peter’s house, just a stone’s throw away, for lunch.
Which tells us something about Jesus and what He came to do. He wasn’t simply one who taught in the synagogues, by the seashore, or on the top of mountains, preaching to hundreds and even thousands. Sometimes He came to homes too.
He’s not just a public Savior. He’s a personal one too.
And what did He find when He got there? Peter’s mother-in-law, sick in bed with a fever.
But this wasn’t just any fever. When Luke, a physician, recorded this story, he used words that meant, “great fever” or “high fever.” She was burning up and something had to be done, or else.
Now let me digress for just a moment.
At first glance, this illness doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal. So she had a fever. Give her some Tylenol and send her to bed.
But in the ancient world, it just wasn’t that way. Back then, you couldn’t just go to Urgent Care and walk out with a prescription for penicillin. Depending upon its cause and nature, high fevers could have been fatal.
But who should come to stand beside her bed, but Jesus! The One who taught with such authority and cast out demons with a shriek, now stood beside her bed. And just as soon as He rebuked that fever, He lifted her, by the hand, from her bed. And in that very moment, the Bible says, she was well again.
In the words of Mark, “The fever left her, and she began to serve them.”
Can you picture it? One moment, she was flat on her back. The very next, the infection was gone, the fever was gone, and the symptoms were gone--no weakness, no dizziness, no sweating, no struggling--and she waited on them. It was a miracle!
Then what? Mark tells what happened next. Verse 32: “That evening at sundown they brought to Him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew who He was” (Mark 1:32-34).
One after another after another came to the door until, finally, there was a mass of crippled and diseased men, women, and children, not to mention their families and friends, who were all waiting outside the door. The sight and the sound must have been overwhelming.
Think about it. If Capernaum was anything like any other city is today, you can imagine what was standing outside that door--tuberculosis, cancer, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, the paralyzed, the blind, the deaf, and the lame. Some had to be carried. Some moaned in their distress.
And as day turned to night, by the glow of candles and lamps, the paralyzed rolled up their mats and went home, the lame laid down their crutches, and demons fled from His presence. That town of Capernaum would never, ever be the same.
Is it any surprise that Jesus would do these things? It shouldn’t be. Everything about Him was a miracle.
In the words of pastor and author Philip Schaff, “Without money and arms, Jesus of Nazareth conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed and Napoleon. Without science and learning, He has shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined. Without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet. Without writing a single line, He has set more pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.”
Jesus Christ is the greatest personality of all time. No other teacher, in all of history, of any nation, of any religion, could even begin to compare. He alone is the light of the world.
Everything about Him was miraculous. He was born miraculously, He lived miraculously, and He died miraculously. As Paul wrote to the Colossians: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation...He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent” (Colossians 1:15-18).
Jesus could never have prayed the words, “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” for His heart was already clean. And neither did He ever ask for forgiveness, because He never needed any.
Pilate said it five different times: “I find no fault in Him.” A thief on the cross said, “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve, but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Even Judas, the one who betrayed Him, couldn’t help but say, “I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
And when Jesus taught, He taught like no one else had ever taught before. He taught about God, angels and men, heaven and hell, the past, the present, and the future. He posed questions no one could answer, and He answered questions no one thought could be answered.
When cruel, conniving Pharisees sent men to arrest Him, the men came back without Him, saying, “No one speaks like Him.” And when old Nicodemus, a member of the Jew’s ruling council, came to speak with Him one night, he said, “We know You are a Teacher who’s come from God, for no one can do what You do, unless God was with him.”
He stilled a storm. He walked on water, and hushed the sea to sleep. He ordered nature, and nature had no choice but to obey.
He spoke to disease and disease fled. He healed a leper in Luke chapter 5. He healed a paralytic in Mark chapter 2. He healed a nobleman’s son in John 4. He healed blindness in John 9 and ten lepers in Luke 17. On Maundy Thursday, before the company of His disciples and temple guards, He healed a man’s ear.
No one was ever born like Him. No one ever lived like Him. No one ever died like Him. He’s the Master of hungry crowds, angry Pharisees, clever, vindictive Sadducees, and slow to understand disciples.
Even in the agony of the cross, He was Master. Though everything and everyone around Him was in chaos, He was the Master of His destiny. Soldiers drove nails through His hands and feet, yet He forgave them. A condemned criminal mocked Him, but He promised another that that very day, he would be with Him in Paradise. And even while suffering shock from the loss of blood, He calmly and faithfully fulfilled the Word of the Lord. He said, “Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.”
There’s no one like our Savior Jesus.
Back in 1968, while Dave Schwartz was running a used car business in downtown L.A., a customer, a woman, approached him and asked if she couldn’t buy a car, but simply rent one for about three months. Since business was slow, and things weren’t going anywhere, he thought, why not? So she rented a car, then three months later, brought it back, along with $225.
That’s when he had an idea--why not rent used cars, instead of just selling them?
But what should he call it? An actor-producer friend said, “Why don’t you call it, ‘Rent-a-Wreck’?” Then when CBS news showed up the following Monday morning, he knew he had stumbled onto something big.
Now after licensing more than three hundred franchises, with almost ten thousand cars on the road, Dave Schwartz has become a very wealthy man.
The world is broken. People are broken. You and I are broken too.
But here’s the good news--Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, just like you and me.
As the apostle Paul once wrote to the Corinthians: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come” (II Corinthians 5:17).
You have told Your children, dear Father, to pray confidently in the name of Jesus. Help us to rest humbly on Your will, grace to understand, and a deeper appreciation for all the blessings that You have given, for Jesus’ sake. Amen