WITHOUT A WORD
As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So He went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them (Mark 1: 29-31)
Have you ever wondered why Jesus didn’t give His disciples a “healing” formula to say over sick people? As His disciples, it would be part of their job description to do what disciples do, imitate their rabbi. In this case, healing would be expected of them if they wanted to be just like their Master. Perhaps they began to wish that some other rabbi with s’mikah had called them to follow him – except that no one but Jesus would do such a thing because they were not qualified.
Notice how much confidence they had in Him at this early stage in their apprenticeship. They may have known something about Him from hearsay, or even from listening to Him preach about the kingdom of God, but they had hardly had time to get to know Him. Yet – this was a crisis in the family. A fever could mean anything from a head cold or ‘flu to a serious and life-threatening illness. And there was no doctor on call with a range of antibiotics to treat the condition.
Ah, but for once they had hope. Jesus was on call. Had He already shown His power to heal? We don’t know, but He had, just an hour or two ago evicted a demon. Did they believe that this woman’s condition was caused by an invading “squatter”? Again, we don’t know. But as far as they were concerned, Jesus was there and He was up to dealing with any uninvited invader, be it demonic or bacterial – not that they knew anything about bacteria.
All they had to do was to tell Him and the rest was up to Him. And they were not disappointed. What did they expect Him to do? Say a prayer over her? Quote healing Scriptures to her and command the sickness to leave? Impress God with His confidence in Him to heal – after all, there was healing in the Covenant, wasn’t there?
Jesus did the absolutely unexpected. He simply took he hand and gently helped her to sit up and get off her sleeping mat. One moment she was shaking with fever and the next she was up on her feet, as cool as a cucumber and ready to get on with her day. How did that happen?
The answer is simple – God’s mercy, through the hand of Jesus, did a miracle. It didn’t even need a prayer or a command or a mantra or a repetition of Scripture to effect a miracle. The Holy Spirit was all over Him. He came on Him at His baptism. And the Father was with Him. Jesus and the Father were one. Hadn’t the Father affirmed Him vocally, verbally at His baptism? They were all there together, Father, Son and Holy Spirit to bring heaven back to earth. With that powerful presence, no word was needed. Just a helping hand and power flowed.
What did the disciples think of that? They must have been flabbergasted. “We are supposed to do that! Who does He think we are – some superhuman god-men or something?” By this time they must have known that He was someone more than a man. But how were they supposed to be like Him?
There were then, and still are now, two important factors that made all the difference. Firstly, Jesus had called them, them, because He had confidence that they could become what He was. That what rabbis with s’mikah did. Secondly, He was equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit, and so would they be after He had dealt with sin. That’s what He, Jesus, could and would do. No other rabbi could do that!
And what about us? Jesus instructed them to go out and make replicas of them because they were on the way to becoming replicas of Him. This was His simple but effective strategy. Any new disciples were to receive the same equipment as He had and they would have – His confidence in them and the power of the Holy Spirit in them. They didn’t need to do what other religions tried to do – get their gods to respond by formulae and babbling and mantras and ridiculous rituals and capers and . . . and . . . and. . . Just like the prophets of Baal.
Only “Christ in them”. They didn’t even need words – just the awareness that the Father was there, the Holy Spirit was there, Jesus was there. That’s all He did on that occasion, gave her a hand and she was up on her feet. Sometimes He spoke. Sometimes He didn’t. Sometimes He did strange things, like make mud with spit, or ask strange questions like, “Do you want to be healed?” It actually didn’t matter. What did matter was that God was right there and did the work through an obedient and trusting channel.
It’s not words that heal. It’s God, all God – because He wants to bring heaven to earth – now.
Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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