Mark 1:29-39 "Infinitely Intimate"

Isn’t it strange how the slightest fever can change our world? Most people are healthy and feel fine at about 98.6 but start to feel puny if their temperature goes up a couple degrees — 100 or so. We’re supposed to go to the hospital if it gets over 103. That’s a pretty narrow window. One time my son Angel said he didn’t feel good and had a fever of over 120 degrees. Which was strange because a temperature that high would mean he was dead. Turns out he was just trying to get out of school and had run hot water on the thermometer. Nice try, son. I believe it was my daughter’s idea after watching E.T..

It’s amazing how fine tuned our bodies have to be. Not just a very narrow temperature range, but blood pressure, oxygen levels, hydration—it’s a miracle any of us are alive.

Same with the balance of conditions on planet earth. So many things have to be just right for life as we know it to exist: the perfect distance from the sun or we’d burn up or freeze to death, the atmospheric mix of oxygen and nitrogen or we couldn’t breathe, water has to be in the form of liquid, the magnetic field of the planet, gravity (not too much, not too little), even the tilt and rotation has to be perfectly maintained or everything would die. Scientists call this the Goldilocks Zone—it’s got to be just right. 

Some would look at all this and think, “Wow. Isn’t it amazing how all these unique factors just came together to make possible the only known life in the universe?”

Of course, we’re in church, so most of us think this points to God, the Creator of all these things and His divine purpose in balancing it all so perfectly.

God is “Infinitely Intimate.” God, who is infinitely beyond any of our ability to comprehend—we look at His creation and we’re like an amoeba watching a ballet, like a grain of sand listening to a symphony, like a snowflake at a comedy show—we don’t get it.

Had you seen those videos before that show the size of earth relative to the size of other planets? We’re really small.

Earth is barely a spec of dust in our galaxy. If I didn’t believe in God, it would be pretty bleak thinking about how insignificant we are compared to the vastness of the universe. I mean—how tiny is each one of us and our petty concerns? We’re not even a blip. A drop of water in the ocean is a billion times more significant to the earth than we are to the universe by comparison. 

And yet. How big is God? He inhabits every square inch of the universe—yet He’s also outside of His creation, inhabiting the infinite uncreated realities beyond it. Try to get your head around that. Or this: God looked all the way from the edge of space, the furthest reaches of heaven, saw us on this microscopic planet, and decided to have compassion on us. God became a man. Humbled Himself, put aside His glory—became one of those smaller than an atom sized spec of dust in His creation. God became very small. But He lived, He died, and His death sent ripples all the way to the edges of heaven, His resurrection changed the nature of reality. Almighty God became intimately involved in all our petty concerns. Infinitely Intimate.

Last week Kelske talked about Jesus going to synagogue and showing everyone His authority. How He taught the Scriptures with authority—as if He was the author, as if He was the one who wrote the Bible. Imagine that. He cast out a demon with authority—as if He had some divine right to tell devils what they can and can’t do, where they can and can’t be. Well, He’s on a roll now. Jesus was in full swing now, and there was no stopping Him. We continue the story in… 

Mark Chapter one 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. 

After church, Jesus was invited to eat lunch at Simon Peter’s house. When they arrive, they find out Peter’s mother-in-law isn’t feeling great—she has a fever and is laying down resting. Jesus goes in to see her—maybe He was like, “It’s so nice to meet you Mrs. Peter’s Mother-in-law, I’m sorry you’re not feeling well. I’ve heard so much about your cooking.” And He takes her hand, helps her sit up, the fever immediately leaves her and she gets up and makes lunch.

You got to love this story. First of all because it shows that nothing is too small to bring to Jesus. She wasn’t blind or crippled or covered in leprosy— she had a fever. A cold. Wasn’t feeling great. It seems like they didn’t even know she was sick until they came home from church.

I knew a guy who used to say, “I think God is too busy to bother with something like a headache, that’s what He made aspirin for.” This story shows us that Jesus wants us to bring our little problems to Him, even if they aren’t life-threatening catastrophes. 

Or maybe the fever was really bad, but Jesus took care of it by just taking her hand. It still makes that next line really funny to me—where she gets up and makes lunch. I mean, they had all kinds of rules for hospitality, and it was a shame and honor culture. So, I guess It would have been really embarrassing if she didn’t feed her son-in-law’s new rabbi some nice Matzo Ball Soup. I’m sure they had a nice lunch and a pleasant afternoon hanging with Jesus.

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 him. Mark 1:32-34

They had started the day at the synagogue because it was Sabbath, now it says the people waited until sundown (the end of Sabbath) to carry all their sick family and friends to Peter’s house so Jesus could heal them. It says “The whole city” showed up at the door—clearly an exaggeration but I’m sure it felt like it. We’re getting a little glimpse into a day in the life of what Jesus’ ministry was like. Teaching, meeting people, healing people, having conversations, exorcisms.

I wonder if any of the people who were brought to have demons cast out had to be forced to come. I like to imagine a post-apocalyptic horror film vibe, where people are dragged in chains or wheeled in cages—just moaning like zombies. Peter walks outside at dusk and it’s like a hellish nightmare surrounding his house. “Um… Jesus! Would You come outside, please!”

Jesus brought the kingdom of God. The time of the kingdom of the world—the kingdom of satan and all his devils had come to an end. The light had come into the darkness and the darkness didn’t have a chance.

I know when we modern educated types come across these passages that talk about demons and devils—sometimes we don’t know what to do with them. All of us who were raised on Scooby-Doo where there’s no such thing as monsters and supernatural things—it always turns out to be Farmer Brown in a mask or some jerk with a movie projector spooking the locals. We think we’re too sophisticated to believe in spooky spiritual weirdness. 

Well, Jesus spent a lot of His ministry casting out demons. That was the frontline of the kingdom of God breaking into the world—and now they’ve had 2,000 years to learn how to hide. There are invisible realities hiding behind all the evil and darkness in this world. They would like nothing better than for us to stay fat, happy, comfortable and blissfully ignorant of their presence. They’re counting on it.

There are trillions of them—they outnumber us. They’re everywhere. Like bugs.

But we don’t need to freak out about them because one little word in Jesus’ name sends them scrambling to find a dark corner to hide in—but it’s dangerous to pretend like they don’t exist.

Let’s say your kid wakes you up in the middle of the night saying there’s a demon in their room and they’re scared. What do you tell them? Most people reach for the Gospel of Scooby-Doo, they say, “You don’t have anything to be afraid of because demons aren’t real. There’s no such thing as monsters. There’s nothing under your bed or hiding in your closet.”

That’s a dangerous faith-killing game.

It would be much better to say, “You don’t have to be afraid—there might be a demon but it can’t hurt you because Jesus has promised to protect you. Let’s go ask Him to chase away any monsters and help you go back to sleep.” They’ll probably still end up sleeping with you the rest of the night but at least you’re teaching them what faith looks like—what it’s for. And the same thing goes for your grandkids. We need to stop acting like unbelievers with how we raise our kids.

It says Jesus didn’t let the demons speak—probably means He silenced them like He did the demon in the synagogue when it said, “I know who You are—The Holy One of God.” Jesus probably didn’t let them talk because He didn’t want devils to be the ones telling the world who He is, they lost the right to announce the message of the Gospel when they followed Lucifer and became fallen angels, fallen messengers (which is what “angel” means).  Plus, since they are devils, He knew they would probably misrepresent Him and distort the nature of His mission if He let them say much.

How many people did Jesus heal that day? How many demonized people were set free? Mark says it seemed like the whole city was there—says Jesus helped “many” people before He called it a night. I’ll bet it was a heck ton of people.

Like I said, a day in the life. That’s a full day—had to be exhausting. Jesus was divine but He was also human. His body and mind got worn out. He needed sleep. He needed rest. He needed to get away from people and recharge. But He didn’t need to zone out on Netflix with a crunchy snack and a glass of wine—He needed to talk to His heavenly Father and pray. 

VERSE 35:

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. Mark 1:35

You might be tempted to wonder what difference it makes whether you pray or not—what’s the point? God already knows what I’m going to say, what I need. He’s going to do what He’s going to do anyway. And if you think that’s true for you, how much more would that have been true for Jesus? He is God. Why would He need to pray?

Because He was also man—and was on earth, away from heaven. Also, do you think He didn’t talk to the Father when He was in heaven before He came to earth? Do you think He doesn’t talk to the Father now that He’s ascended back to heaven? The eternal Son of God has always had a relationship with His eternal Father and the eternal Holy Spirit. They have always had conversation—it just wasn’t called prayer until Jesus became a man. We’re getting deep into mysteries here.

The point is, if Jesus needed to pray, you better believe we need it more. If you ever find yourself tired, or doubting, or in a funk—it’s time to pray. Time to pray the funk away.

So, when they get up in the morning, Jesus is gone.

VERSE 36:

And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” Mark 1:36-38

I think that’s funny. “Hey, Jesus, where you been, man! Everyone’s looking for You!” And Jesus is like, “I know! Let’s leave.” And they kind of look at Him with their heads tilted like a dog—He says, “I didn’t come to earth to settle down in Capernaum, I got places to go, people to see, things to do…”

VERSE 39:

And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.” Mark 1:39

Notice the progression: Jesus started in the synagogue, then went to Peter’s house, then the local community, then throughout Galilee, and then beyond.

That’s still the way it works. We show up here at church where we gather around God’s word, the only authority on this tiny planet, the only actual truth. This is still where Jesus offers His authority, not His opinions, He still offers the Gospel, not advice—this isn’t a TED talk, it’s not the Oprah Winfry show, it’s not some social gathering where we compare notes and confirm our biases. This is the living center of where we find the promises of Jesus. His word, His wisdom for how to live, His grace and forgiveness for when we don’t live up to the perfect standard of God Almighty. Then we take Jesus home with us. Introduce Him to our family, our mother-in-law, our kids, our husband or wife—we build our home around Jesus. He promises that’s going to be a much more solid foundation than the shifting madness of popular culture and old wive’s tales. And it spreads from there—turn on your porch light—let people know Jesus stays at your place. Take Him with you into the community, all over town, everywhere you go, introduce Him to people who don’t know Him. And it spreads from there, from town to town, state to state, nation to nation, generation to generation. You have places to go and people to see, too. It’s your job to represent the kingdom of God everywhere you go. He didn’t save you so you wouldn’t do what He wants you to do—”Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” You are God’s activity in the world—you are heaven’s activity in the world. 

It starts here, at church—but it can’t stop here. This intimate setting where we experience the infinite has to go home with you and get even more intimate. The faith we talk about, sing about, and pray about here has to become your own faith. At home. Intimate. Real. The authority of Jesus has to become authentically part of you and your family. You have to talk about it. Live it. This is your faith. (Timing is important on this)

From infinite to intimate. Faith that the Creator looked all the way down from the furthest expanses of the heavens—beyond the edge of the ever expanding universe, God being both inside and outside of His creation—Infinitely Intimate. He looked all the way to that tiny spec of dust called earth, (through the Milky Way galaxy, past Orion, beyond the Big Dipper, all the way to the third spec of microscopic dust from the Sun) and sees you, an infinitesimally tinier spec—then calls you by name. Says you are His, part of His family now—takes you by the hand, helps you up, saves you, heals you, clears away your delusions and fever dreams, drives the darkness away from you, and says, “Come on. We’ve got things to do.” AMEN