FINDINGS III By Harry T. Cook

Epiphany V 2012   

Mark 1: 29-39          

Harry T. Cook

V. 29 suggests that the home of Andrew and Peter was in Capernaum. Mark says Jesus entered it "immediately" or "directly" (εύθυς) upon leaving the synagogue. Thus he is now among friends. It is here that Mark will establish that Jesus' εξουσία extends to matters other than evil spirits. Simon Peter's mother-in-law is said to be sick with a fever. Mark depicts Jesus going to her, taking her hand and pulling her upward, as if to say, "You are all better now." Mark, joined by Matthew and Luke in parallel passages) says that the fever broke and she was able to serve Jesus, as would the mother of any proper household. It is a subtle and brief mention, hardly nuanced and uncommented upon, but it serves as a way of pointing out that Jesus' εξουσία is a natural part of who he is. He is not a worker of magic, nor yet some kind of tribal witch doctor. He is who he is, possessed of what gifts he has, and has a transforming affect upon those with whom he deals.

What Mark mentions next, then, should come as no surprise. When the work day has ended (at sundown -- v. 42) and people are therefore more free to move about at will Mark (Matthew at 8:16-17 and Luke at 4:40-41 concurring) say "they" (presumably people of the neighborhood who had heard about the exorcised man in the synagogue and about Peter's mother-in-law) brought all who were sick and possessed to Jesus who "healed" them. The Greek here is έθεράπευσεν from θεραπεύω (to attend upon) and θεράπων (one who attends). C.S. Mann and other commentators believe Mark was not using the word in any technical sense. It was not, in other words, what Jesus did but who he was that made the difference. Something obviously happened in that transaction, but Mark never says what. Maybe this is a tantalizing hint about Mark's treatment of the resurrection myth, which he will leave fuzzed up in ambiguity at 16:8. Not only does Mark's Jesus "attend upon" the sick but casts out many a demon. The Greek is εξέβαλεν from βάλλω (to hurl or throw). A very literal translation would be "Jesus went ballistic with the demons." Mark adds a footnote to the effect that Jesus did not permit the ejected spirits to speak "because they knew him." Another angle on the Markan messianic secret. The only one who knew who Jesus really was that day in the Capernaum synagogue was the demonic spirit. Another way of saying you don't have to be crazy to live here, but it helps.

At 1:35 Mark depicts Jesus seeking some early morning surcease, but Simon Peter "and those who were with him: (who exactly and how many we are not told) followed Jesus - Simon with the message that everyone was seeking him. Would that have included the authorities whose scribal applecart had been upset? Is that why Jesus is depicted as moving on (see v.38)? Is he keeping just a step or two ahead of the sheriff, buying as much time to "preach" before his inevitable encounter with those whose tradition and power his εξουσία has so fundamentally challenged? As if to underscore Mark's sense of Jesus' public career, he observes at 1:39 that Jesus "went throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons." Was Mark saying that synagogues were where demons hung out, that synagogue Judaism as opposed to Jesus Judaism had become possessed by a spirit of reaction?

Two homiletic opportunities among many are obvious, though daunting. One is that Mark's Jesus had an authentic from-the-inside-out power to take on malign forces of outmoded and even demented tradition.   The wide-eyed ones at Capernaum observed that what Jesus had to say was the Real McCoy, and not the tiresome pap of the scribes. Such figures as Mark's Jesus are seldom welcome within the precincts of organized religion because what they say has the effect of disorganizing its carefully erected power structure and ecclesiastical feng shui. The contemporary analogs to the "scribes" of 1:22 will be almost too close for comfort to the courageous preacher who may have to choose between being honest about the obvious application of this passage and having a job on Monday.

The other opportunity is found in the quick scene of Jesus "lifting up" Peter's mother-in-law. Mark says that Jesus "attended upon" -- not "healed" in any medical sense -- those who were sick. Our words "therapist" and "therapy" derive from the Greek θεράπων (therapōn). In common parlance today, a therapist is a clinically trained physician, psychologist or technician. In New Testament language a therapist is one who is "just there," attending upon, being with a person who in some way is ill or unable to do for himself or herself. In the days when I visited congregants in hospital, the ones I saw doing that were the aides and cleaning people who changed soiled linens, washed those who could not wash themselves -- and that with grace which presented itself as beauty.

If miracles are sought, seek them in changing Depends and emptying bedpans.