GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
MARK 1:31
A Helping Hand
When my two brothers and I would stay with Grandma and Grandpa Minton, our maternal grandparents, on their farm in southern Illinois during the summer, Grandma would often make sassafras tea. We would pull up or dig up some young, tender sassafras tree, wash the root, cut it into small pieces, and Grandma would boil the root to make the tea. She called the tea a spring tonic, which would thin the blood, which, I suppose, was supposed to prepare the body for the summer heat, a mild example of popular home remedies. I still enjoy occasional sassafras tea.
In St. Mark’s Gospel, he wrote about Simon’s mother-in-law, who was racked by a great fever. One writer notes that fevers were prevalent around Capernaum in Galilee. The Talmud prescribed a remedy for dealing with fevers: an iron knife was tied by a braid of hair to a thorn bush, on three successive days prescribed scriptures were read, a certain magical formula was pronounced, and thus the cure was supposed to be achieved. Mark, however, said, “And going in, he raised her up, having taken her hand, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” (1:31) St. Luke added more details: Jesus went in, stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left. (4:39)
Combining Mark’s and Luke’s accounts, the scene unfolds thus: First, of course, they told Jesus about her need. Second, Jesus went to her, a comforting thought that he is present were there is a need. Third, Jesus prayed, rebuked the fever, and it left. There was no need for a magic formula, even a Christian one—fasting, genuflection, or baptism. Third, Jesus took her hand. The word used here suggests a gentle touch, not a jerking motion—a picture of the Lord’s tenderness. Fourth, she began to serve them. Fevers usually leave the body weak and in need of a period of convalescence. The Lord’s work brought deliverance. Fifth, Simon’s mother-in-law began to serve them; she resumed her household activities.
This simple, unadorned account still speaks to believers.
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