“As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” (Mark 1:29-31)
One of the most frequent prayer requests pastors get is for healing. My sister even recently called me to ask that I – and the church – pray for her nephew-in-law (that is, the nephew of her husband). I, of course, said that we would and if you receive the prayer request emails, then you’ve seen Stevie Bishop’s name cross your path. (Side note: If you don’t receive prayer request emails and would like to, contact me or the church office and we’ll make that happen!).
I like praying for healing. Not so much because I have some sort of great success rate with those prayers (sadly, I do not), but because a prayer for healing does two things. First, it reminds us that our bodies and their well-being are always gifts from God. It’s easy to fall into the assumption that this body of mine (or yours) is our rightful property to do with it as we see fit. So, we work too long, play too hard, love too recklessly, eat too indulgently, care about it too little, and nurture it too infrequently. But that’s just not the truth. Everything is a gift from God, even the body you have right now. Sickness helps us remember this. It does this because sickness makes us feel a certain alienation from our bodies, a certain betrayal. No one chooses sickness and yet it happens. In these moments, we are reminded that our bodies are gifts and it is right and good to bring the care of our bodies before our God, the gift Giver.
The second reason I love praying for healing is because we’re reminded what good health is for. Again, we assume that good health is the norm, the status quo. But when sickness or injury strikes, we are reminded that these bodies we’ve been gifted are delicate gifts that must be tended to well in order for them to do what we hope to do with them. We also are reminded about our priorities in using our bodies when we get sick. Very few people get sick and ask me to pray for healing so that they can make it to that rager of a party they were hoping to get ripely drunk at. No, people ask for healing because in sickness they can’t pick up grandkids, care for friends, be self-sustaining, and make it to worship. In these moments, we are reminded that God has given us the gifts of our bodies for a purpose and sickness often helps us remember these purposes more clearly.
This is, at any rate, what we see happening in the life of Simon’s mother-in-law. It is easy to read the story of Jesus healing her and her getting up to serve Him and His followers as nothing more than the exchange of good deeds. Jesus does her a favor, so she’ll do Him a favor. But that sort of interpretation misses the point. Jesus does heal her and she does get up to serve Him, but that’s because – once her health has been restored to her – she is able to use and utilize her body for one of its created purposes: service. There is no reason to believe that Simon’s mother-in-law didn’t want to get up and serve these guys even prior to the healing. It’s just that she had a fever and couldn’t. So once health is restored, so is her capacity for service.
If you are sick right now – you or anyone you care about – know that I’m praying for health so that you might spring up and get to work loving your Lord and neighbor alike. Amen.
