And He Cured Many Who Were Sick
Health Care

Mark 1:29-39

The focus text for this Sunday, along with the preceding story of an exorcism in the synagogue, provide an account of a day with Jesus in Capernaum and his departure the next morning. After he publicly casts out the “unclean spirit” from the man with mental illness who shouts at him in the synagogue, Jesus arrives at the home of his friend and disciple, Simon, and heals Simon’s mother-in-law of an ordinary fever in that intimate setting.  His reputation begins to spread, and after sunset, a crowd of sick and hurting people arrives at Simon’s house seeking Jesus’ healing touch. The Jerusalem Bible’s translation of verse 33 reads: The whole town came crowding round the door, and he cured many who were suffering from diseases of one kind or another. 

The next morning, Jesus is sought out by his disciples when he is praying alone in a quiet place. They tell him that the town people are looking for him. Jesus reminds them that his healing ministry and prophetic work is bigger than one place, that he has come for everyone.  The account ends with Jesus going “throughout Galilee,” reaching out to more and more people in an ever widening circle of compassion. Interestingly, the story immediately following these verses is yet another healing account: a leper approaches Jesus and says, “If you want to, you can cure me.”  The text says Jesus felt sorry for the man, stretched out his hand to heal and said, “Of course I want to!” 

More than any other Gospel, Mark emphasizes the healing miracles of Jesus. The point of these stories seems to be that Jesus heals all sorts of maladies in all kinds of environments for all sorts of people.  Jesus proclaims and embodies the presence of the Kingdom of God not only through his words but by his acts of compassion and his inclusive care for all people in all walks of life. We, too, find ourselves in a world where it often seems that healing is only afforded the privileged few, where there are many who ask if society wants them to be cured and whole. As the hands and feet of Christ, we must work for affordable, accessible health care for all.  When the sick child without health insurance looks at us and says, “If you want to, you can cure me,” may each of us respond, “Of course I want to!”

By Rev. Denise Cumbee Long, Pastor, Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, Chapel Hill, NC