Luke 4:38-41
If you had been an early
follower of Jesus, a person we often refer to as a disciple, you might have gotten
a little tired of the crowds who flocked to Him. Now I have no doubt they were excited when
people came to Him to get their needs met, but you also wanted some down time, one
on one with the One you had chosen to follow.
Today Simon ask Jesus to
have lunch after synagogue and yet at his own home there is someone in need of
help from the Master, it is Simon’s mother-in-law who is suffering from a high
fever. Most of us have experienced a
high fever, it shuts you down, you ache and hurt all over and the last thing
you want is dinner guest. So Jesus did
what you and I would do, He asked if they had seen a doctor and did they have
any Bayer aspirin; wrong He went to her and while standing over her rebuked the
fever and doctor Luke shares with us that she got up immediately and began to
serve them.
I have no doubt Simon’s
mother-in-law is without fever, she is doing what she loves serving and having
such an important house guest, she may be wondering what will all my friends
and neighbors be thinking? And Simon,
come on you have been in Simon’s shoes, your alone with the one everyone wants
a piece of, it is quiet and now you are looking forward to a long evening, just
talking.
But that is not going to
happen, you look out the window the sun is setting and it seems the whole town
has come to your door. So much for a
quiet evening, enjoying a cup of tea with Jesus, for the crowd was not coming
to hear Jesus teach they were coming to bring anyone they could find who had a
sickness.
We church folks seem to
always want consistency, and I bet Simon was thinking, this should only take a
few minutes Jesus will do as He did to my mother-in-law and stand over them and
rebuke whatever needs rebuking and we’re back to our tea. (Now if you are Baptist, do not read this: it
was probably wine.) But that is not how
it went down, Jesus laid His hands on each one of them, I’m sure Simon is thinking,
this is not what I had planned for the evening, why not the mother-in-law
approach?
Some who were brought to
Jesus with sickness, the sickness was not of this nature but of the enemy, it
was demons coming out of them. And once
more this writer wonders where have all the demons gone? Did these people at Simon’s door know they
were bringing people with demons to Jesus, or had they invented some title for
what God calls a demon?
This we know, the demons
knew Jesus and as they were coming out, many were shouting and saying, “You are the Son of
God!” But He rebuked them and would not
allow them to speak, because they knew He was the Messiah.” (Luke
4:41) As a Simon, it is easy to look
forward to our wants and desires and be totally out of the will of God. Scripture does not give us insight into
Simon’s mind, but it does give you insight into this writer’s thinker and maybe
just maybe into your own, are you looking for what is best for others, or for your
selfish desires?
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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