Trinity Sermon


	Return to Sermons \| Home
“Healed for Service” Mark 1:29-31 *Click for Audio* Pastor Kevin Vogts Trinity Lutheran Church Paola, Kansas Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany—February 7, 2021 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is today’s Gospel Reading, in which the Apostle Peter’s mother-in-law is “Healed for Service.” It was a very momentous day in Capernaum, and especially for the Apostle Peter and his family. Just the day before, Jesus had called Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and John, their fellow fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, away from their nets and fishing boats to be the first of his 12 disciples. “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” The next day was a Sabbath, and they went to the synagogue at Capernaum. After he had been rejected in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, the fishing town of Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee became Jesus’ new hometown. He often visited and preached in the synagogue there. I myself have visited the excavations of ancient Capernaum several times. It is unusually well-preserved and restored; you get a real feeling for what the city was like at the time of Christ. On a bulletin insert you will find four pictures of the very places today’s Gospel Reading takes place. I took picture #1 coming into Capernaum by boat on the Sea of Galilee. Many times the Gospels report Jesus and his disciples coming and going by boat from Capernaum, and because the city has changed very little they would have seen this view many times. Picture #2 is where today’s Gospel Reading begins, with Jesus and the disciples leaving a service on the Sabbath at the synagogue in Capernaum. I took this picture of the reconstructed synagogue. This is a somewhat later building, from about the year 200 A.D. But, right underneath it are the ruins of the original synagogue, the very place where the events of today’s text begin. That original synagogue was the one that the elders told Jesus had been built for them by the centurion, whose servant Jesus healed. This second synagogue was later built right on top of it, on the foundations of the original, and is very much like the synagogue where our Lord so often taught and worked miracles. Picture #3 is an aerial view that shows the other very interesting archaeological site in Capernaum, a large building that was rediscovered in 1906 and has just recently been fully excavated. It seems to have started out at the time of Christ as a private home. Early in the Christian era it became a site of Christian worship, and beginning around 350 A.D. an entire new church was built around the original house. In this picture the synagogue is on the lower right, some other houses are in the middle, and the house that later had an octagonal church built over it is in the upper left. Picture #4 is an archeological reconstruction of what the original house may have looked like. About 350 A.D. a woman from Spain named Egeria took a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and visited Capernaum. She wrote in her diary: “The house of first of the Apostles in Capernaum was changed into a church; the walls, however, are still standing as they were.” A pilgrim from Italy visited in about 600 A.D. and wrote, “The house of St. Peter is now a basilica.” Inside this house turned into a church are hundreds of graffiti inscriptions left by such pilgrims. In Aramaic, Greek, Syriac and Latin they gave simple confession to their faith by scratching the words “Jesus”, “Lord”, “Christ” and “Peter”. Most archaeologists agree it is very likely this is the house of Simon Peter, where the events of our text took place. “As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.” The scene is very much like what will happen after church for many of us today. We will leave the spiritual feast here in God’s house and continue by feasting on Sunday dinner or brunch in our own homes or at a restaurant. Simon and Andrew invite Jesus, James, and John to come to their house next door after worship for the traditional Sabbath dinner. “But Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.” While they are worshipping in the synagogue, next door Peter’s mother-in-law is lying with a fever on her sick bed, which the family probably expected would soon become her death bed. These days we don’t consider a fever to be too serious. But, up until the introduction of miracle drugs such penicillin and other antibiotics in the 1940’s, any fever was a terrifying, fearsome thing for you or your loved one. Because, even a simple fever was often the beginning of a downward spiral towards death. And in the parallel account of this event in the Gospel of Luke, who was himself a physician, Luke uses the technical medical term in Greek to indicate that Peter’s mother-in-law had a very serious, severe, likely fatal fever. “Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and they told [Jesus] about her at once.” Two thousand years before the introduction of penicillin, there was already a much more potent and powerful SPIRITUAL miracle medicine in our world. During his earthly ministry Christ constantly healed the sick of their physical illnesses. The Old Testament had prophesied that when the Messiah came he would perform miraculous healings. Isaiah said: “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. . . Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.” At the very end of the Old Testament the last verses of Malachi prophesy: “But for you who revere my name, the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in his wings.” So, his miraculous healings were first of all a testimony to who he is: the promised Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God. As Jesus said, “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” His miracles of healing were also a sign that he has come to bring THE ultimate healing, the greatest healing that could be possible: triumph over death itself. As Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live.” His miracles of physical healing were also symbolic of the SPIRITUAL healing that he brings. For, like Peter’s mother-in-law physically sick with a fever, all of us are SPIRITUALLY sick with the disease of sin. A spiritual disease that, if left untreated, will bring us to eternal death and damnation. Jesus was speaking about this spiritual sin-sickness when he said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Peter proclaims the Good News of Christ healing of your spiritual sin-sickness: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross . . . by his wounds you have been HEALED.” So, his miraculous healings were a testimony to who he is: the promised Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God; they were a sign that he came to bring the greatest healing possible: triumph over death itself; and his miracles of physical healing were also symbolic of the SPIRITUAL healing that he brings. “They told [Jesus] about her at once. So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then immediately the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Normally following a severe fever you would be weak and require rest. The miraculous nature of this healing is seen from Peter’s mother-in-law immediately rising from her sick bed, even her death bed, and beginning to serve Christ and the Apostles. What is the meaning of this story for you? This account of Peter’s mother-in-law’s sickness and miraculous healing is not a parable or fable, but a real historical occurrence. However, there is a deeper, symbolic meaning for us in these real historical events. “So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then immediately the fever left her.” Just as Jesus came into Peter’s house that Sabbath day, you come here into the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day. Just as Jesus granted physical healing to Peter’s mother-in-law, sick with a fever, Jesus gives you, spiritual healing of your sin-sickness. Just as Jesus reached out to Peter’s mother-in-law and lifted her up, he reaches out to you, through the Word and Sacraments, and spiritually lifts you up with the Good News that your sins are all forgiven. Just as Jesus and the first disciples feasted that Sabbath day in Peter’s house, he invites you to feast here today in his house. “So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then immediately the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Just as Jesus restored Peter’s mother-in-law to serve him, he restores you to serve him in your life. We call this a worship “service”, and this is an important part of serving Christ in your life. When Jesus was a boy and his mother and stepfather found him in the Temple at Jerusalem, he said to them, “Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” Just as Jesus himself HAD to be in his heavenly Father’s house, worshipping and studying, he invites you and your family to worship on the Lord’s Day. Normally that worship is here in his house, but during this time it may be worshipping online in your own house. Either way, you are serving the Lord in your life first of all with your worship, praise, and thanksgiving, as Jesus himself and the disciples did on the Lord’s Day in the synagogue at Capernaum. But, notice how the service to the Lord did not end that day when they left the synagogue. The “service” continues next door in the home of Peter. “So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then immediately the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” In the same way, your “service” to the Lord in your life does not end when the worship service is over. For, you serve the Lord not only here in his house, but also in daily in your own home. The Greek word used for the “service” of Peter’s mother-in-law that day is “diakonew,” from which we get the words deacon and deaconess. The basic meaning of the word is to wait table, to prepare and serve food. Peter’s mother-in-law rendered to the Lord a holy service that day, not in the synagogue that morning, but next door, in her own home that afternoon. She rendered a holy service to the Lord by helping prepare and serve the meal for Jesus and his disciples and her own daughter, son-in-law and their family. In the same way, you are rendering a holy service to the Lord in your life by your everyday service in your various callings, as a spouse, parent, child, in your occupation. Paul says in Colossians, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” And in Ephesians, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.” Jesus puts it this way, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” When you prepare and serve food for your family, as Peter’s mother-in-law did, it is as if Jesus himself is sitting at YOUR table. It’s the same when you mow the lawn, wash clothes, change diapers, clean house, work in your occupation. All your labors for your family and in your job are accepted by him as a holy offering: “Whatever you did . . . you did it for me.” “So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then immediately the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Like the Apostle Peter’s mother-in-law, you have been spiritually “Healed for Service.” Amen. Return to Top \| Return to Sermons \| Home \| Email Church Office

“Healed for Service”
Mark 1:29-31

Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany—February 7, 2021

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is today’s Gospel Reading, in which the Apostle Peter’s mother-in-law is “Healed for Service.”

It was a very momentous day in Capernaum, and especially for the Apostle Peter and his family. Just the day before, Jesus had called Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and John, their fellow fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, away from their nets and fishing boats to be the first of his 12 disciples. “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

The next day was a Sabbath, and they went to the synagogue at Capernaum. After he had been rejected in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, the fishing town of Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee became Jesus’ new hometown. He often visited and preached in the synagogue there.

I myself have visited the excavations of ancient Capernaum several times. It is unusually well-preserved and restored; you get a real feeling for what the city was like at the time of Christ. On a bulletin insert you will find four pictures of the very places today’s Gospel Reading takes place.

I took picture #1 coming into Capernaum by boat on the Sea of Galilee. Many times the Gospels report Jesus and his disciples coming and going by boat from Capernaum, and because the city has changed very little they would have seen this view many times.

Picture #2 is where today’s Gospel Reading begins, with Jesus and the disciples leaving a service on the Sabbath at the synagogue in Capernaum. I took this picture of the reconstructed synagogue. This is a somewhat later building, from about the year 200 A.D. But, right underneath it are the ruins of the original synagogue, the very place where the events of today’s text begin. That original synagogue was the one that the elders told Jesus had been built for them by the centurion, whose servant Jesus healed. This second synagogue was later built right on top of it, on the foundations of the original, and is very much like the synagogue where our Lord so often taught and worked miracles.

Picture #3 is an aerial view that shows the other very interesting archaeological site in Capernaum, a large building that was rediscovered in 1906 and has just recently been fully excavated. It seems to have started out at the time of Christ as a private home. Early in the Christian era it became a site of Christian worship, and beginning around 350 A.D. an entire new church was built around the original house. In this picture the synagogue is on the lower right, some other houses are in the middle, and the house that later had an octagonal church built over it is in the upper left.

Picture #4 is an archeological reconstruction of what the original house may have looked like.

About 350 A.D. a woman from Spain named Egeria took a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and visited Capernaum. She wrote in her diary: “The house of first of the Apostles in Capernaum was changed into a church; the walls, however, are still standing as they were.” A pilgrim from Italy visited in about 600 A.D. and wrote, “The house of St. Peter is now a basilica.”

Inside this house turned into a church are hundreds of graffiti inscriptions left by such pilgrims. In Aramaic, Greek, Syriac and Latin they gave simple confession to their faith by scratching the words “Jesus”, “Lord”, “Christ” and “Peter”. Most archaeologists agree it is very likely this is the house of Simon Peter, where the events of our text took place.

“As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.” The scene is very much like what will happen after church for many of us today. We will leave the spiritual feast here in God’s house and continue by feasting on Sunday dinner or brunch in our own homes or at a restaurant. Simon and Andrew invite Jesus, James, and John to come to their house next door after worship for the traditional Sabbath dinner.

“But Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.” While they are worshipping in the synagogue, next door Peter’s mother-in-law is lying with a fever on her sick bed, which the family probably expected would soon become her death bed.

These days we don’t consider a fever to be too serious. But, up until the introduction of miracle drugs such penicillin and other antibiotics in the 1940’s, any fever was a terrifying, fearsome thing for you or your loved one. Because, even a simple fever was often the beginning of a downward spiral towards death. And in the parallel account of this event in the Gospel of Luke, who was himself a physician, Luke uses the technical medical term in Greek to indicate that Peter’s mother-in-law had a very serious, severe, likely fatal fever.

“Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and they told [Jesus] about her at once.” Two thousand years before the introduction of penicillin, there was already a much more potent and powerful SPIRITUAL miracle medicine in our world. During his earthly ministry Christ constantly healed the sick of their physical illnesses. The Old Testament had prophesied that when the Messiah came he would perform miraculous healings. Isaiah said: “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. . . Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.” At the very end of the Old Testament the last verses of Malachi prophesy: “But for you who revere my name, the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in his wings.”

So, his miraculous healings were first of all a testimony to who he is: the promised Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God. As Jesus said, “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”

His miracles of healing were also a sign that he has come to bring THE ultimate healing, the greatest healing that could be possible: triumph over death itself. As Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live.”

His miracles of physical healing were also symbolic of the SPIRITUAL healing that he brings. For, like Peter’s mother-in-law physically sick with a fever, all of us are SPIRITUALLY sick with the disease of sin. A spiritual disease that, if left untreated, will bring us to eternal death and damnation.

Jesus was speaking about this spiritual sin-sickness when he said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Peter proclaims the Good News of Christ healing of your spiritual sin-sickness: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross . . . by his wounds you have been HEALED.”

So, his miraculous healings were a testimony to who he is: the promised Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God; they were a sign that he came to bring the greatest healing possible: triumph over death itself; and his miracles of physical healing were also symbolic of the SPIRITUAL healing that he brings.

“They told [Jesus] about her at once. So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then immediately the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Normally following a severe fever you would be weak and require rest. The miraculous nature of this healing is seen from Peter’s mother-in-law immediately rising from her sick bed, even her death bed, and beginning to serve Christ and the Apostles.

What is the meaning of this story for you? This account of Peter’s mother-in-law’s sickness and miraculous healing is not a parable or fable, but a real historical occurrence. However, there is a deeper, symbolic meaning for us in these real historical events.

“So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then immediately the fever left her.” Just as Jesus came into Peter’s house that Sabbath day, you come here into the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day. Just as Jesus granted physical healing to Peter’s mother-in-law, sick with a fever, Jesus gives you, spiritual healing of your sin-sickness. Just as Jesus reached out to Peter’s mother-in-law and lifted her up, he reaches out to you, through the Word and Sacraments, and spiritually lifts you up with the Good News that your sins are all forgiven. Just as Jesus and the first disciples feasted that Sabbath day in Peter’s house, he invites you to feast here today in his house.

“So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then immediately the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Just as Jesus restored Peter’s mother-in-law to serve him, he restores you to serve him in your life. We call this a worship “service”, and this is an important part of serving Christ in your life. When Jesus was a boy and his mother and stepfather found him in the Temple at Jerusalem, he said to them, “Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”

Just as Jesus himself HAD to be in his heavenly Father’s house, worshipping and studying, he invites you and your family to worship on the Lord’s Day. Normally that worship is here in his house, but during this time it may be worshipping online in your own house. Either way, you are serving the Lord in your life first of all with your worship, praise, and thanksgiving, as Jesus himself and the disciples did on the Lord’s Day in the synagogue at Capernaum.

But, notice how the service to the Lord did not end that day when they left the synagogue. The “service” continues next door in the home of Peter. “So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then immediately the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” In the same way, your “service” to the Lord in your life does not end when the worship service is over. For, you serve the Lord not only here in his house, but also in daily in your own home.

The Greek word used for the “service” of Peter’s mother-in-law that day is “diakonew,” from which we get the words deacon and deaconess. The basic meaning of the word is to wait table, to prepare and serve food. Peter’s mother-in-law rendered to the Lord a holy service that day, not in the synagogue that morning, but next door, in her own home that afternoon. She rendered a holy service to the Lord by helping prepare and serve the meal for Jesus and his disciples and her own daughter, son-in-law and their family.

In the same way, you are rendering a holy service to the Lord in your life by your everyday service in your various callings, as a spouse, parent, child, in your occupation. Paul says in Colossians, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” And in Ephesians, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.” Jesus puts it this way, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

When you prepare and serve food for your family, as Peter’s mother-in-law did, it is as if Jesus himself is sitting at YOUR table. It’s the same when you mow the lawn, wash clothes, change diapers, clean house, work in your occupation. All your labors for your family and in your job are accepted by him as a holy offering: “Whatever you did . . . you did it for me.”

“So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then immediately the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Like the Apostle Peter’s mother-in-law, you have been spiritually “Healed for Service.”

Amen.

Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office