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8 - 14 February 2015

Pass it on

Resources to share for DIY discipleship

To the leader: this page offers extracts from the ROOTS weekly resources to share with others in your church community to help them explore the Bible and grow as disciples.

Highlight and copy the text to print, email, or put it on your church website – pass it on! Please include the copyright acknowledgement to ROOTS that appears with the extracts.

When and where? ROOTS resources can be used all week. We’ve included some notes below to suggest when and where you might share them. Don’t forget house groups, youth groups, the housebound, care homes, toddler groups and school assemblies.

8 February 2015

The healer - Mark 1.29-39

Lectionary Bible readings RCL Epiphany 5 Year B
Isaiah 40.21-31,
Psalm 147.1-11,20c,
1 Corinthians 9.16-23,
Mark 1.29-39

We explore: being lifted up; service to others; the fundamental nature of prayer.

Resources to share

To help the listener

Bible notes: Short version

Bible notes: Long version

PostScript

Prayers

Live in faith

Children's Sheet

Picture pointers

To help the listener

To the leader: these brief notes help to set the scene for the readings.

When & where? Read out the notes before hearing the readings in worship; share on a weekly bulletin, church website, etc. with Bible references so that people can get more out of reading the passages for themselves.

The reader could use these words to provide some context.
With characteristic swiftness, Mark’s narrative moves from Jesus’ first exorcism to his first healing, again in response to an immediate need. We know from St Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians that Simon had ‘a believing wife’ and in this story of her mother we should not miss the significance of ‘lifted her up’, the language of resurrection, and ‘she began to serve them’, the calling of a disciple.

Bible notes

To the leader: we offer two sets of Bible notes each week. The short version comes from the Children & Young People resources and the long version is from the Adult & All Age resources. You could share a version to help people learn more about the reading.

When & where? Before or after we hear the reading in worship; in a Bible study group; distributed to people who can’t get to the service; in a youth group.

Short version

Mark 1.29-39

From healing of the spirit, we move to healing of the body. Mark presents Jesus as going straight from the synagogue (see last week’s reading, Mark 1.21-28) to the house of Simon and Andrew. Despite leaving their nets in such a dramatic way, we hear that Simon, Andrew, James and John are still living with their families in Capernaum, as they visit Simon’s mother-in-law who is ill in bed.
Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law by taking her by the hand, an action he will repeat for Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5.41). He ‘lifts her up’. Paul uses the same word for Jesus’ own resurrection. Her fever immediately leaves her and she shows her gratitude by serving Jesus and his friends. By her service, this unnamed woman set an example of true discipleship; a lesson James and John found hard to learn (Mark 10.35-45). We know that Jesus was dependent on the resources of women (see Luke 8.2-3). And it was women who followed him to the cross, to his burial, and into the empty tomb.
At sunset, when the Sabbath is over, the sick and possessed are brought to the door of the house to be healed by Jesus. For the malnourished poor, in an insanitary world, mighty works of healing played a crucial part in their response to Jesus. But these acts, and the struggles with demons, clearly drained Jesus. He rises before dawn, seeking to be alone for prayer. Maybe he takes inspiration from Isaiah 40.28-31, our Old Testament reading: ‘those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength...’

Long version

Old Testament Isaiah 40.21-31

The destruction of the Temple in 586 BC and the deportation of the ruling class to Babylon had not been the end of Israel’s story. In the eighth century BC Isaiah had seen God enthroned in the Temple in Jerusalem (6.1-8). Now ‘the Second Isaiah’, speaking to those in exile far from Jerusalem, reveals that the Temple with its veil has been replaced by the heavens stretched out like a curtain, and that these heavens are themselves ‘the tent’ of God’s presence with the people. The word ‘created’ in the question, ‘Who created these?’ is rare in the Bible, confined almost entirely to Isaiah 40–66 and Genesis 1–6, reminding us that it was in exile in Babylon that Israel came to the monotheistic understanding that their God was ‘the Creator of the ends of the earth’. God’s powerful word brought order from chaos, so ‘those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength’.

Gospel Mark 1.29-39

Mark’s account of the first day of Jesus’ public ministry with his disciples began with the account read last week of his authoritative teaching and powerful exorcism in the Capernaum synagogue. The first exorcism is now followed, ‘as soon as they left the synagogue’, by the first healing. And the account of the first day ends at sunset with Jesus healing many that were sick, and casting out many demons.

Although Mark told us that Simon and Andrew ‘left their nets’ and that James and John ‘left their father in the boat’ and all four followed Jesus (1.16-20), we hear now that the brothers Simon and Andrew are still living in the home they shared with their families in Capernaum, and that Jesus and all four disciples went there after the service to see Simon’s mother-in-law, who was ill in bed. Simon will be renamed Peter (3.16), but we are not told his wife’s name, although it was known that she became ‘a believing wife’ who accompanied him in his ministry (1 Corinthians 9.5). Jesus ‘lifted up’ the sick woman, and the words Mark uses here had already been used in Paul’s writing about Jesus’ own resurrection (Romans 4.24; 1 Corinthians 15.4; Galatians 1.1). And when she had arisen ‘she served them’, embodying the ideal of discipleship that it will take James and John, present on this occasion, some time to understand (see 10.35-45). It will be the women who provided for him that follow Jesus to the cross (15.40-41), minister at his burial (15.47) and visit the empty tomb (16.4).

At sunset, when the Sabbath is over and the carrying of burdens can begin again, the sick and possessed are brought to the door of the house to be healed by Jesus. For the malnourished poor, in an insanitary world, mighty works of healing were integral to their response to Jesus and his followers (Mark 6.7-13; see Acts 4.5-12; 2 Corinthians 12.11-13; Hebrews 2.3-4). But the command to the demons to be silent reminds us that it is only after his death and resurrection that the meaning of being raised up to serve can be fully understood.

The links between the lectionary readings

It was in the wilderness of exile, among an alien people, that Israel came to understand their God as ‘the Creator of the ends of the earth’ who ‘gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless’ even in a foreign land. Jesus is identified with this creative power of God, as he proclaims Isaiah’s good news of salvation and renews the strength of those who wait on God. There is an echo of the wilderness as Jesus draws apart early in the morning to pray, perhaps seeing in the sunrise the creative and renewing love of his heavenly Father. And there is also a hint of God’s concern for alien people in a foreign land as Mark’s reference to ‘their synagogues’ (1.39) reminds us that gentile as well as Jewish Christians (see 7.24-30; 15.39) were among his first readers.

PostScript

To the leader: this reflection and comment on current news and events is written afresh each week and appears on the ROOTS website by Thursday morning.

When & where? Useful for sermon preparation; includes a prayer that can be used in worship and questions for young people. You could share it after the Sunday service or use in house/youth groups sessions.

Prayers

To the leader: these prayers support individual and family prayer life during the week.

When & where? Print/email them in a bulletin, post on your website.

A personal prayer

Take hold of my hand, Lord Jesus,
as you took hold of Simon’s mother-in-law,
and gently bless me with the courage
and the confidence to step out from my fear of failure
to offer all that I am in the service of others.
Thank you.
Amen.

A way into prayer

Think of someone who has offered you their hand in friendship or encouragement and pray for them.
Ask God to lay on your heart anyone who needs a hand from you.
Reflect on how you might offer a ministry of hospitality.

A prayer for all ages together

People are looking for you today, Lord:
looking for you to be their friend;
looking for you to help them in their fear;
looking for you to take care of those they love;
looking for you to meet them in their hearts
and give them hope;
looking for you to bless their lives
with your living presence
and the promise of your eternal love.
Thank you, Lord, that you are looking for them,
and us too,
that you will never let us go through anything alone.
Amen

A children’s prayer

Lord Jesus,
we pray for anyone we know who is ill.
Please care for them, bless them,
and surround them with your love.
Amen.

Live in faith

To the leader: these are suggestions, linked to this week’s Bible reading, for putting faith into action.

When & where? Print/email them in a bulletin, post on your website.

For children

Encourage the children to make a card for someone who is ill this week, or visit them.

For young people

Encourage the young people to pray for those involved in the health service and medical research.

Adults

Try to make space this week for someone who needs a bit of love.

Children’s Sheet

To the leader: a question to ponder, a picture to colour, activities, a prayer, and a related book/film to share, aimed at 5–9 year olds.

When & where? Print it out for families to take away, email it to families each week.

This week's Children's Sheets

Picture pointers

To the leader: a picture from this week’s resources with questions for reflection and discussion.

When & where? Use in a house group, project as people prepare to worship, share after the Sunday service.

This week's Picture pointers

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