Jeremy L. Berg

Lectionary Reflection: Mark 1:29-39

Imagine returning home from a night out and traffic halts as you enter town. Your eyes are drawn upward to a magic door descending from the heavens and now suspended over the city. The mayor and city leaders, police and fire department, scratch their heads as they take in the sight. Crowds slowly gather and soon the whole city is gathered around that mysterious door.

It’s cracked open just a bit, and some kind of supernatural light is piercing the cool evening air. The question on everyone’s mind: What is on the other side of that door? Do I want to enter and see the source of that mysterious light? Or should I assume it’s a portal to mortal danger, and should be running the opposite way?

This week’s Gospel lesson on the 5th Sunday after Epiphany from Mark 1:29-39 paints a similar scene. This time it’s Capernaum — the hometown of Simon Peter — and “the whole city was gathered around the door” (1:33). It’s not a magic door hanging from the clouds; it’s just an ordinary door but there’s something extraordinary happening on the other side. Let’s take a peek:

“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. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons” (Mark 1:29-39).

Behind that door in a little Galilean village abides the manifest presence and power of the Kingdom of God descending from heaven and transforming the lives of ordinary folks like Simon’s mother-in-law who lies in bed with a fever. A supernatural glow accompanies Jesus as he walks into villages and homes and synagogues and the lives of hungry souls. People are healed and liberated inside that door.

News of this doorway to love and healing spread quickly. The entire town is now curious about Jesus and his Kingdom. They are going to need a bigger house if Jesus is going to continue throwing such good parties! In fact, the next morning Jesus sneaks out of the house and into the woods because everyone was searching for him, trying to bask a little longer in that miraculous light.

Friends, when the church today radiates the life and love and power of Christ, we may also find people trying to hunt us down. In every town there are churches with big front doors. Every Sunday they are flung open wide for a few hours and the whole town has the opportunity to come and see what’s happening inside.

But do people detect a supernatural glow? Do they hear rumors of broken lives being restored inside our walls? Does our door have a reputation that draws people in, or have people heard things about the church that has them running in the opposite direction?

In the summer months I enjoy stopping by the occasional Open House to walk through luxurious lake homes I could never afford. Signs all over town direct the whole city to those doors. It’s always exciting the moment I first step through the door, taking off my shoes, and then exploring and dreaming and appreciating the fairytale life that will soon come true for the lucky person who will purchases the home.

The realtor comes early to make the house all pretty, light some scented candles or maybe even bake some cookies to really draw people in. Immaculately staged and spotless. They smile big and hand you some information. The message is clear: “Make this your new home and your wildest dreams will come true.”

If you think about it, every Sunday the church hosts a kind of “Open House” for Jesus and his Kingdom. Like realtors, pastors and parishioners serve as God’s kingdom-estate agents, opening the doors and staging things so that any visitors who walk in might immediately feel at home. Instead the aroma of chocolate cookies or scented candles, we hope they smell the aroma of Christ’s love and mercy. By the time they leave, we hope they are thinking, “I might have found a new spiritual home where I can begin to build a new life in the supernatural light of Christ’s healing power and presence.”

Our city doesn’t need magical doors suspended from the clouds; we need ordinary doors into the extraordinary love of Christ that is taking root in the lives of some very ordinary folks like you and me.