let it all unbreak you to the day you met her

"...but it'd make you better"

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark the 1st Chapter!

“For that is what I came out to do.”

Yes, Jesus is on a mission!

This campaign that began in the temple now goes to the household; as Jesus heals Simon-Peter’s mother-in-law. Then, if that weren’t enough, once the sun has set and the sabbath ended, everyone from the city comes to the door for healing; and Jesus just get to work from the doorframe!

Jesus is on a mission, and there isn’t a thing that can stop him; for that is what he came out to do. 

Jesus is on a mission, there isn’t a thing that can deter him. Those demons couldn’t, why Jesus won’t even let them speak! 

The incredible need of the entire city wasn’t able to, Jesus just heals the whole kit-and-kaboodle from the door of Simon-Peter’s house! 

Why, not even the gap between the church (where we expect God to work) and home (where we’re not so sure) is enough to deter him, Jesus is perfectly happy to get to work at the temple or in the privacy of our own homes, it doesn’t matter to him!

Why, not even the divide between kin and outsider is large enough to stop Jesus, he’s an equal-opportunity healer!

No, Jesus is determined, and there isn’t a thing that will distract him from proclaiming the message; for that is what he came out to do.

So you can imagine how Simon-Peter, Andrew, James and John must have felt when they woke up, only to realize that Jesus was gone. I mean, what if something had happened, what if Jesus was just stopped this mission of his, what if, heaven-forbid, he had been deterred?!?!?!

Of course they hunted for him!

So once they find Jesus, they do the only sensible thing, they try to get him back to Galilee. “Jesus, we’ve got a good thing going. Let’s get back to that,” they probably insisted.

Even here, though, at this moment when Jesus comes up against the good intentions of his misguided disciples, Jesus’ determination doesn’t waver. “Let us go on to the neighboring towns,” Jesus replies, “so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”

“For that is what I came out to do…”

Nothing will stop this guy!

As these four try to cajole Jesus back to Galilee, he stays focused on his mission. Jesus has this message which just must be proclaimed, and he’s not about to let anything stop him!
Apparently there’s nothing that has the power to stop him, either, he’s on a mission.

What? You’re not impressed???

Okay, well listen up, my possessed sisters and brothers; Jesus is about to overcome even greater obstacles today, right now even. 

Compared to what Jesus is busy doing right now, healing and entire city is about to look like child’s play. Jesus has come out to proclaim the message, and nothing will stop him from doing just that, right here, right now.

See, as we gather around this Gospel and hear about Jesus’ singleminded determination, as you sit there like a bump on a log; hoping, wondering even, if Jesus could ever heal your fevers, free you from your demons; Jesus overcomes even time and space and goes on to the not-so neighboring town of Burlington, Iowa; here at Trinity, to proclaim his message.

“…So that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do,” Jesus, not said, but says right now. Just like that day when the disciples tried to distract him, like that day he lifted Simon-Peter’s mother-in-law and healed her, like the day he cast out the demons; Jesus gets to work proclaiming his message today.

What? You’re not impressed?!?!?

Perhaps you don’t believe me???

Okay, well let me clue you in; that longing you have, that thing that woke you up and brought you here when you could just as easily be anywhere else, that is none other than Jesus himself at work in you. 

These words right now, even, these are the very Word Jesus comes out to proclaim, now, to you!

As long as I simply tell you this promise that Jesus heals is true for you, then Jesus will come and make my words come true! 

And another thing, as you hear this story and dare to actually believe that it is true, for you, today; that’s Jesus at work giving you the faith you need. 

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Did you skip catechism that day???

Open your Cranberry hymnals to the explanation of the third article in Small Catechism, page 1162: “I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ My Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me…”

Folks, we can’t believe these promises on our own, that faith, it’s a gift; it none other than Jesus coming to you, and proclaiming the message. 

Jesus has come out to proclaim the message, and nothing will deter him, nothing has the power to stop him!

The demons couldn’t stop Jesus, the fever that threatened Simon-Peter’s mother-in-law’s life couldn’t stop him, the need of an entire city couldn’t, the misguided directive of Simon-Peter couldn’t either, all these years between us and the Bible can’t stop Jesus, neither can our sins can’t stop Jesus, finally not even our own doubt can stop Jesus, folks!

No, Jesus has come to proclaim the message, and nothing will stop him. He’s too powerful, his message is too good, he’s too darn determined.

The only thing left to say is to tell you what, exactly, is the content of this message Jesus has to proclaim.

Here it is: that Jesus is stronger than anything that threatens to get between you and God.

Jesus is on a great mission to reconcile every single one of us to God. Jesus isn’t about to stop until he’s proclaimed the Good News that actually does reconcile each and every last one of us to God! That’s what Jesus has come out to do, to proclaim that promise to you.

That, finally, is the only thing that can free us from our demons, that only thing that can heal us from all those forces that threaten to take our life; the Good News Jesus has come out to proclaim, that our God looks upon us and says, ‘that one is mine.’

Jesus has come here to proclaim that promise, and I have no other role than to get out of the way for it. So hear what Jesus has come out to proclaim today: You who have laid in bed with your own fevers, you who have wrestled with your own demons; those things aren’t stronger than Jesus’ determination, he’s come to proclaim the message and anything that threatens to get between you and this message of his will just have to be overcome by Jesus’ determination. 

This promise is true, for you, right now. Jesus has come out to proclaim it, nothing will stop Jesus from giving this promise to you, for that is what he came out to do!

Jesus is determined, he’s come out to proclaim that message to you, that settles it.

Amen