Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2980
“And he (that is, Jesus) came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.” Mark 1:31.
PETER’S wife’s mother was sick of a very terrible fever. It was no ordinary one, such as, we are told, is common in the district when she lived, but “Luke, the beloved physician,” as Paul calls the Evangelist, tells us that “Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever.” You know that it is the nature of fever to leave the patient prostrate even when the disease departs, but Jesus Christ not only intended to heal Peter’s wife’s mother and to heal her at once, but He also meant that she should be so completely cured that she should have no lingering prostration. Christ’s cures are always perfect cures, not partial ones! He does not cause the fever to go and permit the prostration to remain—He takes away both the fever and the prostration!
It is possible that the poor patient had almost given up all hope of recovery and, probably those who were around her would also have despaired if they had not had faith in the Great Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was, therefore, for her encouragement and for theirs, also, that our Lord bent over the bed where the fevered woman lay, took her by the hand, thus cheering her by showing that He was not afraid to come into contact with her and then, gently lifted her up. And she, yielding to the kindly gesture, rose and sat up—no, not merely sat up, but left the bed, being so perfectly restored that she began at once to minister to them as the housewife whose duty it was to care for their comfort!
I hope that there are many in this congregation whom Jesus Christ means to bless, who are, at present, in a state of utter prostration. They are so despondent that their spirits sink almost to the point of despair. They cannot believe that there is mercy for them—they have relinquished all hope of that. They did, at one time, have some measure of hope, but it is all gone. They are in the prostrate condition of Peter’s mother-in-law and they need Christ to do for them the two things which He did for her. First, He came into contact with her and, secondly, He gently lifted her up and completely restored her. May He do the same for you!
I. Our first concern, in looking after prostrate souls, is to tell them that JESUS CHRIST COMES INTO CONTACT WITH THEM.
You think, my poor distressed Friend, that Jesus Christ will have nothing to do with you. You have read and heard about Him, but He seems to you to be a long way off and you cannot reach Him. Neither does it seem at all probable to you that He will ever come your way and look with pity upon you. Now, listen.
In the first place, Jesus Christ has come into contact with you, for you are a member of the human race of which Jesus Christ also became a member by His Incarnation. Never forget that! While it is perfectly true that Christ “is over all, God blessed forever,” yet it is equally true that He deigned to be born into this world as the Infant of an earthly mother, and that He condescended to live here under the same conditions as the rest of us—suffering the same weakness, sickness, sorrow and death as we do—for our sakes. Never think of Jesus, I pray you, as though He were only a spirit, at whose Presence you have cause to be alarmed! But think of Him as a man like yourselves, eating and drinking as others did— not a recluse, shutting Himself away from sinners—but living as a Man among men, the perfect specimen of Manhood, the Man, Christ Jesus, for thus He has come near to you! You would not be afraid to speak to one of your fellow men— then do not be afraid to speak to Jesus! Tell Him all the details of your case, for He was never a Man of a proud and haughty spirit. He was not one who said, “Stand by, for I am holier than you!” No, He was a man with a great heart of
love. He was so full of attractiveness that even children came and clustered around His feet! And when His disciples would have driven them away, He said, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God.” He never repelled even the very worst of mankind when they approached Him—He longed to gather them to Himself. He wept over the guilty city of Jerusalem and said, “How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not!” Come, then, distressed spirit, and see, in the very fact that Jesus is Immanuel, God With Us, that He has come near to you and laid His hand upon you!
“Ah,” you say, “I can comprehend that He has come near to men, but then, I am not merely a man, but a sinful man.” Yes, and Jesus has come near to sinful menand His name is called Jesus because He is the Savior from sin! His work in this world was not to seek saints, but, “to seek and to save that which was lost.” My Master’s errand was not to the good, the excellent, the righteous, but to the evil, the unholy, the unrighteous! He said, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” If He did not come to save sinners, why did He comes as a Sacrifice? Sacrifice is only required where there is sin—an Atonement is only needed where there is guilt! Christ comes to you, a guilty sinner, and He lays His hand upon you, even as He laid it upon Peter’s wife’s mother when she was sick of that great fever!