Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday - 10th January 2024

​Today is the 96th birthday of a very special friend of mine. We share a lot of wonderful things together, our love of flowers, animals, music and dance, and interest in politics, just to mention a few. I pray that the good Lord will bless her abundantly in the year ahead and grant her not just many happy memories but also many joys to look forward to in the years ahead.

 

According to Mark, the brothers Simon and Andrew were the first two disciples to be called by Jesus and they were fishermen. We are told in today’s Gospel passage from Mark, (Mk 1: 29-39), that they lived in Capernaum, that their home was there. Of course, at that time families tended to live all together in the parents’ or grandparents’ house. Simon and Andrew lived together and Simon’s mother-in-law lived with them. It must have been a large family home. It would appear that James and John possibly lived nearby, together with Zebedee, their father, and the rest of the extended family. In Capernaum Jesus set up his headquarters, so to speak. At this stage he appears to be living with Simon and his family. Let’s read what Mark writes: “On leaving the synagogue, Jesus went with James and John straight to the house of Simon and Andrew. Now Simon’s mother-in-law had gone to bed with fever, and they told him about her straightaway. He went to her, took her by the hand and helped her up. And the fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were possessed by devils. The whole town came crowding round the door, and he cured many who were suffering from diseases of one kind or another; he also cast out many devils, but he would not allow them to speak, because they knew who he was.” Why did Jesus move away from Nazareth? It seems that Capernaum was a town with more life and movement and with better communications with other towns and regions. What is more four of his disciples lived there. People hear of the miracles he is working and so bring their sick to him for healing. However, the first miracle we’re told of today is the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law. In those days people could easily die of a fever. Who knows what sort of fever it was? That house is becoming a centre of healing. But in the morning the scene changes.

 

“In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there. Simon and his companions set out in search of him, and when they found him, they said, ‘Everybody is looking for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I can preach there too, because that is why I came.’ And he went all through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out devils.” For the first time in Mark, we hear of what will be a regular occurrence with Jesus. He rises long before anyone else and goes off to find a lonely place, often in the hills, where he can pray in quiet solitude to his heavenly Father. When the disciples discover that he’s no longer in the house, they go off to search for him. They interrupt his prayer to say that, “Everybody is looking for you.” However, Jesus does not go back to Capernaum at their behest, but tells them that they must now go elsewhere, to other towns and villages, and preach and heal there as well. This is how his peripatetic ministry begins, as he goes “throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out devils.” Today, Jesus relies on us to bring healing and salvation wherever we may be, but this ministry, like that of Jesus, must always begin with prayer.