When the Whole Town Comes to Your House

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body  to you, as a living sacrifice

Jesus, We belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

Luke 4:38–41 (NIV)

Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.

At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

CONSIDER THIS

Did you catch what’s going on here? After leaving the synagogue and the incredible exorcism that just unfolded there, everyone went home. And the news spread across the town of Capernaum and beyond like wildfire. 

Meanwhile, Jesus went home with Peter. Luke hasn’t introduced us to Simon (aka Peter) yet. Perhaps Jesus hadn’t really met and gotten to know him either. Sounds like Peter, though, doesn’t it. Intrigued by this new kind of rabbi, he lingers behind in the synagogue and invites him to come over for a falafel. Something tells me Peter’s wife might have been more than a little frustrated with Peter bringing a houseguest for dinner with her mother being so sick. So the first thing Peter did was ask Jesus to heal his mother-in-law; and he did. I don’t think anyone could have been prepared for what happened next. 

The whole town of Capernaum was watching the western horizon, waiting for that last sliver of the sun to disappear. While Jesus was quite comfortable with healing on the Sabbath, it would take the locals a minute to cross that hurdle. They waited until Shabbat was officially over and they raced to Peter’s house, bringing anyone with anything wrong with them in tow. 

At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 

Wake up now. If you are anything like me, you’ve looked at this but not seen it. You’ve heard it but not really listened. Perhaps it will help to grasp this to see how Peter himself describes the scene ala the Gospel of Mark in chapter 1, verse 33.

The whole town gathered at the door. 

Allow me to repeat it for effect: 

The whole town gathered at the door.

Can we commit to memory Mark 1:33 today and never forget it? These seven little words open up a revelatory scene. 

The whole town gathered at the door.

I’m going to keep it short today. This is a less is more day. I want you to linger a minute, survey the scene and behold the God. People are everywhere—the whole town is in the waiting room; only it’s not a hospital or a synagogue or a church. It’s Peter’s home. 

and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

Let this scene become seared into your memory, encoded into your imagination. This is a sowing of the seed of the kingdom of Jesus into the field of your heart, your home, your church, and your city. 

THE PRAYER

Our Father, how overjoyed you must have been to see this scene unfold so quickly in the ministry and movement of your Son. Healing, deliverance, blessing, joy, joy, joy unspeakable joy in all the people. It is just amazing. I’m trying to picture even my whole neighborhood gathering at the door to my house because they heard Jesus was here. It’s like everywhere Jesus goes, everyone is healed. Indeed, everywhere the river flows everything will live. Just help me take it in. Just let me take it in, no agenda, whole town gathered at the door. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen. 

THE QUESTION

What do you see in this scene today? What do you hear? Are you awakening to astonishment? Are you finding the Holy Spirit taking you inside of the text, or is it still a struggle to see it anew and afresh? 

THE HYMN

Can we circle back around and sing through “Shine Jesus Shine” again this week. Today let’s sing the chorus, verse one, and the chorus again. It is hymn 217 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.

For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt

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