Going to the Nearby Villages
“‘Everyone is looking for you.’
He told them, ‘Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.’”Mark 1:37b-38
When someone popular is in town, people tend to like to go out and try to get a glimpse of them. I remember one time a movie was being shot in Philadelphia and roads were blocked off but those who knew about it would stand behind the barricades to watch. Those celebrities were in town to do their job, but they really weren’t there to see and greet the people. Although sometimes they might stop and give an autograph here or there, but the majority of the time their intention was never to go and spend time with their fans, those who admire their work, those who made them a celebrity. In contrast, when Jesus goes into a town, He deliberately goes to see the people.
While in Capernaum Jesus enters the house of Simon Peter, where his mother-in-law was sick. Jesus was told about this and He went to her, grasped her hand, and helped her up. She immediately got better and right after this she went and waited on them! This is one of many healings that Jesus performs there. But, this is something that we must think about more. Peter’s mother-in-law has been sick and has been lying in bed, and when Jesus held her hand and helped her up she was restored to health and resumed her life, playing hostess. The woman was sick just a moment ago, then the next moment she is entertaining! The power of Jesus’s touch restores life, not just treating the symptoms but curing and healing the person.
The next day Jesus wakes up early and goes to a quiet place to pray, communing with the Father. Then when Peter and the disciples find Him, they told Him that “everyone is looking for you!” So Jesus, gets up and goes to the “nearby villages” and preached, healed, and casted out demons. We are told He did this “throughout the whole of Galilee.” Jesus did not just heal His friends and their families, He healed whomever ask for it. Everyone was looking for Jesus, not just friends and not just Jews, but everyone. He went to the nearby villages, perhaps to places that are neglected and He brings healing. He did so because He said “for this purpose have I come.” This is our calling as Christians, too. We are called to go to the nearby villages and bring Jesus to them.
Where are the nearby villages to which we might be called? Our homes, our workplaces, our communities. Maybe to the streets where the homeless roam and try to make a home. Perhaps to the sick and those in nursing homes or those in prison. We are called to bring Christ to all, conduct ourselves so that when others see us and meet us they will be able to encounter Christ in us. How can we do this? By imitating Jesus. It was at the place of prayer and communing with the Father do the disciples find Jesus to tell Him people were looking for Him. Likewise, we must spend time in prayer, growing in our relationship with God, so that when we are approached by others, we might be Christ for them. Brothers and sisters, “everyone is looking for you.” Let us be on our way!
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