SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, July 20, 2025

Dear Friends in Jesus –

The story of Jesus healing Simon Peter’s mother-in-law appears in all three synoptic gospels. The three accounts are very short yet offer some interesting differences of detail reflecting the Gospel writer’s attention to constituents.

Here is the story at the beginning of Mark. Nadia Bolz-Weber recaps the first twenty five verses in inimitable fashion:

“It starts with the words, 'The Beginning of the Good news of Jesus Christ.'
Then John the Baptist appears in the wilderness with his questionable wardrobe and dietary choices and baptizes Jesus.
Then the heavens are torn open and God says This is my beloved. For which Jesus is rewarded with 40 days in the wilderness with the wild beasts and angels.
Repent and believe the good news of the kingdom.
On his way to Capernum he picks up some smelly fishermen.
Then on the Sabbath he’s teaching in the synagogue – and everyone’s like 'wow. That Jesus isn’t totally full of it like the other guys'
Finally he casts out an unclean spirit after commanding it to shut the heck up.

And that’s pretty much where we pick up the story today.”

Folks, this tale of coming to a friend’s home. finding a loved one in need and an ensuing account of restoration should be simple and sweet enough, but we experience an overlay of contemporary reaction that gums things up!

We’ll look at this together and discover again the simple grace, ubiquitous and dynamic, that we long for these days.

See you in worship –