By reading the Gospels, we see
that the Lord Jesus knew human life in all its aspects. We have examples of this in the
first chapter of the Gospel of St. Mark, which we have been
looking at for a few weeks. Today, we want to look at the
story we have in this chapter, where the Lord Jesus is in a
family. We read in the first chapter
of Mark, verses 29 to 31. When they left the synagogue,
they went with James and John to Simon and Andrew's house. Simon's mother-in-law was lying
in bed with a fever, and they immediately spoke of her to Jesus. As they approached, he made her
stand up, taking her hand, and at that moment the fever left
her, and she served him. I would like to emphasize three
lessons that we can draw from this passage. First, Jesus honors
the family. Although the Lord Jesus did not
have a permanent residence, because he traveled all the time during
his three and a half years of ministry, we see that quite frequently
he went into the families of others. We see him here in the
family of Peter, and elsewhere we see him in the family of Mark,
Mary and Lazarus. Thus the Lord Jesus honors the
family. was founded by God Himself, to
creation. When we read the story of creation,
we see that after God had created man, Adam, He said, It is not
good that man be alone. And so He created the woman,
and He put them together. The family was thus created by
God. And we also see, when we read
the Gospels, that the Lord Jesus was born into a family. God could
have sent his Son into this world by using another means. He could
have come down directly from heaven, as he ascended there.
But no, God chose to send his Son into the world through a
family. He was born of a woman, of a
virgin. He grew up in Joseph's family. He has known the work of the
workshop, he has known the problems and difficulties of an ordinary
family. Thus we can affirm that the family
is a thing that God honors. The tendency of our time is to
think that the family is simply a social institution, and that
we can very well do without it. But no, the Bible teaches us
very clearly that the family, the marriage, is a divine institution,
and those who want to live together, men and women, must marry, and
the children must be born in the family that God Himself has
founded. It is not the Church that marries
us. It is not the state officials
either. but it is an alliance taken between a man and a woman
before God, and so we must not take it lightly. When we commit
ourselves to marriage, it is for life that we commit ourselves. I say with all sincerity to all
those who listen to me today, do not take marriage lightly. Remember that it is an engagement
that you have taken before God, and that you must respect it.
And you, young people, who think you are getting married soon,
I tell you the same thing. Do not take marriage lightly. Remember, once again, that it
is before God that you get married. And you, who do not respect this
commandment of God, know that if you live together without
being married, you sin against God. and that one day you will
have to answer to God as your judge. The second thing that
we see in this passage is the example that we have of the unity
and the bonds that exist between the members of the family. The
beautiful mother of Peter was sick, and what do we do? We go
to speak to Jesus of her. Our families must be united. Let us show love for each other. There are things to avoid in
the family. Family members must avoid living
separate lives. This is what happens very frequently
nowadays. The father leaves the house early
in the morning and only returns late in the evening, and also
the mother, she also leaves the house to work, and she too only
returns late in the evening. and so the children are forced
to live almost separated from their mother. Oh, I know what
we'll answer, but you don't know my situation. You don't know
how much money I need, and we have to work together. I ask
you a question again. Do you have the right to abandon
your children to do so? And on the children's side, don't
we often see that When children reach a certain
age, they tend to want to leave the house, to live completely
separate lives from their parents. And in some countries of the
world, at the age of 15, 16, 17, children take apartments. As soon as they have the financial
means to do so, these are things that we must absolutely avoid. The family must be a unit. And we must show true, real love,
for each other, for the parents, for the children, for the children,
for the parents. Like this family of Peter, we
must bring all our family concerns to the Lord Jesus. We must bring
to the Lord our sick parents in prayer. We must also bring
to Him our prodigal children. And if we are converted and we
have parents who are not, we must also bring them to the Lord
Jesus in prayer. Let us do like this family of
stones and bring to the Lord Jesus all our family worries. There is a third lesson that
I would like to draw from this passage from Mark 1. The Lord
Jesus intervenes. Here is a woman who was sick,
so that she could do nothing for herself, nor for others,
nor for the Lord Jesus. Here we have an image of sin.
Sin is a spiritual illness that afflicts us. And on the spiritual
side, we cannot do anything, neither for ourselves, nor for
others, nor for God. What do we need? The Lord must intervene to heal
us, and from that moment on, we will be able to rise up, we
will be able to serve the orders, we will be able to serve the
Lord. Unfortunately, there are many
people who do not know that they are sick, and so they do not
address the Lord Jesus to ask for spiritual healing of their
sins. Listen to me today, I tell you
based on the authority of the Bible, that we are all sinners
before God, and that we all need to be forgiven by the work of
Christ in our place. He alone can heal us from our
illness. Note one last thing. As soon
as this woman is healed, she begins to serve others, and the
Lord included. This is precisely the result
of an intervention of the Lord Jesus in our lives. He makes
us new creatures, so that we now desire to live for Him and
for others. It is not because we try to live
for the Lord and for others that we become children of God. No,
it is the opposite. It is when God intervenes and
makes us His children that we can begin to live for Him and
for others as we should. I call upon you today. Repent
of your sins. Recognize that you are spiritually
sick and that you need God to intervene in your life. and ask
him to do it. We are always very happy to receive
letters from our listeners. If you have a problem, or if
you think that we can help you, write to us and we will be very
happy to answer you. Here is the address to which
you must write. Listen to the truth Post Box
505 71 322, Chalon-sur-Saône, it is written
C-H-A-L-O-N, France. I repeat this address. Echo of the truth, mailbox 505,
71 322, Chalon-sur-Saône, France. Jésus s'offre aujourd'hui Jésus
s'offre aujourd'hui Que la parole à notre peau nous relâche cette
parole In the land that we know so well
Sheds its color of glory