It was early in the morning when I noticed he was gone. I had gotten up to get breakfast ready. I hadn’t felt this good in years. But as I looked at the simple pallet on the floor, I realized that the bed was empty. Where would he have gone so early in the morning? I opened up the curtain and looked into the courtyard but all I saw were a few discarded crutches, mats, and canes – remnants from last night’s amazing events.

I knew that as soon as the sun began to peek over the horizon, the people would be back looking for him. How could I tell them that he wasn’t here? How could I tell them that I didn’t know where he had gone? Well, I immediately woke up Simon. He would know what to do. After all, he had left his job just to follow this man around. He would certainly know where to find him.

But Simon said that there was still so much about Jesus he didn’t know, after all he had only decided to follow him a few days ago. He didn’t know his habits yet. Well, Simon looked around the town quietly for a few minutes and then he woke up the whole house to arrange a search party. Simon and Andrew went one direction while James and John went another. I stayed at home to be sure someone would be here if he came back on his own. It seemed like hours before we heard anything.

Word would have gotten around in the night about the amazing things that had happened in our courtyard last evening. I knew that more people would be coming and looking for Jesus. But I guess I’m getting a little ahead of myself. You see this all started for me just yesterday. Capernaum was a quiet little community and not much went on here that was, well, out of the ordinary. But all that changed when Jesus came to town.

I hadn’t been feeling very well at all yesterday morning. In fact I hadn’t even gotten out of bed. Simon, Andrew and the rest of the men had gone to the synagogue while the women stayed at home and took care of me. In the afternoon, my son-in-law and his friends came into the house. They tried to be quiet so that they wouldn’t disturb me but I could tell they were really excited about something. As I shivered underneath the covers, I wondered what could have them so excited. I heard one of the boys say, "Shh, mother’s resting. She had a rough morning." But I really wanted to know what was going on.

Then I heard footsteps coming into my room. They weren’t the quiet footsteps of my daughter who had been taking care of me. These were different. I opened my eyes to see who was risking coming into my room. After all, this fever that I had was nothing to mess with. Most of the people knew to stay away so that they didn’t get sick too. But as I opened my eyes I saw him standing over my bed.

Now I have to tell you that when word reached me a few days ago that my son-in-law had gone off and left the fishing business to follow this man, I wasn’t too excited. I had a lot of questions about how we were going to have food on our table. Things weren’t exactly easy even when the fish were biting. How could he do that to us? I knew that Jesus was responsible for my son-in-law leaving his job. I should have been mad at him. But as I was lying in bed and saw him standing over me, all my anger disappeared. I have been trying to find the words to describe it but I can’t. It was like fog in the morning – once the sun hits it, it just disappears – almost like it was never there in the first place. Well, my anger was like that fog and this man was like the sun.

Then he reached out and touched my hand. He helped me out of bed and all of a sudden, I felt wonderful. I felt as though I had been buried under a haze and all of a sudden the haze disappeared. I had been knocking on death’s door and then I felt as though I had never been more alive. All the burden of being sick was lifted off me and I felt light as air. But it wasn’t just the physical ailments that were lifted off, though my arthritic knees were thankful for that, but I felt as though much of the unseen burden was lifted off as well. I had been carrying around so much worry and anger that I hadn’t even been able to imagine what it would feel like to be free of it. It was kind of like when you get a big haircut and you feel like your head is just going to float off your shoulders. I never realized the heavy burden I was carrying. I just felt so light. I felt released.

With just that touch, I knew why my son-in-law had decided to follow this man. Though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, I could tell that this man was special. He was a healer of the highest order and yet there was more.

After I got out of bed, Simon told me the story about what happened in the synagogue with the man Jesus had healed from the unclean spirit. I knew even more certainly that I was in the presence of someone great. He had healed me from hurt I didn’t even know I had. I knew I had to respond in some way. So I got to work. I prepared a meal, washed the dust off his feet, and hung on to his every word.

Once the sun went down and the Sabbath was officially over, I heard them coming. At first there were just a few people who gathered outside the door. There was one man with an injured leg and another woman who looked fine physically but you could tell she was in pain. But as the evening wore on more and more people showed up. The courtyard was filled with people hoping for just a glimpse of Jesus’s face or to hear a word from his lips. People were sitting on the walls of the courtyard, some had even climbed up to the roof. Word of what had gone on in the synagogue had spread and the whole town had showed up to see for themselves.

It was late at night when the crowd broke up. Many of them had been healed – some physically and others mentally or emotionally. It had been amazing to watch him work. Sometimes the person would be healed with a word, others were healed with a touch. Sometimes someone in the back of the crowd would be healed, sometimes in the middle, sometimes in the front. We would just hear voices proclaiming that they had been healed. As I watched them, I knew what they were feeling because I had felt it too. Healing didn’t seem to quite cover that feeling. What happened wasn’t just bones being mended or joints freed of pain. Mere physical description couldn’t capture this feeling. It was healing – but more. It was a sense of release. It was as though all the chains that had bound me were undone and I was free. I was free to serve him.

Since it had been such a wonderful evening watching this man work, you can understand why I was a little worried to find that he was no longer in the house. I knew that the crowds would be back. There were still others who were looking for that sense of release. As the sun began to come up, more people came to the house wanting to see the healer. What was I supposed to say to them? I ended up telling them the truth – that he wasn’t here and I didn’t know where he was.

Well, soon more people joined in the search for this man. They knocked on the doors of all the houses in town and began to comb the rest of the countryside. There were still people in Capernaum who had not been healed last night. They wanted the healing that others had experienced. They wanted to find Jesus so that they could see what he could do for them.

It was something that one person who came to the door said that made me understand that there was a difference in the healing I had received and some of the people who came looking for Jesus. One woman who came to my door looking for Jesus said that she had been healed the night before and wanted to help out. That’s when it clicked for me. Where were all the others who had been healed?

When I had been healed, I was so thankful and amazed by what had happened that I had waited upon Jesus. I had served the one who had healed me. When this woman came looking for Jesus so that she could serve him, I understood that she too was responding in thankfulness for what she had received. That’s when I began to ask myself, "Where were the others who had been healed?"

Did they just want to have their burdens lifted and then go about their life as they had before? I knew that since my burden had been lifted off me that I could never be the same person again. Once I had begun to serve Jesus, I knew that I could never stop. I wondered how many others were just wanting simply to deposit their burdens and walk on. Jesus didn’t ask me if I wanted to be healed. He didn’t make up some contract that said he would heal me if I would agree to serve him. I was healed and though I knew that I could never do anything that would make me deserving of the grace that I had been given, I still felt moved to serve him.

I had no idea that I would be going around to all different places and telling people about the experience that I had with Jesus, but here I am. How many of you have burdens that you want to lay down? How many of you have felt healing through Christ? Will any of you respond with me? Will any of you serve him, not because you must but because you can? Will any of you follow him, not because you must but because you can? Will any of you witness to him, not because you must, but because you can?

Because isn’t that what God wants? God wants us to serve not as payment for gifts received but out of our freedom to follow. We don’t serve because we need to rack up a certain amount of points to make it into heaven. We serve because we feel it deep within us – that place within us that can be filled by nothing but God. When that is filled we cannot help but reach out to our neighbors, our friends, even our enemies, and help to fill that place within them.

Release – that’s what I felt when Jesus took my hand and lifted me out of my fever. Christ’s hand is extended to you as well – what fever is keeping you from serving him?