Readings
Isaiah 40:21-31
Psalm 147:1-12, 21c
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39
Today’s Gospel passage picks up where last week’s left off. If you recall, Jesus proclaiming the kingdom of God in the synagogue in Capernaum, made a demon come out of a man, amazing all those who saw it. Now we hear that he and his four disciples go to the home of Simon and Andrew. There, Simon’s mother-in-law is ill with a fever and stuck in bed. Jesus comes and takes her by the hand and raises her up. The fever leaves her and, despite it being the Sabbath, she begins to serve them. Word spreads quickly about Jesus and soon the house is inundated with many people seeking to be healed or relieved of demonic forces. Jesus performs the miracles but later goes off to a “deserted place” to pray. Simon comes and seeks him out and all but chides Jesus that there are people in need waiting for him. Rather than argue, Jesus tells Simon that it is time to move on and continue his proclamation. In the end we hear that Jesus went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in the synagogues of the region and casting out demons.
Today, I would invite you to consider the mother-in-law of Simon. As I just recounted we hear of her healing from a fever. But there is more going on than you might realize. Jesus takes her by the hand and raises her up. The word used for “raise up” is the same word that Mark uses to describe Jesus’ resurrection. And so, for Mark, Jesus didn’t simply help her to get up, he raised her up. This is a resurrection story. It is a story of transformation. The mother-in-law of Simon by being touched by Jesus is fundamentally transformed. Not only does her fever leave her, but she is, in essence, a different person.
And what is her response. She immediately serves them. We would do well not to simply assume she was fulfilling the subservient role of women from that time. To serve Jesus and his disciples on the Sabbath would have been a major departure from what was religiously deemed appropriate. No, this unnamed woman responds to the transformative power of Jesus with what the scriptures ultimately proclaim to be the appropriate response of all believers. To serve. In fact, Mark uses the Greek term “diakanos” to describe her response. And so, from this Gospel’s perspective, we can say that she is the first deacon recorded in scripture.
We do not know what specific form her service took. But we do know ultimately what service of God through Christ comes to look like. Jesus called us to follow in his way. He called us, like him in the latter part of today’s Gospel lesson, to be people of prayer. He called us to love our neighbor as ourselves. He, like our baptismal covenant proclaims, called us to seek him and to serve him in all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being. And, last but not least, he called us to join with him in proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
But we need be aware that as we live into this pattern that Jesus calls us to, as we are transformed by the grace and healing of Christ, the world about us will be quick to see our good works and try to simply make us be about what we can provide. Like Jesus was swamped with those who sought healing, and Simon was tempted to make the work of Jesus all about that. We risk being put into the box of simply being “do-gooders” or people who do acts of charity.
But friends, ours is a deeper calling than this. Ultimately, we are called to participate with Christ in the transformation of the world. We are called to point to the one who has transformed us and adopted us into the family of God. We are being called to not simply do good, but through our service to point to the One who has transformed us. We are being called to make our service an act of praise and worship to the living God.
It is easy for us to rest in the healing and grace of Jesus and to limit our worship of him to this place. It is easy for us to do acts of charity out of a sense of duty to our religion or a basic ethical sensibility.
But I would challenge you that we need to be and do more. We need to recognize that the Church, the community of the faithful, is called to not simply to do good works, but to be agents of transformation. We at Christ Church must take up the high calling of the Gospel. We must go out into the world to proclaim the Good News, to not be embarrassed by our faith or to hide our light under a bushel. We must be willing to gather the people around us to ourselves and this community of faith. We must work for both our and their ongoing transformation. And then, we must send those we have gathered, and ourselves once again, out to do the work that God has given us to do. To love and serve God with gladness and singleness of heart.
Even now Jesus is reaching out for us. Christ is taking our hand and raising us up. As we gather, transform, and send, we will be his servants in our own time. May we have the faith, the courage, and the conviction to do so.