As soon as they left the synagogue,
they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s
mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her right
away. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her
and she began to wait on them. That evening after sunset the people brought to
Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door,
and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons,
but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. Very early
in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went
off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look
for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for
you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can
preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee,
preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
************************************************************************
This week I came across a story which is absolutely true. A woman in the United States was refused passage on a United Airlines flight because she wanted to take her ‘emotional support peacock’ with her. Now, if you’ve seen the pictures, this was a fully grown adult male peacock. She had called the airline three times to see if she could be given a permit to bring the bird, and was told no. Even so, she arrived at the airport with the bird, and was turned away. At first I laughed, and there was more than a tinge of derision there. I rolled my eyes – thinking, emotional support *peacock*?????? Then on Friday I heard of someone who flew with an ‘emotional support duck.’ Well, OK. We have emotional support dogs and cats…and there’s a part of me which understands that.
************************************************************************
This week I came across a story which is absolutely true. A woman in the United States was refused passage on a United Airlines flight because she wanted to take her ‘emotional support peacock’ with her. Now, if you’ve seen the pictures, this was a fully grown adult male peacock. She had called the airline three times to see if she could be given a permit to bring the bird, and was told no. Even so, she arrived at the airport with the bird, and was turned away. At first I laughed, and there was more than a tinge of derision there. I rolled my eyes – thinking, emotional support *peacock*?????? Then on Friday I heard of someone who flew with an ‘emotional support duck.’ Well, OK. We have emotional support dogs and cats…and there’s a part of me which understands that.
But then I backed up a bit and
started thinking “What’s under this? What’s the real problem here?” Is this a
problem of our western society? Of our growing isolation from each other? Is it
easier to relate to an animal than to other people? What are people missing in
their lives? And it occurred to me that under these things, as bizarre as they
seem, are souls in pain struggling to be seen and heard – and not knowing how. And that the church, if
it cares to make the effort, is beautifully placed to reach beyond itself and
find ways to address this growing cultural change.
*************************************************************************
Second century tradition ascribes the Gospel to Mark the Evangelist (also known as John Mark), the companion of Peter. It is supposedly based on the memories of Peter. However, the author uses a variety of sources including a passion narrative, collections of miracle stories, apocalyptic traditions, and sayings. Some of these sources were already written, some were oral. It was written in Greek for a Greek audience, shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, possibly in Syria. It is generally agreed that this is the earliest of the Gospels, but that the author is unknown.
And Mark’s Gospel moves at blinding speed. Jesus arrives with heaven-splitting force, deals with evil in the wilderness, announces the realm of God, chooses disciples and heals a man with a psychiatric illness in the blink of an eye. Everything in Mark happens “immediately”. Within the very first chapter, Jesus has set the framework for his ministry and for all those who would follow him. He moves from the synagogue, to the home, and out into the world.
Beginning with last week’s story of Jesus healing right there in the synagogue, we see that Jesus really doesn’t care where he is, and he really doesn’t care about the religious authorities’ interpretations of Sabbath law. He will address and work with those who are near him – whether it is a man in the synagogue, a woman in her home, people on the streets, or even in lands far away.
So today’s reading offers the second and third parts of that framework - the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, even as he is a guest in the house. She is ill with a fever, and the house is full of hungry men who don’t know what to do. It’s still the Sabbath, which means that work should not take place, and (as we learn in many of the stories) even healing on the Sabbath is a violation of God’s law.
Jesus isn’t interested in eating. He’s concerned about the sick woman upstairs. So he goes to her, and we see a healing touch - he takes her hand. Mark tells us she got up and began to serve them. Peter’s mother-in-law is generally understood to be the first deaconess in the new group. - and it’s a clue that this isn’t so much a story about a healing, as it is an example of the whole of Jesus’ ministry. Simon’s mother-in-law doesn’t see her role as serving a bunch of inept men, she interprets it as the beginning of *her* ministry. The first person to serve Jesus is a woman.
After the meal is over, a crowd begins to gather outside the house. Mark, with his typical hyperbole, says “The whole city was gathered around the door,”!
Well, we know that whenever there have been big events in the news, there is a media frenzy around the home of the families involved – sometimes it’s the home of the victims, sometimes it’s the perpetrators. Peter may have felt as if the entire world was standing outside his door, but Jesus meets the people, listens to their story, and offers a blessing. Like the meal earlier in the day, his focus is on the people around him.
Jesus is then fed and goes off to pray. The people keep coming and keep looking for him, and they are selfishly seeking him out so he can meet more of their own needs. Here we find the third piece of the framework for Jesus’ ministry. He sees the needs of people elsewhere, and leaves for other towns and places where healing is needed.
In a few sentences, Mark has given us all the things he considered most important about Jesus. The realm of God is lived out in three parts - synagogue, home, and outside the doors. The synagogue is part of the spiritual life, but always involves ministry, regardless of who the people are. There is no “us” and “them” inside the church. Jesus’ healing of the man in the synagogue demonstrates that to the fullest. Jesus demonstrates, as well, that ministry is also outside the doors - right where people are, right where they live - and not necessarily the people *we* think need ministry.
Too often in the church, our primary paradigm is to meet our own needs. We ask what people want in worship, for instance, rather than asking what God wants for our worship. We talk about bringing more people into our church so we can pay our bills, instead of asking how we can help people meet their very real needs. The reality today is that there are a whole lot of people who say they are “spiritual but not religious.” What they are really saying is that they don’t find what feeds them inside our churches. In 1995, Canada’s leading religious sociologist, Dr. Reginald Bibby, wrote a book called “There’s Got to be More”, based on a study he had done of those people who had dropped away from church. He said people have three kinds of needs: spiritual, social and relational. When asked if they would go to church, those people answered “I would, if I thought it would be good for me and my family.” But they know that when churches talk about getting more people in, they care more about paying bills than about meeting needs, or real healing.
*************************************************************************
Second century tradition ascribes the Gospel to Mark the Evangelist (also known as John Mark), the companion of Peter. It is supposedly based on the memories of Peter. However, the author uses a variety of sources including a passion narrative, collections of miracle stories, apocalyptic traditions, and sayings. Some of these sources were already written, some were oral. It was written in Greek for a Greek audience, shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, possibly in Syria. It is generally agreed that this is the earliest of the Gospels, but that the author is unknown.
And Mark’s Gospel moves at blinding speed. Jesus arrives with heaven-splitting force, deals with evil in the wilderness, announces the realm of God, chooses disciples and heals a man with a psychiatric illness in the blink of an eye. Everything in Mark happens “immediately”. Within the very first chapter, Jesus has set the framework for his ministry and for all those who would follow him. He moves from the synagogue, to the home, and out into the world.
Beginning with last week’s story of Jesus healing right there in the synagogue, we see that Jesus really doesn’t care where he is, and he really doesn’t care about the religious authorities’ interpretations of Sabbath law. He will address and work with those who are near him – whether it is a man in the synagogue, a woman in her home, people on the streets, or even in lands far away.
So today’s reading offers the second and third parts of that framework - the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, even as he is a guest in the house. She is ill with a fever, and the house is full of hungry men who don’t know what to do. It’s still the Sabbath, which means that work should not take place, and (as we learn in many of the stories) even healing on the Sabbath is a violation of God’s law.
Jesus isn’t interested in eating. He’s concerned about the sick woman upstairs. So he goes to her, and we see a healing touch - he takes her hand. Mark tells us she got up and began to serve them. Peter’s mother-in-law is generally understood to be the first deaconess in the new group. - and it’s a clue that this isn’t so much a story about a healing, as it is an example of the whole of Jesus’ ministry. Simon’s mother-in-law doesn’t see her role as serving a bunch of inept men, she interprets it as the beginning of *her* ministry. The first person to serve Jesus is a woman.
After the meal is over, a crowd begins to gather outside the house. Mark, with his typical hyperbole, says “The whole city was gathered around the door,”!
Well, we know that whenever there have been big events in the news, there is a media frenzy around the home of the families involved – sometimes it’s the home of the victims, sometimes it’s the perpetrators. Peter may have felt as if the entire world was standing outside his door, but Jesus meets the people, listens to their story, and offers a blessing. Like the meal earlier in the day, his focus is on the people around him.
Jesus is then fed and goes off to pray. The people keep coming and keep looking for him, and they are selfishly seeking him out so he can meet more of their own needs. Here we find the third piece of the framework for Jesus’ ministry. He sees the needs of people elsewhere, and leaves for other towns and places where healing is needed.
In a few sentences, Mark has given us all the things he considered most important about Jesus. The realm of God is lived out in three parts - synagogue, home, and outside the doors. The synagogue is part of the spiritual life, but always involves ministry, regardless of who the people are. There is no “us” and “them” inside the church. Jesus’ healing of the man in the synagogue demonstrates that to the fullest. Jesus demonstrates, as well, that ministry is also outside the doors - right where people are, right where they live - and not necessarily the people *we* think need ministry.
Too often in the church, our primary paradigm is to meet our own needs. We ask what people want in worship, for instance, rather than asking what God wants for our worship. We talk about bringing more people into our church so we can pay our bills, instead of asking how we can help people meet their very real needs. The reality today is that there are a whole lot of people who say they are “spiritual but not religious.” What they are really saying is that they don’t find what feeds them inside our churches. In 1995, Canada’s leading religious sociologist, Dr. Reginald Bibby, wrote a book called “There’s Got to be More”, based on a study he had done of those people who had dropped away from church. He said people have three kinds of needs: spiritual, social and relational. When asked if they would go to church, those people answered “I would, if I thought it would be good for me and my family.” But they know that when churches talk about getting more people in, they care more about paying bills than about meeting needs, or real healing.
And I think the woman with the
peacock, for us, is the clue. Somehow, something is missing. Something doesn’t
fit. In discussing this week with colleagues, how the healing takes place, one
colleague commented that she ‘doesn’t have the power Jesus does’. My answer was
‘Yes, you do – we do.” What Jesus did was nothing short of miraculous, true –
but it was also excellent psychology. Look at the phrase from last week –
‘impure spirit’, and this week ‘driving out demons’. I read that as Jesus
recognising deep spiritual needs, so deep they even affected how people behaved
– and he was able to address those needs.
Simply trying to convince people they should come to our church, or come back to church, because WE get something out of it, won’t work if we figure our church is fine just the way it is, and if they come they will see it. That route means WE don’t need to change, we want them to come here and adapt to how ‘we’ do things. If we want our churches to be vital places of spiritual life, we have to offer something that is meaningful to those people who don’t come. We need to look through the eyes of Jesus, and to do that, we have to shift the way we think. Perhaps most significantly, we have to find a way to allow God to use us to meet the needs of others. We have to allow ourselves to stretch, to be healed, to move beyond what we have been.
And then, what we do can become an answer to the prayers of others, as the good news is experienced in their lives and in our midst. What we do becomes the living embodiment of the ministry of the one we follow. Thanks be to God.
Sources:
1. Seeing the Needs of Others sermon based on Mark 1:29-39 by Rev. Randy L Quinn
2. Barclay, William. The Gospel of Mark (The Daily Study Bible Series). Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mark
Simply trying to convince people they should come to our church, or come back to church, because WE get something out of it, won’t work if we figure our church is fine just the way it is, and if they come they will see it. That route means WE don’t need to change, we want them to come here and adapt to how ‘we’ do things. If we want our churches to be vital places of spiritual life, we have to offer something that is meaningful to those people who don’t come. We need to look through the eyes of Jesus, and to do that, we have to shift the way we think. Perhaps most significantly, we have to find a way to allow God to use us to meet the needs of others. We have to allow ourselves to stretch, to be healed, to move beyond what we have been.
And then, what we do can become an answer to the prayers of others, as the good news is experienced in their lives and in our midst. What we do becomes the living embodiment of the ministry of the one we follow. Thanks be to God.
Sources:
1. Seeing the Needs of Others sermon based on Mark 1:29-39 by Rev. Randy L Quinn
2. Barclay, William. The Gospel of Mark (The Daily Study Bible Series). Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mark
