5 Epiphany B February 8, 2015
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie G. Hutson
Isaiah 40: 21-31 + Psalm 147: 1-11, 20c + 1 Cor. 9: 16-23 +
Mark 1: 29-39
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
And the whole city was gathered at the door.
Can you imagine what it would be like to have the entire city at the door of your house? But that’s just what’s happened in our Gospel reading from Mark this morning. Jesus had achieved what we might call rock star status. If he were alive today, at this point in his ministry he would have had more followers on Twitter than Justin Bieber and more Facebook friends than Russell Wilson.
(That’s the only Seahawks reference I’m going to make today. I promise.)
And we are still in the first chapter of Mark. Jesus’ ministry is still young. The story is still new. But he’s already cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue, as we recall from last week’s Gospel reading. And today he has healed Simon’s mother in law. Clearly Simon, Andrew, James, and John must have told their neighbors what Jesus had done – how Simon’s mother in law was sick with a fever, which would be a big deal, a life threatening illness, and Jesus simply takes her by the hand, lifts her up, and she is made well. And by that very same evening, they’d brought all sorts of sick people to him – so many that the whole city was crowded at the door.
All week long, as I’ve been sitting with these texts, this has been the image that has taken root in my own heart. If I were an artist, I would sketch this image – an entire city’s worth of people crowded at the door of a single house. Because a woman they knew had been ill and she was well again and serving others with gladness. And because the healing came from Jesus, who could cast out demons and fevers and all of their various diseases. They stood there, the people of an entire city, gathered around the door.
The thing about Simon’s mother in law, now free from her fever, was that in addition to being healed from her fever, she had been restored to her fullest and truest self. The text says that the fever left her and she began to serve them. What this does not mean is that as soon as Jesus lifted her up they asked if she would mind going out to the kitchen and rustling up some lunch. The word for serve is diakonia….which in the church and among these earliest followers was a holy vocation….a call to service.
In our tradition, we have people who are called to ministries of Word & Service, unlike pastors who are called to Word & Sacrament. Word & Service folks are Diaconal Ministers and Deaconesses, their very titles taken from this word diakonia. It is a verb. It means to serve. Next month we will gather in this place to witness Sister Liz Cherry Colver’s consecration into the Deaconess community – into her call to Word and Service. Diakonia.
So Jesus had restored Simon’s mother in law to her fullest and truest self. He had made her well for this purpose and for this reason.
And soon the whole city was gathered at the door.
In our first reading this morning, from Isaiah, the Judeans in exile have become restless in their search for restoration. The prophet offers them this rich and beautiful reminder that it is God who will restore them in the end. The refrain to Isaiah’s words rings in their ears and in ours: Have you not known? Have you not heard? It is less admonition than it is whispered rhetorical reminder…. Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? And the hopeful words continue…..it is God who is in charge. God has stretched out the heavens like a curtain….God who is so mighty that even earthly rulers pale in comparison. Look! says the prophet….look around you….who made all of this? It’s that same God who made every single person and calls them by name. God is that great and that close to us. No one is missing from the sight and love of that God. So, don’t think that you are forgotten! Don’t think that God’s back is turned to what is going on with you. Because….haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? God is everlasting. God gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. And then this beautiful passage concludes: “Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
For the Israelites, who longed for restoration to their land, and freedom from their captors, restoration was hard work. It was taking a long time. It was not easy to see the ending. It did not happen immediately. For Israel to be restored to the purpose God intended for God’s people, it would not happen as quickly as it did for Simon’s mother in law. It would require patience, to be sure. But more than that it would require a corporate remembering together of the promises of God. In order to have faith that they would be restored they would need to remember what they had known and what they had heard.
Today’s readings from the prophet Isaiah and from Mark’s Gospel are filled with longing for restoration and wholeness. The longing of a nation, Israel and the longing of a city gathered at a doorway. They are stories about the restoration of a nation and the restoration of individuals.
It is hard to consider how God might be at work today in restoring the world. It is a giant mess. The implications for every action seem so laden with pitfalls and ethical conundrums. How do we condemn the terrorism of ISIL without remembering that we have participated in the torture of prisoners? How do we gasp in horror at hangings and beheadings and the setting of people on fire and forget that in the American south these very same atrocities were committed because of the color of a person’s skin? Or across this country because of their sexual orientation? How do we offer a blanket denouncement of crimes committed in the name of Islam and forget the Crusades? Is God’s back turned on us? Is that why we continue to live with such unspeakable actions playing out across our news feeds?
People of God…..known by name, each one of us….have we not known? Have we not heard?
Of course we have. We have heard the stories of God’s faithfulness. Story after story that we learn in Sunday School or Bible Study. Story after story that we hear together as we gather for worship. Story after story of this God who is great in strength and mighty in power and yet has created us with minds and hearts of our own.
And has not forgotten us. And has not abandoned us. And does not grow weary, even when we do.
With each day, with each morning, we are lifted up by Christ to fully serve as we have been called to serve. We are restored to our fullest and truest selves. Called to be disciples. Called to do justice, love kindness. Called to walk humbly with our God. Oh, we will grow weary, even the young among us. We will be exhausted.
But haven’t we known? Haven’t we heard? Can we tell what we know and what we have heard to an entire city’s worth of people gathered at the doorway – looking for restoration- longing for healing – those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall walk and not faint.
Thanks be to God. Amen.