Lifted to Service
Mark 1:29-39
As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you." He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
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I was the world's worst Girl Scout. But I made it all the way from Brownies through Cadettes before other activities started to get in the way and I had to (thankfully) end my scouting career. I remember going camping; the troop had this system of demerits for rule infractions. Infractions could be doled out for anything from sleeping late, to not rolling your sleeping bag up properly, to not being able to fit the corrugated cardboard into the tuna can for the bottom of the bun-son burner (no matter how many times you cut your finger)… but in any case, whoever ended up at the end of the weekend with the most demerits, had to take home the greasy grill tops the troop had cooked on all weekend. One would then have to clean them, and then bring them back to the church at the next meeting.
I will confess to you now, that I never came home from a camping trip empty handed. My dad would come to pick me up... me and the two black plastic garbage bags containing the grill tops. The thing I couldn’t understand is that Dad would look amazed each time- like he didn’t expect it- like he was shocked that I ended up with the most demerits.
I’ve often thought about that over the years… how 'messing up' on a trip brought on doing "something extra" for the troop. It didn't make sense. If we were supposed to be learning about how cool it is to serve others, why was it a punishment to serve our own troop? Wouldn’t it have made more sense, if the person who didn’t mess up all weekend would get to take the grills home? I mean, wouldn’t it have been more in the service theme... wouldn't it have been an honor?
Somewhere in our culture, we have adopted the notion that if we do what we are supposed to do, then we somehow get out of doing more work… and that’s the aim. In fact, even our work is supposed to eventually take us to the point where we don’t have to work anymore. After a lifetime of vocation, we are supposed to be able to rest… retire, we call it. And somehow this all makes sense to us.
The passage from Mark picks up right after the temple scene from last week; Jesus had been preaching in the temple, and the man with the unclean spirit called out, and Jesus healed him. But now, Jesus has put in a full day, and he wants to go relax. So Peter says to him “Come to my house- kick back, get some food, My mother in law is probably cooking right now- and despite how I complain about her, she actually is a great cook! And we can relax and play with the new WII bowling game I just got for my birthday. Come on Jesus… you deserve it- you worked hard.”
And they go- Jesus and the disciples make the trek to Peter’s house but when they get there, there are no tempting smells coming from the stove, or the crock pot, or the George Foreman Grill. In fact, the house is quiet; so Pete calls out, “Hey… Anybody home?” ...and he promptly disappears, leaving Jesus and the others in the front hall.
In a few minutes, he returns; a little apologetic and a little sheepish, and begins to tell his friends… “Look, um, my mother-in-law is sick. She can’t cook tonight. Sorry... I know I promised you, but she just can’t make it… she hasn’t been out of bed all day.”
But Jesus interrupts... “Where is she Peter? Let me see her.”
And when they get to his mother in law’s room, Jesus looks at her- smiles- and "takes her by the hand and lifted her up” and the fever leaves her... and she gets up and begins to cook for everyone.
Now women- don’t freak out. I know that the first several hundred times I read this passage I thought to myself…. 'Of course Jesus healed her- they needed someone to make them some dinner! Forget any of the men doing anything to cook! As if Jesus is saying… "What do you mean she’s sick? Oh no no no no… we can’t have this… where is she Pete? I’ll have her up and cooking in no time… I’m starved!”'
But after I had time to read- reflect- translate... pray- reflect- pray... and take out the gender... (sigh) I began to see the passage in a different light. So let's look again...
So, we’re back in the bedroom- Jesus takes Peter's Mother in Law by the hand and lifts her up- the fever leaves her, and she gets up and begins to cook for everyone. Jesus… lifts her up. In the Greek- he raises her. Now, there are a couple of interesting things here.
First, the woman is healed… and unlike many stories of healing in the Bible, Peter's MIL doesn’t get healed because of her great faith- there is no mention that she believed at all. She is healed, 'made whole,' the text says, by a tender touch from Jesus.
We need to be near to Jesus to be healed. In fact, some say that’s the very reason for the incarnation- for God to have come to earth in human form. Humans need intimacy- we need to be near each other to help one another to wholeness.
Second, she doesn’t get raised up so that she can sit and rest… in fact, the woman gets right out of bed and begins to work…to serve. This is the part that I think is so totally out there. Because here is the way that our world works: "If you work hard- you get to rest. If you work hard enough, you get promoted- and the premise is, that the higher you go up the proverbial ladder of success, the easier the “work” becomes. In fact, we go from being a servant, to having others serve us. That’s what its about, right? That we get to a place, finally, where people can come and do things for us. After all 'we have earned it,' we say, and we have 'paid our dues, so now someone else at the bottom can do the dirty jobs!' In fact- we call those jobs “service positions,” where people who aren’t skilled enough to do anything else can find work. Waiters and waitresses are called “servers” ... people work in “service stations” or “food service”… etc.
But if we look at what it means to be a follower of Christ, then what we are supposed to be working toward is not to have others eventually serve us, but rather to learn how to serve others. Jesus heals this woman- she is brought to wholeness- to completeness- and she takes her rightful role in service to others. We could learn so much from her- because for most of us, when we think of the “higher callings,” we think of the more 'spiritual' realm. We think that maybe if we start in the soup kitchen, washing dishes for people, that we will learn enough there to be able to maybe take a lowly position in the church- and maybe from there- teach Sunday school, or be in church leadership- or even go to seminary and be a pastor- that would be elevating to us- to have rank and title and have lots of other people doing the menial tasks of ministry like washing dishes. (And we all know Pastors don't do anything... HA)
But here- Jesus blows all of that ideology right out the window, and shows us that when we are really touched by Jesus- and have allowed Jesus to come near and make us whole, that the system is reversed- we are elevated… we are raised to the highest calling.. to serve others.
And no matter what that looks like in your life; whether you are serving by preaching from a pulpit, or washing the grills for girl scouts, you'll have a sense of peace and fulfillment unlike you've ever experienced.
As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you." He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
***************************************************************************************************
I was the world's worst Girl Scout. But I made it all the way from Brownies through Cadettes before other activities started to get in the way and I had to (thankfully) end my scouting career. I remember going camping; the troop had this system of demerits for rule infractions. Infractions could be doled out for anything from sleeping late, to not rolling your sleeping bag up properly, to not being able to fit the corrugated cardboard into the tuna can for the bottom of the bun-son burner (no matter how many times you cut your finger)… but in any case, whoever ended up at the end of the weekend with the most demerits, had to take home the greasy grill tops the troop had cooked on all weekend. One would then have to clean them, and then bring them back to the church at the next meeting.
I will confess to you now, that I never came home from a camping trip empty handed. My dad would come to pick me up... me and the two black plastic garbage bags containing the grill tops. The thing I couldn’t understand is that Dad would look amazed each time- like he didn’t expect it- like he was shocked that I ended up with the most demerits.
I’ve often thought about that over the years… how 'messing up' on a trip brought on doing "something extra" for the troop. It didn't make sense. If we were supposed to be learning about how cool it is to serve others, why was it a punishment to serve our own troop? Wouldn’t it have made more sense, if the person who didn’t mess up all weekend would get to take the grills home? I mean, wouldn’t it have been more in the service theme... wouldn't it have been an honor?
Somewhere in our culture, we have adopted the notion that if we do what we are supposed to do, then we somehow get out of doing more work… and that’s the aim. In fact, even our work is supposed to eventually take us to the point where we don’t have to work anymore. After a lifetime of vocation, we are supposed to be able to rest… retire, we call it. And somehow this all makes sense to us.
The passage from Mark picks up right after the temple scene from last week; Jesus had been preaching in the temple, and the man with the unclean spirit called out, and Jesus healed him. But now, Jesus has put in a full day, and he wants to go relax. So Peter says to him “Come to my house- kick back, get some food, My mother in law is probably cooking right now- and despite how I complain about her, she actually is a great cook! And we can relax and play with the new WII bowling game I just got for my birthday. Come on Jesus… you deserve it- you worked hard.”
And they go- Jesus and the disciples make the trek to Peter’s house but when they get there, there are no tempting smells coming from the stove, or the crock pot, or the George Foreman Grill. In fact, the house is quiet; so Pete calls out, “Hey… Anybody home?” ...and he promptly disappears, leaving Jesus and the others in the front hall.
In a few minutes, he returns; a little apologetic and a little sheepish, and begins to tell his friends… “Look, um, my mother-in-law is sick. She can’t cook tonight. Sorry... I know I promised you, but she just can’t make it… she hasn’t been out of bed all day.”
But Jesus interrupts... “Where is she Peter? Let me see her.”
And when they get to his mother in law’s room, Jesus looks at her- smiles- and "takes her by the hand and lifted her up” and the fever leaves her... and she gets up and begins to cook for everyone.
Now women- don’t freak out. I know that the first several hundred times I read this passage I thought to myself…. 'Of course Jesus healed her- they needed someone to make them some dinner! Forget any of the men doing anything to cook! As if Jesus is saying… "What do you mean she’s sick? Oh no no no no… we can’t have this… where is she Pete? I’ll have her up and cooking in no time… I’m starved!”'
But after I had time to read- reflect- translate... pray- reflect- pray... and take out the gender... (sigh) I began to see the passage in a different light. So let's look again...
So, we’re back in the bedroom- Jesus takes Peter's Mother in Law by the hand and lifts her up- the fever leaves her, and she gets up and begins to cook for everyone. Jesus… lifts her up. In the Greek- he raises her. Now, there are a couple of interesting things here.
First, the woman is healed… and unlike many stories of healing in the Bible, Peter's MIL doesn’t get healed because of her great faith- there is no mention that she believed at all. She is healed, 'made whole,' the text says, by a tender touch from Jesus.
We need to be near to Jesus to be healed. In fact, some say that’s the very reason for the incarnation- for God to have come to earth in human form. Humans need intimacy- we need to be near each other to help one another to wholeness.
Second, she doesn’t get raised up so that she can sit and rest… in fact, the woman gets right out of bed and begins to work…to serve. This is the part that I think is so totally out there. Because here is the way that our world works: "If you work hard- you get to rest. If you work hard enough, you get promoted- and the premise is, that the higher you go up the proverbial ladder of success, the easier the “work” becomes. In fact, we go from being a servant, to having others serve us. That’s what its about, right? That we get to a place, finally, where people can come and do things for us. After all 'we have earned it,' we say, and we have 'paid our dues, so now someone else at the bottom can do the dirty jobs!' In fact- we call those jobs “service positions,” where people who aren’t skilled enough to do anything else can find work. Waiters and waitresses are called “servers” ... people work in “service stations” or “food service”… etc.
But if we look at what it means to be a follower of Christ, then what we are supposed to be working toward is not to have others eventually serve us, but rather to learn how to serve others. Jesus heals this woman- she is brought to wholeness- to completeness- and she takes her rightful role in service to others. We could learn so much from her- because for most of us, when we think of the “higher callings,” we think of the more 'spiritual' realm. We think that maybe if we start in the soup kitchen, washing dishes for people, that we will learn enough there to be able to maybe take a lowly position in the church- and maybe from there- teach Sunday school, or be in church leadership- or even go to seminary and be a pastor- that would be elevating to us- to have rank and title and have lots of other people doing the menial tasks of ministry like washing dishes. (And we all know Pastors don't do anything... HA)
But here- Jesus blows all of that ideology right out the window, and shows us that when we are really touched by Jesus- and have allowed Jesus to come near and make us whole, that the system is reversed- we are elevated… we are raised to the highest calling.. to serve others.
And no matter what that looks like in your life; whether you are serving by preaching from a pulpit, or washing the grills for girl scouts, you'll have a sense of peace and fulfillment unlike you've ever experienced.