feb-4-2018-sermon

Sermon Epiphany 5 – Feb. 4, 2018

Lectionary

Isaiah 40:21–31 1 Corinthians 9:16–23 Mark 1:29–39 Psalm 147:1–12, 21c

1 Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God! * how pleasant it is to honor him with praise!

• Paul: both free and slave
• Jesus heals many (Simon’s mother-in-law)
• Jesus preaches to many

Epiphany season as:

• inauguration, revelation, manifestation, of Jesus’ ministry
• Baptism, wilderness,
• Choose a team
• Heal and teach with power and authority

We continue where last week’s gospel reading left off

Epiphany season is in many ways an extended series of readings about who this Messiah is who has come into the world. Last week we heard he is one who “teaches and heals with authority.” This week in a sense we go deeper. Rather than ephasizing what he does we begin to get a sense of how he goes about doing it. What is the character of this person?

A Christian is one who points at Christ and says, ‘I can’t prove a thing, but there’s something about his eyes and his voice. There’s something about the way he carries his head, his hands, the way he carries his cross-the way he carries me.’ Frederick Buechner

We won’t pick up the thread of the narrative until June, after we have worked our way through the themes and narrative of Lent and Easter.

Who is he?

Jesus has just entered the house of his disciples Andrew and Simon Peter. This is a house probably more like the houses I got used to seeing in Hawai’i than the houses that most of us live in around here. In Hawai’i they were all small and densely lived in. It was not at all uncommon to have 3 generations living under one roof. In fact 4 was maybe more typical. And in the houses of the Micronesians that I knew there were not just several generations living together but there were siblings and aunties and uncles.
There was no doubt a lot going on as they entered the house.

By the way:

I have in the text here a picture of a site in modern day Capernaum. It shows a layout of ruins from 1500 year old Byzantine church and behind it very new and modern chapel. On the outskirts of the ruins you can find a sign that reads: The House of Peter: The Home of Jesus in Capernaum?
Beneath the foundations of this octagonal Byzantine martyrium church at Capernaum, archaeologists made one of the most exciting Biblical archaeology discoveries of the last century: a simple first-century A.D. home that may have been the house of Peter, the home of Jesus in Capernaum.
For much of Jesus’ adult life he lived in the small fishing village of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. It was here during the infancy of early Christianity that he began his ministry in the town synagogue (Mark 1:21), recruited his first disciples (Mark 1:16–20) and became renowned for his power to heal the sick and infirm (Mark 3:1–5).
Early travelers to the site had long recognized the beautifully preserved remains of the ancient synagogue that many believe marked the site, if not the actual building, of Jesus’ earliest teaching. But an important detail of how Christianity began still remained: Where in the town had Jesus actually lived? Where was the house of Peter, which the Bible suggests was the home of Jesus in Capernaum (Matthew 8:14–16)?
Italian excavators working in Capernaum may have actually uncovered the remnants of the humble house of Peter that Jesus called home while in Capernaum….
Buried beneath the remains of this octagonal Byzantine church, excavators found the ruins of a rather mundane dwelling dating to the first century B.C.
Although slightly larger than most, the house was simple, with coarse walls and a roof of earth and straw. Like most early Roman-period houses, it consisted of a few small rooms clustered around two open courtyards. Despite later proving to be one of the most exciting Biblical archaeology discoveries, the house appeared quite ordinary. According to the excavators, however, it is what happened to the house after the middle of the first century A.D. that marked it as exceptional and most likely the house of Peter, the home of Jesus in Capernaum. (Biblical Archaeological Review)
Capernaum info It seems that one set of rooms in the complex was preserved for several centuries, as if they were venerated, and then gradually it was built up into a place of pilgrimage where Christians even etched their names onto the walls. By the end of the 5th c. an elaborate Byzantine church had been built covering the whole site.

Capernaum: Simon Peters House

This is a place that we might even be able to walk around and touch today. And there Jesus walked into a family’s house all abuzz with news of this new preacher & healer.
In the hubbub Jesus is made aware that Simon’s mother-in-law was sick. I have really often been amazed at the specificity of this character. Not a member of of Simon’s household. But his mother-in-law.
This is a quiet and compassionate encounter. Not like the noisy encounter we saw last week with a man afflicted with many spirits. It’s not a public place, with shouts and cries going up, people clamoring to hear or touch this teacher. Perhaps she was lying down in a corner of the main room. How many rooms were there? There couldn’t have been many.
He took her hand and lifted her up. That phrase is used again later in Mark and it used by Luke when the apostles heal after the Resurrection and Ascension.. I picture it as an intimate, gentle, and graceful move.
Then the focus shifts to the mother-in-law. She is healed. And her first response is to serve the household, the visitors, this person who has just miraculously healed her. The word used here is the verbal form of the noun we know as “deacon”.
I think of the lesson from the former bishop of the Upper Peninsula when he said that we ordain people so that they can be a symbol to all the rest of us Christians that a part of our vocation is to serve one another. "
The greatest among you will be your servant" (Matt 23)
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 1 Peter 4:10 ESV
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Galatians 5:13 ESV
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7 ESV
Simon’s mother-in-law got it. ’… but there’s something about his eyes and his voice. There’s something about the way he carries his head, his hands, the way he carries his cross-the way he carries me.’ Frederick Buechner

That evening, at sundown they brought to Jesus many who needed healing.

Sundown, of course, was the mark of a new day. It had been the Sabbath and now Sabbath was over. So the townspeople rushed from their Sabbath rest and went straight to this house where they heard Jesus was staying. Jesus then healed. He cast out spirits. He commanded the spirits to do what he said.
All of this while the whole town was clamoring at his door.
When I was growing up people used to just come by our door. Maybe someone would say, “Can Dale come out and play?” Later I have lived in several communities where it wasn’t unusual for neighbors to just “pop in.”
Now if I had a whole neighborhood banging on my door, I don’t think I would take that very graciously. I don’t know if I would have my wits about me.
But that’s what Jesus did. With grace. With Shalom. He proceeded through this crowd, responding to each of their needs as they presented them.
Breathtaking don’t you think?

Serve with grace of Christ.

Back when I was a younger priest there was an older priest I admired. Mostly it was because he had started the Milwaukee area hospice and that was a ministry I was and still remain very interested in.
He also started what became a very important place for people living on the street to get a hot meal. When it started it was on Saturday afternoon when no one else was serving such a meal. The way he staffed this “soup kitchen” was with volunteers from all the area churches, starting with Episcopal churches.
As a new priest I was charged with getting our parish involved and before we could serve on a Saturday afternoon we had to be trained. In the course of that “training” I learned one of the most important lessons of my life. I have tried to live by it everyday since. I am grateful and indebted to you Michael Stolpman.
The lesson was delivered to us passionately with deep conviction. It was a little like, “You will do this or don’t bother coming.”
The direction we got was this: "Your job is to serve all the people who come here for a meal. As you fill their plates you are to do it with the same kind of care you would give to serving your mother and a Thanksgiving meal. When you have finished serving meals, you are to go out to the tables and have conversation with whoever you meet – as if you were sitting with your best friends. In summary, you are to treat each person you meet as if they were Jesus himself.
That is the lesson that Peter’s mother-in-law learned that day in Capernaum. It is the lesson that each person who was healed that day in Capernaum learned.
If we allow ourselves to be touched by Jesus, we will learn it too. I am convinced that is the way we will end up going forward in our lives. ’… but there’s something about his eyes and his voice. There’s something about the way he carries his head, his hands, the way he carries his cross-the way he carries me.’ Greet each person you meet as if they were the Lord. The may well be, you know.