“…and she began to serve them…”

(Mark 1:29-45)

As soon as Jesus and the disciples 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 Jesus 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 sunset, they brought to him all that were sick or possessed by 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 all Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling, he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.”  Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, “I do choose.  Be made clean!”  Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.  After sternly warning him, he sent him away at once, saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”  But the man who was made clean went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word , so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

            In the “good old days” when women were expected to do everything that embodied hospitality, those of us who came of age in the 60’s and 70’s said no more!  No more being expected to make coffee for the office.  No more doing all the cooking and cleaning and serving at home with no thought for ourselves.  No more, unless there is some division of labor.  We had to be annoying and loud in order to be heard on these matters, but, little by little, this began to change.  Then, and only then, could women choose to do what suited us and to do it happily.

            And so, in my early days of preaching, when reading the story about Simon’s mother-in-law rising up after being healed by Jesus and then serving them, I said, “Oh no.  Not preaching it.”  These days I have been able to see through the mists of 2000 years, and I trust that you do too.  For a woman of that era, her whole identity was wrapped up in being that woman, the matriarch of the house who was in charge of the food and hospitality.  Nothing was done in the kitchen without her okay.  It was the only part of her life where she had power, and to be so ill that she could not be in charge of it must have been terrible for Simon’s mother-in-law. 

            This puts a major point on the power that Jesus returned to her by lifting her up and healing her.  She was given her identity back.  Many of us know what it feels like to be unable, because of illness, to do what we see as the work that defines us. To suddenly, immediately, be restored to our life as we know it, would be amazing.  We are, as the text says, “lifted up” when we are able to do what we are meant to do.  Serving Jesus and the disciples was not a chore.  Being a servant was who she was.  And, in the Gospel world, being a servant was precisely who Jesus came to be.

            Now, as the reading goes on, it is clear that Jesus’ popularity is becoming a burden for him.  The chaos and confusion that accompanied it is clear in the text.  First we hear about how the whole city was gathered around the door of Simon and Andrew’s house after healing Simon’s mother-in-law.  Jesus worked tirelessly to heal folks after that, to cast out the demons who were giving him lip and whom he had made silent.  By morning Jesus knew he had to get outta there, so he went to a deserted place to pray.  Before long, the guys, Simon and the others, found him and began to tell him how he could not just disappear because everyone was searching for him.  Clearly, Jesus was burned out with all the healing.

            “No,” said Jesus, “we’ve got to leave for the neighboring towns so I can proclaim the Gospel because that’s what I came out to do.”

            Well, wouldn’t you know, as they are making their way around Galilee, they encountered a leper who was what? Begging for healing.  An interesting aside is that the translations vary for how Jesus hears this.  Some of the modern ones have translated that Jesus was moved with pity when the leper said, “If you choose, you can make me clean.”  (could the leper have been using sarcasm here?  Maybe….)

And there are, as some Bible commentaries say, ancient authorities whose translations say that Jesus was moved with anger when the leper said, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” 

Either way it is clear that there was tension there.  If we all could read the Greek we would be able to feel it.  Jesus did not want to be known as a healer only, but, rather, as a preacher of the Kingdom of God.  And he probably looked at his world and saw that the religious authorities had created these categories of clean and unclean and understood that they would be the judges of who was in what category. 

            This fits with how Jesus responded to the religious authorities throughout his ministry.  Jesus was clear that all people belonged to God, regardless of their status of cleanliness, religion, nationality or gender.  As long as there are people in society who have been deemed to be untouchable by the religious authorities, there was cause for anger.  As long as we look down on those whom we decide are beneath us or different from us, we are vulnerable to enforcing religious rules that exclude people from church. 

            Interestingly, once Jesus healed our leper he cautioned our guy to say nothing about this but to go to the priest and be officially declared to be clean, as the law demanded.  But our guy did not keep quiet, and the word about Jesus was spread far and wide. 

            So, the entirety of today’s reading covers a lot.  Let’s hold on to the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law and the vision of her rising up to serve Jesus and the disciples, this lovely picture of what it means to be at home with one another. 

Then we have Jesus trying to cope with this ministry that he has been called to.  Encapsulated in that is what he had observed with the religious authorities and how the religion had evolved into something that was not hospitable to people but rather only served those in charge.

            …So, why does this matter to us?  Well, it matters because this sort of thing still goes on today in religion and in other organizations.  We seem to not be in the business of serving others, but just loving the rules and regulations.

            An example of this is what I heard from a colleague the other day.  The church this person serves makes a point to welcome all people who come in the door.  The church helps those folks out with food and clothing and, perhaps, even money for a night’s lodging.  A recent person they had helped, though, continued coming and asking for help, week after week, day after day.  Folks were getting tired of it.  There was discussion about whether they would continue with the help as well as the welcome.  Now, if this happened to us, I know there would be details that would need to be attended to.  Things like seeing what would be available through the social service network.  But part of what was going on in this church was that the church folks grew weary of this guy’s lack of cleanliness, his poor choices in all things, his inability to take opportunities and turn them into a changed life.  It became possible for them to declare him unacceptable.

            A glaring example of the truth of the way that church rules and regulations call people unacceptable and unworthy of hospitality is the way that Trans people are being treated both in church and in our society.  State legislators are passing laws regarding how parents deal with the reality of their children’s need for medical and emotional care.  It’s as though they can lump everyone together and make a rule about them. 

A number of years ago I was asked to guest preach at the First Congregational Church in Akron.  After worship we attended an adult church school class in which a transwoman was a member.  I admit that this was new to me at that time, and I felt awkward and did not greet this person with the openness that I would hope I could now display.  It was also clear that the rest of the class felt that same awkwardness.  I think about this person often and wonder how she is doing, wishing I had been more open and welcoming.

            The disagreements in our denomination continue around the question of whether gay and Lesbian people should have all the rights and privileges due to them in our churches.  For so many years folks have been treated either patronizingly (oh God forgives all your sins—being LGBTQ is not a sin, folks) or “You’re welcome here, but you can never be married nor can you listen for God’s call because we don’t allow gay clergy.”

            I can imagine what it would be like if Jesus were walking around in Summit County today or even in some of our white, monied suburbs, maybe in any of our neighborhoods.  Would he allow anyone to be declared unclean?  No!  He would commence to preach the Gospel of repentance and belief, and he would be calling all of us “religious” folk on the carpet about thinking that we have the right to declare any person or any group unclean.

            Jesus would be in the business of healing so that we all could rise up and serve each other—serve all people.

            And, yeah, Jesus got tired of the crowds following him, lining up to receive healing because we people are so needy.  We are all in need of a healing touch.  We are all in need of acceptance, not refusal and exclusion.  May we welcome all with open arms and open hearts.  May we be up for serving anyone and everyone.  May our doors be open to all, and all means all.  Amen.