Grace, mercy, and
peace to you in the name of Christ our Saviour. Amen.
One
of the things that has always irked me about the Bible is the lack of details.
When you read a good novel, there are chapters that introduce you to characters
and their backstories. These chapters are used to get you involved with the
people and then you want to read on to find out what happens to them. But in
the bible, those details are lacking. One of the most poignant examples is what
was Jesus up to for 30 years? I won’t get into that right now, but you get my
drift.
Today’s
Gospel reading is no different. Jesus is at Simon and Andrew’s house where
Simon’s mother-in-law is sick with a fever. I have questions. Why do Simon and
Andrew live together? If Simon has a mother-in-law, it implies that he is
married. So to whom is he married? Saying that she has a fever is pretty
general. Is it just a fever that most of us would just sleep it off? Or is it a
more life-threatening illness? Where are the details??
Especially
when it comes to women, the Bible more than not leaves them nameless even
though they are some of the most important pieces of the development of our
relationship with Jesus.
Simon’s
mother-in-law is left nameless, Simon’s spouse seems to have been left out of
the story, and we have no idea how threatening the illness is, but what we do
know is that Simon was worried enough that after witnessing Jesus dispel the
unclean spirit from the man earlier in the day, he asked Jesus to come and heal
his mother-in-law.
The
healing of Simon’s mother-in-law is a classic healing story. It’s all fine and
good. It’s what Jesus does. It’s what he’s good at. But there is something disturbing
about this story that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with healing.
According
to the NRSV translation, verse 31 goes as such: “He came and took her by the
hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Did
anyone else bristle at these words?
Assuming
that this fever was life-threatening, this woman was just brought back to life
with Jesus’ healing. What would you do if you were brought back from the edge
of death? Would your first instinct be to get up and serve people?
I
decided to look up some other translations.
NIV
– “So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and
she began to wait on them.”
KJV
– “And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the
fever left her, and she ministered unto them.”
Message
– “He went to her, took her hand, and raised her up. No sooner had the fever
left than she was up fixing dinner for them.”
Yikes.
That last one especially gets my goat.
Of
course Jesus healed her – they needed someone to make them some dinner! As if
Jesus is saying, "What do you mean she’s sick? We can’t have this. I’ll
have her up and cooking in no time.” As my friend Rachel Twigg put it in her
2018 sermon, “Jesus heals her and immediately she gets up and begins to serve
him. What did she serve him? A sandwich?”
I
say again, yikes.
I
don’t tend to read the King James Version, but I think that translation hits a
little closer to home than the rest. Here’s why I say that.
Mark
1:31 uses the word serve which translates to diakoneo in the Greek language.
This same word was used in Mark 10:45 “for the Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve” and in Mark 1:13 when “angels waited on him.”
Translating
the same Greek word as “minister” when angels are the subject but “serve” when
a woman is the subject downplays her action. As translated, Jesus’ healing of
Simon’s mother-in-law and the miracle’s outcome are extremely gendered in ways
that veer too close to the stereotypes we know to be tired and destructive.
Instead,
let’s look at the fact that diakoneo is the root of the word Deacon.
Perhaps Simon’s mother-in-law is the first to understand what it is to follow
Jesus thus becoming the first deacon. Unlike many stories of healing in the
Bible, she doesn’t get healed because of her great faith; there is no mention
that she believed at all. But once she is healed, the woman gets right out of
bed and begins to work, to serve, to minister.
Though
the details about her are left out of the story, details like her name and the
reason for her illness, this woman who appears not to have been a believer, is
now a follower of Christ. She has been transformed by her encounter with Christ
and will now live out her life in service of others.
Just
as the demons do in the previous scene, the fever “leaves her.” Having been
“raised,” she “serves” them. While literally it could mean she served them food
and drink, the word’s presence here shows that her service is to be interpreted
as a model response of faith. Meaning both to serve at a table and to do
ministry.
I
agree with Rachel Twigg when she says, “Simon’s unnamed mother-in-law is really
a model of Christian discipleship, the embodiment of the type of discipleship
that Jesus will embody in his own life and ministry, and which he will call his
disciples to emulate. A type of service that his male disciples will often fail
to live up to.”
So
while the words “she began to serve them” makes us cringe because of how we
know society treats women, then and now, the healed woman’s reaction to her
encounter with Christ is actually something for us to strive towards.
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.
Serving
is not “woman’s work”, nor is it lesser than being served. Simon’s
mother-in-law is more than a cook, waiter, and dishwasher. She’s also a
follower. If she’s a follower, and a follower who is willing to serve as she
goes, then she’s also a disciple. If she’s a disciple, then to her “has been
given the secret of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4:11). Service is not the “proper
place of women” it is the proper place for all Christians.
This
woman shows us that when we allow Jesus to come near and touch us, we are
raised to the highest calling – to serve others. And her service was not a
one-time, over-and-done-with action, like cooking a meal. Simon’s mother-in-law
began to serve Jesus and his followers. But the meaning of her actions was
transformed by Jesus’ healing touch. She did not serve and minister to them because
of some duty. She served out of love. Simon’s mother-in-law became as much a
follower of Jesus as any of his disciples. Mark describes her using language
that makes her the first deacon in Christianity. She was the first person to
have their ordinary diakonos, or service of others, transformed into
servant ministry.
Simon
Peter’s mother-in-law provides us an example by which to live – to respond to
the love of God, the healing and forgiving touch of Jesus, by sharing that love
with those around us. And, as you share God’s love, you are living into your
own vocation as a minister of the Gospel as a teacher, lawyer, salesperson,
doctor, volunteer, parent, grandparent, spouse, friend to the glory of God.
Your ordinary work will be ministry simply by the virtue of your baptism.
Amen.
