"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 lifter her up. Then the fever left her, and she
began to serve them."
A quick glance at this
healing story from the Gospel of Mark might cause us to do a double-take, or at least raise an eyebrow. It would seem that
Simon has invited his Rabbi (Jesus), and a few others, to come over for supper. Upon arrival they find his mother-in-law sick
and in bed. It would seem that their plans for dinner might need to change, until someone decides to tell Jesus why dinner
isn't ready yet - Simon's mother-in-law is sick in bed. The way the story is told in Mark, it makes it look like Jesus, never
one to be an impractical houseguest, decided to help the dinner plans along by healing Simon's mother-in-law, so that she
could serve them dinner. The story looks like it's about a miracle, of course - but it looks like a self-serving miracle!
Invite the miracle-working preacher over for dinner, so he can heal the sick woman, so she can go into the kitchen, so she
can serve us dinner.
Well... that's what happened... but that's NOT what happened...
Although at first glance it looks like this short story is about
a woman being healed so she could wait on the men hand and foot - a denigrating image of women to our modern sensibilities,
indeed - but this unfortunate interpretation of this story is due to the fact that the English words used to translate the
last sentence of that paragraph don't convey the truth of the matter which was contained in the original Greek. The word "serve"
in Greek is "diakoneo." It's the same word that was used earlier in this same chapter of Mark when, after his baptism,
Jesus was in the wilderness, tempted by the devil, and was "waited on - diakoneo" by angels. This same word "diakoneo"
is used throughout the New Testament in reference to serving others, caring for others, and - you guessed it! - MINISTRY!
In fact, that Greek word "diakoneo" is the word from which we get the word "deacon" - an ordained minister
of the Church who is dedicated to the ministry of serving the world on behalf of the Church.
Given that little linguistic lesson, it puts a new spin on this
little healing story. Jesus healed Simon's mother-in-law, and she ministered to them. It's important to realize that Jesus
didn't heal her so that she could minister TO THEM, mind you - but he did heal her so that she could minister. You could say
that Jesus ministered to her in order to empower her in her ministry of hospitality. That works... That preaches!
Last week I shared with
you how the stories in this first chapter of Mark's Gospel help to set out the themes of what the rest of the book is all
about. These early stories tell us a great deal about who Jesus is, and what his ministry is all about. I also shared with
you last week that these stories at the outset of Mark also have a lot to say about what is expected of us as followers of
Jesus; as his disciples, we are to carry on the work that he begun as outlined in these opening verses of Mark. Today's healing
story is no different. In fact, the events that we heard in last week's Gospel reading and today's Gospel reading all take
place in just one 24-hour period at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Jesus is just getting started; and so is the author
of Mark. These four sentences about what happened at Simon's house tell us a great deal about Jesus, and they tell us a great
deal about being a disciple of Jesus.
To see more
clearly what this story has to say about Jesus, we need to refer back to the story of his baptism - where he experienced God
calling him "my Child" and "Beloved" and saying he was the One with whom God was "well pleased."
And we need to refer back to his subsequent experience in the wilderness - the place where he experienced both temptation
and "diakoneo." It would seem that in Baptism, Jesus was empowered to become who he was born to be as God's Child,
God's Beloved. And that having endured a time of tribulation, Jesus was ministered to. And Jesus took this as a model as to
how to be in relationship with people from that point on.
So when Jesus came to Simon's house, he didn't arrive to find out that dinner was delayed due to illness - he arrived
to find out that someone had been separated from her ministry by illness. And Jesus removed the barrier which kept her from
living into her ministry of hospitality and service to others, an act which he did throughout his entire ministry as recorded
in Mark and all the other Gospels. Jesus, who was God's Child, God's Beloved, and with whom God was well pleased, lived a
life of "diakoneo" ... service ... ministry. And Jesus called others to live lives of "diakoneo" ... service
... ministry. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus: to live a life of service... a life of ministry... and to empower
and enable others to live their lives in service... in ministry... so that it becomes a chain reaction of people living lives
of service... living lives of ministry... until finally everyone who has the breath of life in them is living a life of service...
a life of ministry... and we find ourselves smack-dab in the middle of the Realm of God.
There are any number of names which we can use to describe this kind of life - this
life of service and ministry. Sometimes we call it servant ministry. Sometimes we call it servant leadership. Sometimes we
just call it a ministry of service. But another way of looking at it is how in this particular healing everyone is involved
- we call this mutual ministry. Simon and his friends tell Jesus that a loved-one is sick. Jesus ministered to her. She ministered
to Jesus and everyone else. Everyone gives and receives ministry.
In a relationship of mutual ministry, everyone is someone who both ministers to others and receives ministry from
others. But the emphasis isn't on the action of either giving or receiving - the emphasis is on ministry. Jesus calls and
empowers all of us to serve others and to minister to their needs. But Jesus also calls and empowers all of us to call and
empower others into their ministries. By serving each other, not only do we help to meet each others' needs, but we also help
each other discover and grow into the ministries to which we are all called. And, like Simon's mother-in-law, the first ministry
to which we are called is the ministry of service - a ministry which is often embodied in what we call hospitality, but isn't
limited to hospitality. In a broad sense, every kind of ministry (and every kind of service) is one form of hospitality or
another. All ministries have at their heart the goal of making others feel at home within themselves, and within the world
in which they live. But mutual ministry doesn't stop there. Mutual ministry goes beyond simple hospitality into the discovery
of gifts... into nurturing of gifts and skills... into empowerment of gifts... into trusting someone to use their gifts...
into challenging each other to grow... into discovering new gifts... into utilizing our gifts in new contexts... and so on...
When I came to St. Mark's (four years ago, come next week) we
went into a process of discernment which culminated in our entering into an agreement of Mutual Ministry - an agreement which
said that I would strive to minister to you and our community to the best of my God-given abilities, and that you would do
the same. It was an agreement that we would do this together. And we sealed that commitment which we were making to one another
when Bishop Singh came to celebrate with us our call to Mutual Ministry. But that's only one small example of what mutual
ministry looks like. Every year in January, you as a parish elect people to lead you by SERVING ("diakoneo") on
the Vestry, or as Wardens, or as Delegates, or as Alternates. And every year in January our Vestry appoints Clerks and Treasurers
to SERVE ("diakoneo") our parish in their unique ministries. But (and perhaps more importantly) several times a
year we gather together around our Baptismal Font and we renew our Baptismal Covenant and the Vows with which we accepted
Jesus' call to be his disciples, and to SERVE ("diakoneo") each other and the world in his name.
Yesterday our Vestry shared a workday with the Vestry from St. Thomas' Church
of Bath. One of the exercises we did as a Vestry was to come up with some concrete ideas about how we might be able to SERVE
("diakoneo") more people in our community - people whom we haven't met, who haven't ever been here, who maybe have
never heard of St. Mark's or the Episcopal Church. And your servant leaders came up with a formidable list of ideas on how
to do that. I'm very proud of them; and I'm sure that you are, too. But I want to point out that the Vestry of St. Mark's
Church is not only a model of servant leadership. The Vestry is, by nature, a model of mutual ministry. You have recognized
and celebrated the gifts which they have, and you have asked them to exercise those gifts in ministry - you have empowered
them. But, by the same token, our Vestry is not intended to lead by doing all these great ideas for the rest of us. Instead,
they are empowered by you and by God to empower you in your ministries. So in the weeks and months that lie ahead of us, as
our Vestry moves forward with trying to bring about the many ideas which came about in yesterday's workday, please be ready
to hear them when they call you into hospitality and beyond. And please be ready to join with them as we all work together
as individual disciples, and as a parish of disciples, to discover what our gifts are... to nurture our gifts... to use those
gifts... to empower each others' gifts... to trust each other to use our gifts...to challenge each other to grow... to work
together to discover new gifts... and to utilize our gifts in new contexts... to bring about the Realm of God.
Jesus, whose name we bear as his disciples, is calling us to a life of mutual ministry - a life in which we serve
others and serve each other - not for the sake of giving or receiving ministry - but simply for the sake of serving. Like
Jesus, in our Baptism it's what we're born to do. Let us all pray for the grace to answer his call and live into our calling.
Amen.
