A sermon preached at St. Francis by the Lake Episcopal Church in Canyon Lake, TX.
The lectionary readings for the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany are here.
Once upon a time, in preparation for a great family feast, a young mother sliced a couple of inches off the end of the ham before putting the ham in the roasting pan. As she slid the pan in the oven, she asked her mother, “why do we slice the end of the ham off like that?” Her mother thought for a bit and said, “I don’t know, it’s just how Gran taught me to do it.” So, they went in the living room where Gran was playing with the kids and asked, “why do we slide a chunk off the ham before roasting it?” Gran looked very puzzled and thought for a long time before saying, “I have no idea why you do it; I had a small roasting pan and small oven and Grandpa always picked the biggest ham at the butcher shop so I just had to make the ham fit.”
Knowing our ‘why’ is important. Why do we do what we do? Why do we think as we think? Why do we believe what we believe?
In his letter to the Jesus Followers in Corinth, Paul says he does what he does for the sake of the Good News so that he may share in the blessings.
But just what is the good news and what kind of blessings? Let’s ask these questions through the lens of our reading from Mark’s version of the Good News. After spending his first few days back from the wilderness calling some disciples and teaching in the synagogue, Jesus and his newly invited disciples have gone to Simon’s house – Jesus hasn’t yet begun calling him Peter – and Simon’s mother in law is quite sick.
Jesus goes to her, takes her by the hand and lifts her up. And her response to being restored to wellness is to serve those around her.
In the church I grew up in, this is one of the passages from the gospels that was used to say women were put on this earth to serve men. I’m so grateful that smarter folks have shown me how to read this story differently. Simon’s mother in law isn’t healed for the purpose of being in a power-driven servant/master relationship; she is responding in gratitude to being raised up by joining the disciples and Jesus in serving the Kingdom together as all who were sick were brought to Jesus to be restored to wellness. She’s right there with them.
On a significant side-note, it bothers me when women in scripture aren’t given names, so let’s give her the dignity of a name, let’s call her Irene. That was my grandmother’s name and she is my role-model for hospitable service for God’s Kingdom on earth. Ok, back to our story.
Jesus heals Irene with the touch of his hand and then he lifts her up. Mark uses the same word later for Jesus’ own resurrection. In her healing, Irene is restored to her community, her family, and she shows her gratitude by stepping along side the disciples to assist Jesus as he heals the multitudes that show up at her door.
The word Mark uses that we translate as ‘served’ has the same root word as our word deacon – diakonos – which is translated literally as “to kick up dust”. ‘Serving’ as Mark tells this story is practical, active, change the world kind of work.*
Irene is lifted up to serve in God’s Kingdom – resurrected, restored, made new for ministry, as we all are. We are raised to new life with Jesus through our own baptisms, not for our own individual gain but so that we can flourish in the abundance of the community around us. And, if we are all living a life of Kingdom service, focused on tending to each other, we can do so with the confidence that our own needs will be met as well. Y’all have heard me say this before but it’s the difference between a soup kitchen and a potluck supper – and at St. Francis we are professional potluck-ers.
With a soup kitchen, there’s the servers and the served. I have something you don’t have and you don’t have anything for me. At a potluck, we all bring what we have and all partake of what each other has, there’s no us and them, no haves or have-nots. There’s only all of us around the same table. This equalizing lack of competition is what we are freed from and for.
We are freed from the bondage of having to prove we are better than anyone else, freed from the bondage of having to earn or deserve God’s love or to show ourselves worthy of inclusion in the Kingdom. We are freed for serving each other in God’s Kingdom.
Have you not heard? Do you not know? God Loves and wants us to love. And it’s not that God wants us to love him back so God can feel good about himself. Being in relationship with God and each other is the very purpose we are all created for! This is our biggest and most foundational ‘why’. Love. This is the blessing we all share in.
Let’s look again at what Paul says to the people in Corinth. When Paul says he’s a Jew to the Jews and to the gentiles (those outside the law) a gentile and all things to all people, he isn’t having an identity crisis, he’s stepping firmly onto the foundation of his identity as a citizen of God’s Kingdom. He is painting for us a beautiful picture of inclusion; taking down any barriers to the potluck supper table. He’s living the resurrection life of putting the greater good of all above his own individual desires, just as Irene did when Jesus lifted her up. Paul is sharing in the blessings of God’s Kingdom.
When loving God, our neighbor, and ourselves is our purpose in life, we are truly alive as God intends for us to be. All that we choose to think, feel, and do will flow from this love. Choice is key in our understanding of our ‘why’. God could have made us all little robots that served God and the Kingdom without question. But that’s not love. Love as God loves requires free-will, our ability to discern and choose what it best for God’s Kingdom, to think outside of ourselves for the greater good of all. And, so God gave us the beautiful and dangerous gift of free-will knowing full well we’d mis-use it for our own individual gain, knowing that we’d miss the mark.
So then, God offers to us forgiveness. God touches us, takes us by the hand and lifts us up, restored in relationship so that we can, together and with God’s help, kick up the dust of this world and serve in the revolution of love. This is the abundant life we are created for; this is our ‘why’ as we follow Jesus on our lifelong journey in God’s Kingdom on earth, as we all share in the blessing of our everlasting potluck supper.
Why do we keep showing up at this place? Why do we keep showing up with and for each other? What good news do you hear and how does this good news shape your resurrection life so that those who are searching for God’s love experience the good news?
We share in the blessings of the Good News of God when we choose to be citizens of God’s Kingdom, God’s beloved children first and foremost and let what we think, say, and do be guided by God’s love. We’ve been lifted up for the purpose of showing others the freedom and abundance of this lifted-up life. Amen.
*https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/progressive-lectionary-commentary-epiphany-5
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