Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, year B
I shall resist all temptations to tell a mother-in-law joke. Pray for me … it will be hard…
What an interesting set of readings we have today.
It starts off with Job …. that insightful and powerful story about the person who has everything, then has nothing, then has everything again. It is a story that seeks to help us understand some of the deeper insights into human suffering.
It ends with our Gospel talking about Peter’s mother-in-law. So let’s take a few minutes to tease out some messages from these readings.
Firstly, Job.
Allow me to paraphrase our poor friend Job in more contemporary English …..… it would go something like this …
Human life is a struggle, isn’t it?
Its a life sentence to hard labour.
Like field hands longing for quitting time and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday, i am given a life that meanders and goes nowhere – months of aimlessness, nights of misery!
I go to bed and think “how long till i get up? I toss and turn as the night drags on – and i am fed up!
My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles, and then the yarn runs out – an unfinished life!
My life is empty, unsubstantial. A puff of air!
Sounds to me like our friend Job is having a bad day.
Ever had any of those? I thought so.
With the present economic and worldly uncertainty, most of us can easily resonate with Job’s words. We live highly pressurized, stressed-out lives as we desperately to keep up with everyone around us. Do all the things that are asked of us.
Indeed, there are, and will be, times when we are filled with sadness, tired of dealing with the mess people have made of this world. We ask “is there a God out there who cares what happens to us, or are we just helpless pawns on some cosmic chessboard, only accidentally born? Is our life just a “puff of air”?
Well, Paul, in our second reading, hints at the answer. He sees the meaning and purpose in his life as proclaiming the Gospel … the Good News …. that God does indeed exist. That God does indeed love us. That God does indeed invite us to bring about God’s reign on earth. That our lives are not empty, unsubstantial. That our lives are not just a ‘puff of air’
Jesus knew that.
Which bring us to today’s Gospel. And Peter’s mother in law. But first, a bit of context.
The stumbling block when we examine this story is that one line that sticks in the craw of us “enlightened, modern” folks: its that phrase … “Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Nice. So basically Jesus healed her so he and his buddies could sit back and have this woman bring them a meal. Where’s the recovery period? Where’s the bed-rest and fluids? Where’s the saltine crackers and chicken noodle soup? I mean, if we’re honest, that’s the first thing that comes to mind, right?
Interestingly, in its original Greek, the word that we translate into English as ‘serve’ is ‘diakonia’. It means Service, or better yet, Ministry.
It is why those of us called to serve you here today are first and foremost called to live out that calling to diakonia as Deacons. And while some go on to serve you as Priests, or Bishops, or even as Pope, we never lose that first calling to serve. To “wait at table”, just like we do here today, preparing a meal, the Eucharistic Meal, for you.
In 1st Century Palestine, the privilege of serving an honoured guest was one which was given to the senior woman of the house. It was counted an honour and a privilege.
In 21st Century Canada, we continue that tradition of Peter’s mother-in-law, as we serve you, our honoured guests. Because as you gather together today, God is truly and really present, and in serving you, we truly and really serve God, present within you and among you.
In our Gospel today, Jesus took Peter’s mother-in-law by the hand, and lifted her up. She is not only lifted up physically but even more importantly, spiritually. She is raised to the status of disciple, as one who serves the Lord; It is the transformative moment of her life; she is forever changed.
Just as you and I are raised to the status of Disciple by God’s healing touch in our lives.
So, are you living out that calling to discipleship? That call to diakonia?
Have you sensed that bigger purpose in your lives, as Paul did in our second reading, and Job longed for in our first reading?
I think so.
- You live that calling as you support each other when you are sick.
- You live that calling as you share your time and treasure with those less fortunate
- You live that calling when you accept that all human beings are messy, that none of us is perfect.
- You live that calling when you find someone falling over, and reach down and pick them up in your words and actions.
- You live that calling by being the kind of loving, understanding community that Christ calls you to be.
- You live that calling when you offer forgiveness, healing and understanding to each other.
- You live that calling when you accept forgiveness, healing and understanding in yourself.
Jesus reached out, and touched Peter’s Mother-in-law with love. He lifted her up, and offered her healing and restoration to the role she was called to play in life.
Jesus does the same for us, when we allow God to take us by the hand, to lift us up, and to restore us to the wholeness of body, mind, and spirit.
So, maybe Peter’s mother-in-law is not the best example of a mother-in-law joke.
Maybe, just maybe, she is a model of discipleship that we can all do well to follow.