Epiphany 5(B) February 8, 2015 Trinity Parish Seattle Jeffrey Gill Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-12, 21c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39 On the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee in modern day Israel, there s a place where the tour buses regularly pull up to a blue iron gate with a big sign that says the town of Capernaum. You get out of your car or bus and walk through the gate, and you immediately walk back in time 2,000 years. You re in an area that is clearly an archaeological site low stone walls outlining what were once houses and shops, and all the places that would have existed in a first century town in the Galilee. As you walk through its lanes you come to the ruins of a synagogue where Jesus was a frequent visitor and guest teacher. In last week s Gospel we saw him in this very synagogue, and were told that a man with an unclean spirit began accusing him. Jesus called out the unclean spirit and made him whole. Today, we pick up the story right there. Jesus is leaving the synagogue and going to Peter and Andrew s house nearby. There we see Peter s mother-in-law in bed, sick with a fever. Jesus, we are told, took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. (I know, there s a sermon somewhere right there in that little statement, but it s not the one I m going to preach here today.) Today this house where Peter and his family are believed to have lived is just a stone s throw from the synagogue in the little excavated town of Capernaum. You can stand there, peering into it, and imagine yourself to be part of the crowd that often surrounded it during Jesus visits there during the days of his Galilean ministry. 1
From these brief stories, we get the clear impression that there s an awful lot of sickness of all kinds, both physical and mental. After healing Peter s mother-inlaw, Jesus heals others who come to him with sicknesses of body, mind, and spirit. We see the crowds gathered around, pressing in upon him. Several days later in a story from the following chapter (Mark 2), we see such a crowd gathered here once again. Some men are bringing to Jesus a man who is paralyzed, and there s such a crush of people that they have to climb up on the roof and tear a hole in it to let him down so that Jesus can heal him. Right at that very spot today there is a church that commemorates these events and Jesus ministry in this little town. In 1990 the Franciscans built a beautiful, very modern church above this house. It has a glass floor in the sanctuary so that you can stand above Peter s house and look down into it. As you stand there, you re standing in the spot where the man was let down through the roof. You look down into the house, to the place where Jesus stood amidst the press of people seeking relief from life s difficulties and challenges. They came to see the signs of God s kingdom as people were healed and set free from their diseases. Standing in that spot certainly gives one a sense of what it might have been like to be there among people coming to see Jesus. The circumstances are certainly different, but right here in these few verses from the Gospel of Mark that we ve just heard, we see Jesus engaged in just about everything that goes on in the day to day and week to week ministry of our churches even now: Jesus was in the synagogue where they had gathered for worship just as we gather here regularly for worship; he left and went to the house of Simon and Andrew just as we engage in fellowship with one another here at church and in homes and coffee shops and restaurants; he visited Simon s mother-in-law, who was sick in bed with a fever just as we visit and care for the sick, through ministries of pastoral care and presence; 2
people with all kinds of physical and mental challenges showed up to see Jesus just as we minister to people seeking help for life s many problems and challenges, through prayer and being present in Christ s name; and then we are told that Jesus got up early and went to a deserted place to pray we, too, have to take time apart from the busy-ness of life, to refocus, recharge our batteries, reclaim the sense of purpose and meaning we need to keep going; But people kept after Jesus, trying to get on his agenda and the schedule never seems to let up around here, either; And after Jesus had rested, he pressed on, because there were places to go, people to see, good news to share, away from the four walls of the synagogue and his familiar surroundings we, too, must move from our own comfortable place, reaching out beyond ourselves to the places where God sends us to share in word and in deed the good news of God s love. This story is our story in a nutshell a metaphor perhaps for us and for the church s ministry. It also establishes an important four-fold pattern from synagogue to home, to a place apart, and then out into the world beyond. Our worship here today is the starting point in this pattern that Jesus has given us. We gather in this place, under the aspect of the divine presence, where we encounter God in word and sacrament, in the transcendent glory of music and prayer and song, and in the silent places of our hearts and yes, even in one another. From here we go to our homes where we deal with life s joys and challenges, and where we learn in the company of family and friends to see Jesus at work in our midst. But life gets busy and full, and we must take time away, as Jesus did. Quiet times for prayer and for being alone with God were part of what enabled Jesus to carry on his work. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. The disciples had to come looking for him. We, too, need time away from work, from the stresses of life, from our 3
slavery to schedules, and the electronic screens and devices that seem to control more and more of our life. Where is your deserted place? A place without a television or computer or telephone or to-do list a place where you can just be? We all need to find those places, and visit them often. But once Jesus had recharged his batteries, so to speak, he went back out there. He kept moving, now beyond synagogue and home to more distant places where there was a world in need and work to be done. As we ll see throughout the Gospel of Mark, the work just keeps going on. Jesus keeps moving. There are things that have to be done. But none of that would be possible if he did not find a place apart. And that just might be the most important thing we learn in this passage today. He went to a place apart a deserted place. A place of quiet. And he prayed. Even Jesus could not keep healing and preaching and casting out demons all day every day. He went away to be renewed in his spirit. And then he was able to get on with things. I wonder what some future generation of archaeologists will learn about us a couple of thousand years from now when they dig through the rubble of our lives, put the pieces together and get a picture of what life was like for us. They ll see people who had many possessions and generated a lot of pollution to the environment, people who lived complicated, often stressful lives. They ll see that we had sophisticated medical care, but still many incurable diseases, and mental illnesses with improving but still imperfect remedies. Much of how we live our lives will look quaint, perhaps unsophisticated by the standards of a future society. It might not be the same as ancient Capernaum. But there will be common themes. Yes, we still suffer from diseases both physical and mental. Some, like measles, are even coming back if children haven t been vaccinated. Get your children vaccinated! Our lives are sometimes chaotic and complex. I know I find myself feeling overwhelmed at times just too many things to do, and too little 4
time to do them. Problems out there that are way bigger than I can solve on my own. It s easy to feel overwhelmed. Do you ever feel that way? And so we have to find our deserted place a place of quiet contemplation where in the stillness one begins to see things a little differently, we begin to see our way forward, where we learn again where we have come from and whose we are. We all need to find times and places like this to get away, to a quiet place, to rest, to pray, to renew our spirits. To wait upon the Lord as the prophet Isaiah says: those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. It s very tempting to become utterly consumed by the doing part of our lives, and forget about the being part. Jesus could not have done what he did, without being who he was, and without stopping to recall, to remember, and to be restored in body, mind, and spirit. And neither can we. He has shown us the way. Take time to pray. Take time just to be. 5