Sermon February 5, 2012

Isaiah 40:21-31

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Mark 1:29-39

“Sustaining Ministry”

I invite you to sit comfortably in their seats with feet on the floor. For the next two minutes we will be sitting in silence. I ask you to close your eyes, let go of all thoughts, and remain still so that there is as little sound as possible. I will tell you when the time is up. After sitting in silence for two minutes, you'll turn to someone and talk about what it was like to sit quietly for those two minutes. If there are those too young to sit very still, we will enjoy the spontaneity of the moment, and realize our diverse limits.

Consider how it felt to be quiet that long. Can you think of one word that describes it? (It doesn't have to be positive or negative necessarily . . .

Now, some folks like the silence and some folks don't—some of our thoughts are comfortable to sit with and sometimes those thoughts aren't so comfortable. But sometimes we have to sit with ourselves—and contemplate our experiences and our understandings to know what next step to take into our lives.

Let's listen to the gospel lesson again retold through the voices of Simon and his wife. . .

Mark 1.29-39 Re-told
Simon: We went from the Synagogue incident with the unclean spirits 

to my place for some food and rest, since we were still in the area. 

When we got there, we discovered that my mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. 

My wife told me as soon as we entered the house, and since Jesus was right 

with me, he heard also. He asked my wife where her mother was, and off he went. 

I followed him and saw him take my mother-in-law by the hand. I didn’t hear his prayer,

but he helped her to stand, and she was well – the fever had left her. As if she had never

been ill, my mother-in-law, along with the other women, was offering Jesus and our guests 

hospitality. 

Simon’s wife: It was remarkable, and what struck me most, I think, was how Jesus 

received my mother’s hospitality,our hospitality, as much as the way he himself had 

served my mother. There is something about it, it was as if he actually saw us women  

and was grateful for our welcome and our work. It seemed he actually valued us for who 

we are, as well as what we did for him. It was most unlike the behavior of Jewish or

Roman men of our time. I thought I heard him say to my mother that we reminded him 

of angels who had ministered to him in the wilderness. Then he himself was so gracious;

 people surrounded our home in the evening, even after dark, and he met their needs, 

healed them, heard them, and sent harmful spirits and demons out of them. 

He was a man who was at once gentle and very forceful. It was an amazing night. 

I am quite proud that my husband is able to travel with this man. 

Simon: In the morning we couldn’t find him. It must have been still quite dark when

he got up and left, so I don’t know that he got much sleep. We looked for him for

ages. Eventually we found him in an isolated spot on the edge of town, sitting under 

a tree praying. I am afraid we barged right up to him, because it had taken us so long 

to find him and we were a little angry, not to mention afraid and confused that having

only just called us to follow him, he might have left us. Anyway, we told him that every-

one in town was looking for him, but he said we were going to leave. He said that

he had come to proclaim a message and that we had to go to other places and 

do just that. So we went, compelled by something in him so strong it could 

only be the Spirit of God, and we heard him proclaim his message, saw him heal

 people all over Galilee, and witnessed his fame spread like fire through dry grass. 

In the gospel of Mark, people who are insiders are those who know about Jesus and who he is. Outsiders are those who don’t get it. Throughout the gospel the disciples are presented as “outsiders.” They almost get it many times, then lose it. “Mark appears to have deliberately painted the disciples as failures, perhaps because they were, perhaps as an educational strategy to challenge believers in his own time.¹”

And it's not necessarily the worst thing to be an outsider—and outsider is learning, the demons were portrayed as insiders and understood who Jesus was, so he wouldn't let them speak. The disciples had a natural role—like the people of Mark's community and like us—in trying to increase their understanding of who Jesus' was and figure out his purpose. They were learning by experience, integrating what they heard and saw and felt into their understanding of how God worked in the world and how God brought salvation.

One of the lessons they had to learn from Jesus was his commitment to serving the sick and those who suffered from the influence of evil—demon possession is the way that Mark describes them. He didn't turn anyone away; he healed those who asked. And he also went off alone to rest, to be restored and to renew his conversation with God—in other words, he prayed.

They also learned, eventually, that he had to get away occasionally. He went out alone and prayed when he was tired and overworked. He must have rested in the presence of God whenever he had the chance to meet the challenges that he was given. Mark's gospel is the fastest moving and never seems to stop—and immediately or the next morning or a few days later—it also stresses the times that Jesus disappears for few hours. Jesus worked hard and with a sense of urgency—but the prayer and solitude were essential to the work. If you read through the gospel of Mark, you'll see that he tried to get away more often than he did, but was often mobbed by those in need.

Yet that solitude was still a necessity and he took it in spite of the needs of others. His need for God's strength was no more and no less important than that of others. It's not selfish to commune with God; it is absolutely essential.

And when Mark tells the story of Jesus laying hands on Simon's mother-in-law, we hear that afterward she was a deacon to him—serving him and the others—as the angels were deacons or servants to Jesus in the wilderness. While historically, this may be a realistic representation of women's places in the home at the time; biblically, this word deacon or servant already has a sense of role within the church in Mark's time. The word reflects Jesus' action to the people—he was served as he had served her and cared for her.

Work followed healing; rest and restoration follows work; work is rewarded with time to renew, eating and drinking with friends; the meal of companionship or fellowship becomes a place where the message is revealed; the message becomes a source of purpose and forward motion; and action is followed by a time of reflection . . . ministry is sustained because it varies and cycles. Ministry and mission are balanced by rest and reflective prayer. One sustains the other; and vice versa.

Our times of worship are meant to fuel the ministry that we do. Prayer and praising God, singing and preaching . . . as in the story today, when we are served—our response is to serve. When other reach out to us in ministry, the gift we have is to carry out ministry to others. Though our duties may change as we move from age to age and stage to stage of life and faith, there is no retirement age for a Christian, to quote a good friend.

Though the disciples are portrayed with some ignorance of Jesus' ultimate identity and mission—their eyes and ears were open daily to learn from all he had to offer. They may mirror us with great accuracy—we learn more each day as we connect with God in prayer—and we learn more still as we mirror Jesus' ministry, the work that he did, the compassion of God that he carried to the neediest people all around him.

In mission, we learn what loving action reveal within us. By carrying out the will of God through the ministry of Jesus Christ, we share the blessing that we have have known, multiplying that blessing by adding choosing to act with our own hands and feet in Jesus' name.

It isn't magic, but it is powerful how the ministry of Jesus Christ has been sustained all these years and within all of us even now.

May God be glorified as we continue that ministry—in cycles of work and rest, in God ordained times of ministry and times of Sabbath worship and rest. Amen.

1SeasonsFusion, “The Gospel According to Mark,” page 8. by William Loader, Emeritus Professor of New Testament, Murdoch University, and Minister of the Uniting Church in Australia.