The
\nverb St. Mark uses to describe the mother-in-law\u2019s service is the
\nsame verb the gospels use to describe the angels who attend Jesus
\nafter his forty days in the wilderness. It is the same verb Jesus
\nuses to describe himself when he washes his disciples\u2019 feet: \u201cI
\nam among you as one who serves.\u201d And it is the same verb the early
\nchurch uses to commission deacons, the \u201cservant\u201d leaders of the
\nchurch.<\/p>\n
What <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That <\/p>\n The <\/p>\n Somehow, <\/p>\n Peter’s <\/p>\n I’m <\/p>\n But <\/p>\n Many <\/p>\n Similarly, <\/p>\n I <\/p>\n When <\/p>\n I <\/p>\n We’re <\/p>\n I’m <\/p>\n Thanks <\/p>\n It <\/p>\n And <\/p>\n For <\/p>\n In <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1<\/a>https:\/\/www.journeywithjesus.net\/essays\/2897-a-day-in-the-life<\/a><\/p>\n 2<\/a>Bruce <\/p>\n Rev. Sara E. Baron <\/p>\n February 7, 2021<\/p>\n Photo by Barbara Armstrong<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nif Simon\u2019s mother-in-law is not an undervalued woman in a
\npatriarchal system, but the church\u2019s first deacon? The first person
\nJesus liberates and commissions into service for God?1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
\nhelps a bit. \u00a0I still don’t love that she gets healed and starts
\nserving, but if I’m honest, I know those people. \u00a0The ones with such
\nprofound servant hearts, that nothing short of profound illness could
\nkeep them from offering exceptional hospitality. \u00a0The ones who would
\nget up from a sickbed and start cooking immediately, if the
\nopportunity arose. \u00a0And, to be honest, they’re not all women.<\/p>\n
\nother little bit of new insight into this passage came from my
\nbeloved commentary \u201cThe Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic
\nGospels\u201d which pointed out the obvious. \u00a0 Galilee in the time of
\nJesus was patriarchal, and in particular that meant that when a
\ncouple got married, the woman left her home and went to live with her
\nhusband’s family. \u00a0Which means that it is actually quite weird that
\nPeter’s mother-in-law lived with them. \u00a0It indicates that she’d run
\nout of who should take care of her: \u00a0her husband, her sons, her
\nfather, her brothers. I think even her cousins would have been
\nresponsible for her care before her son-in-law. \u00a0But nevertheless,
\nshe was there.2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
\nthis little story keeps getting further under my skin. \u00a0Peter’s
\nmother-in-law was a widow without sons. \u00a0She was living in the home
\nof some \u00a0fishermen, and while there is some debate on this, I don’t
\nthink fisherman were doing well in the socio-economic systems of the
\nday. \u00a0They’re all in Galilee which was the backwater part of the
\nbackwater Jewish portion of the great Roman Empire. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nmother-in-law is yet another figure in the Gospels who would have
\nbeen ignored and counted as unimportant by society. \u00a0Peter’s
\nmother-in-law is yet another piece of proof that the Way of Jesus
\nisn’t the way of the world.<\/p>\n
\nstill sad she’s unnamed. \u00a0I’m still a little sad she jumps up to
\nserve them. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nat the same time \u201cthey told Jesus about her at once.\u201d \u00a0The family
\ncared about her, and Jesus cared about her. \u00a0Just because she was a
\npoor widow didn’t mean she was unloved by her own family. \u00a0DUH.
\nValue in society really doesn’t have any relation to the value a
\nperson has to their own people.<\/p>\n
\nof the most moving celebrations of life I have presided over have
\nbeen for caring mothers, many of whom never worked outside the home,
\nothers of whom had jobs that were notably secondary to their roles as
\ncaregivers. \u00a0As far as today’s society is concerned, stay at home
\nmothers aren’t particularly notable. \u00a0But as far as their families
\nare concerned, they were the center of the world.<\/p>\n
\nmost of the imperative lessons I’ve learned in life have been from
\ncampers with Special Needs and from those living without homes. \u00a0Both
\nare populations the world tends to overlook, yet inter-personally
\npeople are people, with wisdom, and gifts, and love to share.<\/p>\n
\nthink, deep down, we all know that the things that make a person
\nMATTER in society aren’t at all related to what matters in day to day
\nlife. \u00a0And, of course, in the eyes of God, EVERYONE matters.<\/p>\n
\nit came to Peter’s mother-in-law, they didn’t hesitate or confer
\nabout whether or not she mattered, thank God. \u00a0Because of course she
\nmatters! \u00a0Would any of us decline to ask for help for a beloved
\nfamily member? \u00a0Since Jesus had JUST healed in the Synagogue, in
\nfront of her family members, there was good data on his abilities.<\/p>\n
\nkeep thinking about how society teaches each of us our place, and
\nteaches us how to inhabit that place. \u00a0The things that don’t REALLY
\nmatter in life, still get under our skin. \u00a0Who walks down the street
\nhead held high? \u00a0Who carefully avoids eye-contact? \u00a0Whose language is
\nconsidered appropriate for a business meeting? \u00a0Whose appearance is
\nconsidered appropriate? \u00a0Or, even, who has a right to be angry about
\nhow life turned out, and to take their anger into explosions of
\nviolence on others?<\/p>\n
\nwell trained by society, enough so that it is notable when people
\nbuck trends. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nnow at an age where most of the time people assume I’m reasonably
\ncapable. \u00a0But 10 or 15 years ago, as a young woman in ministry, that
\nwas less true. \u00a0I often got invited to sit on committees where I was
\nthe only young woman, and often I could tell people thought I should
\nbe grateful to be allowed to be present, and keep my mouth shut while
\npeople who knew what they were talking about made decisions. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nbe to God, I was raised in the Jesus movement, and formed in the
\nradical Ways of Jesus, and I assumed that if I had a place at the
\ntable I had a responsibility to use it.<\/p>\n
\nis clear that Jesus doesn’t give two figs about the roles that
\nsociety prescribes to us. \u00a0A beloved child of God was sick, Jesus had
\nthe capacity to heal, and he healed her. \u00a0He reached out to touch
\nher, even though she was an unknown woman to him, even though she was
\nill. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nif this perfectly ordinary woman was seen and healed by Jesus, then
\nwe can be assured that our perfectly ordinary lives are also seen by
\nJesus, and healing energy is available to us as well.<\/p>\n
\nme, Peter’s mother-in-law serves as a reminder of the sacredness of
\nthe ordinary. \u00a0God is in each of us, God’s value is on each of us,
\nand ordinary lives are saturated with the capacity to be lived with
\nlove and to thereby change the world. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\na culture, like many others before it, that often pushes us to think
\nwe have to be extraordinary to matter, it is good to be reminded of
\nthe sacredness of the ordinary. \u00a0Thanks be to God. \u00a0Amen\n<\/p>\n
\n\tJ. Malina and Richard L. Rohrbaugh Social-Science Commentary on the
\n\tSynoptic Gospels (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003) \u201cTextual
\n\tNotes: Mark 1:21-34\u201d p. 150<\/p>\n
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/a52cdacdad5d9e7ccc5bbf62ff3cf7be\/8cf2d00a6f20f567-69\/s540x810\/9d6fa65613ae751dc39c2ba50fc88c35e8e4ad22.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n