Year B
 Isaiah 40:21-31
 Psalm 147:1-12, 21c
 1 Corinthians 9:16-23
 Mark 1:29-39

May the words of my mouth O God…  speak your truth…

There’s a saying attributed to St. Francis of Assisi… Preach the Gospel constantly… use words when necessary…  and the words in our passage from Isaiah resemble images…  some of which…  are like readings from the Book of Job…  there are similar motifs…  like when God says…  To whom then will you compare me…  or who is my equal…  but instead of dealing with a test of personal faith… with poor Job used as a pawn between God and the Accuser… Isaiah is about corporate faith…

This reading from Isaiah expresses the lament that so many of those who were taken in the Babylonian exile…  felt… that the city god of Babylon…  Marduk… had beaten the city God of Jerusalem… YHWH…  but Isaiah reassures the people that because the LORD is the only true God…  and the creator of the world…  the LORD will be able to defeat the Babylonians and restore Zion… no other being in the universe could do so…  the Babylonian gods are…  after all…  created gods…  and not the author of all creation…

And v. 28 addresses the concern the Israelites felt that God no longer cared for them…  either because God had simply grown tired… or had grown tired of them… but Isaiah said that…  God never grows faint or weary…  but gives strength to the weary…  fresh vigor to the spent…  youths may grow faint and weary…  and young men stumble and fall…  but they who trust in the LORD…  their strength shall be renewed… 

Psalm 147 was written after the exile was over…  and it alternates between praise for the God who created…  and praise for the God who restored the exiles and rebuilt Jerusalem… ] and because of how jubilant the Israelites felt…  this restoration was to them like the first creation… it shows God’s power over the world… ] and the implication…  is that in the same way that God has cared over creation and throughout history…  God will continue to care for Israel…

In Corinthians…  Paul says…  woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel…  and the way he does this is by being all things to all people…  now it’s easy…  and maybe even tempting…  to be cynical about Paul’s words…  and wonder if he said only what he thought people wanted to hear… that he acted under false pretenses by trying to trick people into becoming members of Christ’s community…  but Paul embodied great empathy and compassion… not deceit… he met the people where they were…  and spoke to them in ways they could understand…  all the while staying rooted in the Good News… and he related it to what it was that people were dealing with…  so that he could be understood… but still…  Paul said…  that I might save some…  he knew that not everyone would listen…

Our recent readings from Mark’s Gospel…  give us a glimpse into what Jesus’ days were like…  but what’s interesting about today’s Gospel… is that we don’t tend to think about the disciples being married… perhaps because this mention of Simon’s mother-in-law is the only one in the Christian scriptures… and it’s not clear whether she’s living in Simon’s house because she’s a widow…  because Simon’s wife has died and she’s keeping house for him…  or for some other reason…  but in this passage what we tend to focus on is the patriarchal aspect of servitude… here this poor woman’s been in bed with a fever…  and as soon as Jesus heals her…  she’s up and serving men…  but this healing says more about God’s grace and love…  than it does about just the healing itself…  and we may tend to overlook that it can be an honor to welcome and serve special guests in one’s home…  perhaps some of you have done that once or twice…

So that evening…  at sundown…  that is…  when the Sabbath was over and it was permitted to do work…  they brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with demons…  Mark wants us to understand Jesus’ healing power…  and the hunger people had for him…  and Mark makes a point of it when he says…  the whole city was gathered around the door…  not a very private event…  and in truth…  the ancient experience of privacy was nothing like our modern experience…  most dwellings had common walls…  and there was no such thing as soundproofing…  and unlike today…  most people knew most everyone else’s business…

And in the morning…  Jesus needed to get away…  but unlike his retreat into the desert when he ignored Satan’s temptations…  there was no desert at Capernaum…  it’s on the Sea of Galilee…  so he found a deserted place…  to rest…  to pray…  to discern his next steps…  it’s a little bit like the time…  when as a child…  he said nothing and just slipped away to the Temple to teach… while his frantic parents searched for him…  but this time…  Simon and his companions hunted for him…  the NRSV softens the intensity of their search a little… because in the Greek…  it says that they…  pursued with vigor…  and when they found him…  they were exasperated…  and said…   Everyone is searching for you!..  but instead of answering them… instead of explaining himself… instead of even engaging them…  he simply said…  let’s move on so I can proclaim the message…  since that’s what I came to do…  Mark’s Gospel is full of this sense of Jesus’ mission… of things happening immediately…  in other words…  Jesus does what Jesus does…

And later on…  the scribes from Jerusalem use these healings and exorcisms as evidence that Jesus was a magician who used satanic powers…  accusations which led to severe penalties… a charge which posed its own threat to Jesus’ life…  but although Jesus has come to destroy Satan’s power… he has not come to do it by performing magic…

In the Gospel of Matthew… when Jesus asked Simon who he is…  Simon answered…  You are the Messiah…  the Son of the living God…  and Jesus said…  Blessed are you Simon…  son of Jonah! My Father in heaven has revealed this to you…  and I tell you…  you are Peter…  and on this rock I will build my church…  and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it…

Simon…  like Abram and Sarai and Jacob and others in scripture…  is re-named by God… to fulfill a new purpose…  and Peter becomes a symbol of the Church… ] and just as the disciples searched for Jesus around Capernaum… the church is always searching for those who will hear the Word…

And I wonder…  how do we go searching after Jesus…  and when we find him…  out in our own deserted places…  and when he simply says…  let’s move on…  do we follow like the disciples did…  do we get caught up in asking questions and expecting accountability from the God…  who blows upon us and we wither…  described in Isaiah…  or do we…  like Paul…  bring our own empathy and understanding… and help form the community which gathers around our door for healing and wholeness…

Unlike Paul…  Jesus didn’t have to become all things to all people…  Jesus already was… ] and instead of being called to live Jesus’ life… we’re simply called to live our own lives… authentically…  to be who we are… to be community to each other… preaching the Gospel constantly… and using words…  only when necessary…