I mean no disrespect but reading this story about Peter’s mother-in-law, I am reminded of a scene in the classic 1987 movie, Moonstruck in which Loretta’s (Cher) fiancé, Johnny travelled to Sicily to be with his dying mother. Johnny, played by Danny Aiello, telephones Loretta in tears as he and the wailing women keep vigil; “it’s just a matter of time,” he says. Then suddenly, out of the blue, Johnny’s mother is miraculously cured and jumps out of the bed and begins to prepare an elaborate dinner for a multitude of people including the future mourners. It’s a miracle Johnny proclaims; it’s a sign and being superstitious, he tells Loretta he cannot marry her. To me, like Simon’s mother-in-law, the real miracle is that the old woman begins to cook and serves everyone.
The healing of Simon’s mother-in-law is a classic healing story (Mark1: 29-39). But there is something a little disturbing about this story that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with healing. “Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Doesn’t that strike us as a little strange? Can you see why I was reminded of Moonstruck? Virtually everyone I know has had the flu every now and then. Now I’m not talking about Covid, I’m referring to the typical flu whose season usually begins in the fall and exits in April. The idea of popping out of bed and doing anything at all much less serving guests dinner, is inconceivable. If it were me I would have thanked them all for their support and, especially Jesus, then tactfully usher them out of my room, asking them to help themselves to tea and left over Christmas fruit cake…really hoping that they would leave my home so that I could rest some more.
I realize that in that time and in a time not so long ago, the matriarch’s role as keeper of the house, was to serve her family and guests. If you are brought back from the edge of death, or from the brink of whatever, shouldn't there be something else for you to pursue? Perhaps, a new vocation or career or a new identity? And yet Peter's mother-in-law went back to the kitchen and whipped up dinner and served the guests. Was that what she was expected to do?
But,
what if the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law gave her a new lease on life and a
new purpose, beyond her traditional role as mother and housekeeper? And what
if in being brought back to who she was, she became a disciple,
called to minister, to serve. Have you ever felt like God has brought you back
from the brink ... to yourself? That you were called back from a place that was
not fully you, to be the “real” you?
Jesus lifted her up. What if resurrection is being raised up to be who we always were and always meant to be? Not that of a successful rock star, athlete
or business tycoon but as the incredible feeling of being the real us.
Being raised up is not just some sort of spiritual future but is our present
reality, in the here and now, to live as the real you…your mind,
spirit, body, everything together, everything that you were always meant to be.
The story of Simon’s mother-in-law reminds us that God does not call us to be
something we are not, but is in the business of restoring us to who we really
are.
God called Jesus to be who he was. That’s what the incarnation is all
about. Jesus didn’t go around pretending to be something that he wasn't. Didn't he petition his father to“ let this cup pass" Being human is to what God committed God’s self and therefore, being who we are
is what God wants us to be. God brings us back from the brinks of our lives,
from despair, from disease, from desperation, to live. Because then, maybe, we
will actually know, feel, and get that which we are a part, that God needs
us to be a part, of what’s at stake for God when God decided to become one of
us.
(Adapted
from Karoline Lewis, Dear Working Preacher, February 1, 2015)
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