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Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, February 4, 2018, Reflection by Molly Weyrens

 

While listening to the news on the TV or radio we many times hear in response to a bombing or a mass shooting that “ So far no one has claimed  what?” (Responsibility). Now I’ve heard this phrase probably a thousand times , but recently I was struck by this as it got me to thinking how much do I claim responsibility for in my own life? … When it comes to  our high poverty rate ….  Or the racism that continues to divide us… or the lack of housing and so many who are experiencing homelessness.  In fact a woman stopped at the church Friday afternoon looking for a place to stay…. To all of these I think we could say. No one has claimed responsibility.   I think if we are truly calling ourselves Christians and wanting to live out the Gospel… we are ALL are somewhat responsible. 

In the first scene of  today’s Gospel from Mark,  Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law who has a fever.  Mark says, “Once the fever left her she began to wait on them.”  or serve them. Now there's a part of me that gets a bit crabby here because  I don't always want women serving men. However, if we dig a bit deeper and look at the Greek word for service it is ‘diakonia’  which means serve like Jesus served and like deacons serve. That's where we get the title of Deacon.  So Mark is really elevating this women’s service to the realm of Jesus’.  And Jesus is returning her to her vocation.   He’s freed her from her sickness to know she can be alive again. And much like he is trying to help his apostles learn how to serve -  Simon’s mother-in-law gives us an example.

Much of Mark’s Gospel is focused on discipleship.  The meaning of the word disciple is ‘student’ or ‘learner.’  I love that.  It’s that sense that we can ALL be life long learners. 

A woman I know asked me the other day, “Molly, what motivates you to do the work you do?”  My first response was, “The scriptures.”  That’s our go – to operations  manual.  In further reflection I would also say my baptism.    We really don’t have a choice if we are baptized.  Once we’re in our job title of disciple is given to us.  Our call is to bring the gospel to life. 

So how are we doing at that?  What are we doing to continue our learning?  We show up here on the weekend, but does it really affect how we act during the rest of the week?  I saw a church marque with a challenging message that read. “If your Sunday doesn’t affect your Monday, than your Sunday didn’t count.” And how much more do we know about our faith today versus when we were younger?  How is it that when we say were a member of a church it's different from being a member of the YMCA or gym  or a school or a sport team ? 

Archbishop Oscar Romero from El Salvador, one of my heroes, once said in a homily,
“A church that doesn’t provoke any crises , a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone‘s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed – what gospel is that?”

Jesus wanted his teaching to get under our skin… At the end of the gospel, Simon finds Jesus who has been away praying and says, “ Hey everyone is looking for you!”  It’s like he’s saying – you got a good gig going here with all of this healing and your exorcisms!  Let’s keep it up!  And Jesus says, No.  He doesn’t want people to only see his healing- that’s not the whole message.  He wants to call people to repentance.  The danger is that people will respond favorably to his miracles, but not at all to his call to spiritual renewal and transformation. 

 

Speaking of miracles… who can forget our Minnesota Miracle?  Now I know tomorrow might be a hard day for some of you as there is still grief being shared- and probably some frustration… But wow!  That was an exciting time!  And didn’t you just feel connected to so many people because of that win by the Vikings?  And while I loved all of the excitement I was also struck by how much ENERGY came from the devotion to and involvement in the game.  I thought, “What if we could harness that energy and enthusiasm and passion into things that really mattered?  I’m not saying don’t like football, but also, let’s have our priorities in the right order. 

Today we will be have the Blessing of St. Blaise.  It’s a blessing of healing for the throat, but also of our whole bodies.  We are all in need of healing in some way. To be good disciples we need to be healthy and whole.   And instead of seeing discipleship as a responsibility, perhaps we can look at it as another way to preach the message of Jesus Christ to a world in desperate need of Good News.

And wouldn’t it be a great day if in the state of MN  all people were housed, fed and healthy in their physical and mental abilities?  Now THAT would be a MN Miracle to celebrate. 

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