5 February 2006
Carolyn L Roberts

Mark 1.29-39

We left last week's Jesus in the synagogue, casting out the demons that enter our faith communities as surely as they are a part of our other communities. Demons of racism and greed and homophobia and violence. Today we find Jesus in the house of his disciples Simon and Andrew, where Simon's mother-in-law is in bed. Sick with a fever.

Every time I heard the story of the healing and raising up of Simon's anonymous mother-in-law, I fought an image of her as whipping out of bed and rushing off to the kitchen to do some sort of Martha Stewart thing-complete with fresh herbs and cut flowers.

Such an image fits well in the Promise Keepers version of biblical roles. But let me be very clear: the so-called "Christian" right does not have and never has had proprietary rights to Jesus or the gospel. Furthermore, that image simply doesn't fit the text.

A second image I carried is that Mark's gospel is written for an illiterate, rural audience. Right on the first count. Dead wrong on the second. Scholars tell us that most early Christians probably "lived in the large, multi-national urban areas around the Mediterranean basis....Most of the people who flocked to these cities (at the time Mark was written) were looking for the improved financial and social situation that urban living promised."[1] Instead, they often found social alienation and disease-the result of crowding and poor sanitation. Think Dickens' London or New York City during the industrial revolution. Famine was yet another reality. "The Romans never succeeded in supplying large urban areas with [adequate] food." Then, as Mark tells the story, along comes Jesus, who silences and banishes the demons of cultural chaos and personal pain. Along comes Jesus, who heals diseases and creates new family even where existing families are still intact. Along comes Jesus and lifts up the first woman to appear in the gospel, the second person Jesus heals as he begins his ministry. Along comes Jesus, and by the mere act of going to the sick woman and touching her, cultural convention is stood on end.

But what really challenged my Martha Stewart image was the discovery that Mark uses the same word for the mother-in-law's action that we find referring to the angels with Jesus in the wilderness. They both engage in life-sustaining ministry. That understanding transformed the mother-in-law from Martha Stewart to Mother Theresa. Or Coretta Scott King. "The author of Mark, by using the same word for the action of angels and the action of the healed woman, obviously equate[s] their level of service to Jesus. What the angels were able to do for Jesus in the wilderness, the woman now does for him in her home. [And once] the Sabbath [ends], the door of her house becomes the threshold for healing for [everyone] in the city who [is] sick.[1]

Coretta Scott King is another of the women who opened the door of her heart, which became a threshold for healing from the sickness of racism. John Deckenback was among those who had the privilege of working with her during the campaign to pass the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment legislation. She was one of the national co-chairs of the effort. John chaired the host committee for her visits to promote the bill. Among his responsibilities was to contact the community relations division of the police department to cover her visits. More than twice the needed officers of every racial description volunteered for the honor of protecting Mrs. King. One of them shared with John their joy at being in her presence and their desire to see that she came to no harm.

Mrs. King's inner strength - captured in that indelible image on the cover of Life magazine - was firmly grounded in her faith, in her relationship with Jesus. We marvel at that strength not only at the time of her husband's often-contentious ministry and brutal murder, but also in her continued witness to justice and non-violence for another thirty-seven years. The threshold of Mrs. King's door began to close about a year ago, as her voice fell silent due to failing health. This week it closed completely, but her witness continued to open doors in other 'neighboring towns.'

But we are no less in need of faithful witnesses to the healing balm of compassion, the truthful condemnation of bigotry and injustice. Just this week we have seen the house budget pass-on the slimmest of margins-that further cuts programs aiding students, the poor, and the elderly. Just this week, we are told that the number of people needing basic emergency services such as food and shelter rose again in 2005. Just this week, parents, teachers, and children spent agonizing hours here in Germantown due to a lock-down at Rachel Carson Elementary School because of a possible bomb threat. Just this week, we are now informed that the so-called war on terrorism will be the Long War-funded by the poor and the elderly. Just this week, rock star Bono at the National Prayer Breakfast has the credibility and the passion to challenge our priorities. He calls upon our legislators to tithe an additional1% of our national budget to the poor-targeted to the continent of Africa. We give less than 1% to the poor at the moment.

We progressive Christians cannot leave the task of challenging our skewed national priorities solely to the voice of one internationally-known rock star. We cannot be silent in the face of the demons of bigotry and greed. We cannot allow the Franklin Grahams to go uncontested in their declaration that Hurricane Katrina is God's punishment for the evil sinners of New Orleans. Because we do know Jesus. We have let Jesus into our hearts and homes. And we will not let that story go untold. It is a story that welcomes and heals as it equips us to proclaim the gospel message in confronting the demons of our time.

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[1] Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, Editors, The Women's Bible Commentary, Westminster/John Knox Press, ©1992.