Two Kinds of People*

5th Sunday After Epiphany

Isaiah 40:21-31

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Psalm 14

Mark 1:29-39

Some of you have heard me complain about the number of

Readings we pack into the Sunday -  Morning Prayer service

I rarely find a thread to connect them

But not today

Today they came in pairs…in sets of two

It reminded me of those punchy sayings…There are two kinds of people…

You know …

There are two kinds of people in the world

–      those who walk into a room and say, ‘There you are!’

–      and those who walk into a room and say, ‘Here I am!

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians

He founded this community…it is close to his heart

The people are grumbling and they are getting confused

Because some other, quite flashy preachers have come to town

They’ve been stirring things up

So Paul writes…and he is in defense mode

He wants the Corinthians to stay the course

He reminds them of the free gospel he preaches

Paul is passionate

He was a die-hard persecutor of Christians

Turned die-hard protector

Whatever it took

…to make his way into the lives of others

…for the sake of preaching the gospel

He did it

Not because he is being insincere

But because it was his joyous burden to preach the Gospel

But there can be no preaching without someone to hear

Paul was…at one time…on the hearing end

If you remember he was the leader of the pack

That stoned Stephen

He heard Stephen’s preaching testimony

And especially the forgiveness he prayed over his persecutors

So

There are two kinds of people

Those who are like Paul

…who have a great compulsion to proclaim the gospel

and those who are open and willing to receive the message

But there is an addendum to our punchy saying

There are two kinds of people in the world

…but they flip-flop from time to time!

What about that passage from the prophet Isaiah…

A breathtaking piece of poetry and lament

It is a time of exile

As bad as it gets

HUMILIATION all around

Stuck in enemy territory

Not only are they not home

Their home doesn’t exist

Scorched earth

 (and it could be written today…think Syria, Somalia, Myanmar…)

These are NOT minor complaints

The people have a pretty legit beef with God

And then that haunting refrain

Have you not known…

Have you not heard…

Two times

The prophet comforts the people:

Remember the promise…from the beginning

They need to hear it over and over again

They need to hear it so that they have a chance at staying in the ‘wait’

So the prophet Isaiah

Acts like a cinematographer

He zooms out

Slowly

And eventually

We see the whole cosmos from God’s perspective

Remember

I made it all out of nothing

You are oppressed, lowly, like nothing

Remember…I’m good at creating out of nothing

I am with you in this wait…I promise

For this ‘there are two kinds of people’ thing to work

we need to add Psalm 147 to Isaiah

We go from the pit

To the mountaintop

Psalm 147…a praise psalm…is all HALLELUJAH

There are two kinds of people…

Those in the depths of despair trying to hang on to the tiniest bit of promise

And those on high, who…if they can resist taking the promise for granted…

Get busy working the supply end…getting the excess promise where it is needed most

But again an addendum

They flip-flop…back and forth

And the Gospel…This is a wonderful story

But I do wish someone had recorded her NAME

With a quick and shallow reading

we might say

there are two kinds of disciples

the men and the women

or

there are two kinds of disciples

the ones with names and ones without names

or

there are two kinds of disciples

the ones that serve and the ones being served

Quick and shallow---won’t do

Mark’s Gospel deserves a careful reading

For Mark all the details matter

The where

The who

The how

The time of day

The day of the week

The scenery

Jesus…is still in his very busy first day of ministry…

the first two things that Jesus does on this action-packed first day

are last week’s exorcism and today’s healing

and they go together

Last Sunday

Jesus starts in the synagogue

It is the Sabbath

The afflicted is a man

His resident Demon is loud and confrontational

And with words alone…loud words,

Jesus heals

GET OUT…AND TAKE ALL THAT PAIN YOU CAUSED WITH YOU!!!

Jesus sets the possessed man free from his demon

It must have been SOME scene

Note the details

-Jesus is in the synagogue

-The afflicted one calls to Jesus

-The healed one is a man

-Jesus heals by command of speech

-All were amazed

-And his fame began to spread

It is the same day

Jesus simply crosses the street

The text says

“as soon as they left the synagogue…they entered…”

the house of Simon’s mother in law

(Did I say how I wish she had a NAME)

We are now in a private place

a warm place…a home

if this were a piece of music…maybe a soundtrack…

the tempo would slow down…way down

we have gone form Presto to Tardo

a deep breath is now possible

The disciples tell Jesus about her fever

She is a woman…she is family

In a world without antibiotics

Being down with a fever is no small matter

And HE went to HER

And now the tempo slows even further

ALL the way down

He. Took. Her. By. The. Hand. And. He. Raised. Her. Up.

There are no cheap words in Mark

The word choices echo forward and they echo back

They remind and they foreshadow

He raises her up

In the Greek it is the same word used to describe Jesus being raised on the third day

Her raising echoes the resurrection

Again the Greek word for this service…this vocation

is DIAKONEA

And it is the same word used to describe

The service the angels rendered to Jesus in the desert!

Her serving echoes the Ministry of the Angels

So to keep with our theme

there are two kinds of people…

No…let’s say

there are two kinds of disciples in the world

Wait…lets get even more specific

There are two kinds of disciples right here…

today

Some of us have lately been on the receiving end

Of healing

We have had someone

Take us by the hand and raise us up

And with our vocations restored

We have been energized to serve

And some of us are still waiting for healing

Waiting to be restored to our vocation

And Once again

There is an addendum

We are…at different times…both

We are the one who has been raised

And we are the one sitting in the longing

But my punchy line has run its course

Because Mark complicates things

There is a wider rhythm in this story

It is the Sabbath…

there is resting

Jesus rests in the home of Simon’s mother in law

the multitudes come to the door after sundown

And after all the crowds have gone

Jesus goes to the deserted place to rest again

there he collects himself…he prays and listens and strengthens

There is a rhythm in the text

And it’s almost musical…

giving, receiving, resting

giving, receiving, resting

So maybe

there is only one kind of disciple

And, as good disciples, we can find ourselves somewhere in that rhythm

According to our own tempo

Flip-flopping between

giving, receiving, and resting

Where am I today in the rhythm?

Have I forgotten to be a good steward of my excess promise?

Have I been hesitant to reach out openly in my need?

Have I allowed for my Sabbath rest?

I have heard many of you comment

Almost oft-handedly

‘I don’t know what I would do without this community’

Maybe this is why that is so

In community this rhythm works

It needs players

But, alone

…Not so much