Lectionary Reflection — 04 February 2018
29-31Directly on leaving the meeting place, they came to Simon and Andrew’s house, accompanied by James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed, burning up with fever. They told Jesus. He went to her, took her hand, and raised her up. No sooner had the fever left than she was up fixing dinner for them.
32-34That evening, after the sun was down, they brought sick and evil-afflicted people to him, the whole city lined up at his door! He cured their sick bodies and tormented spirits. Because the demons knew his true identity, he didn’t let them say a word.
35-37While it was still night, way before dawn, Jesus got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. Simon and those with him went looking for him. They found Jesus and said, “Everybody’s looking for you.”
38-39Jesus said, “Let’s go to the rest of the villages so I can preach there also. This is why I’ve come.” He went to their meeting places all through Galilee, preaching and throwing out the demons.
32-34That evening, after the sun was down, they brought sick and evil-afflicted people to him, the whole city lined up at his door! He cured their sick bodies and tormented spirits. Because the demons knew his true identity, he didn’t let them say a word.
35-37While it was still night, way before dawn, Jesus got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. Simon and those with him went looking for him. They found Jesus and said, “Everybody’s looking for you.”
38-39Jesus said, “Let’s go to the rest of the villages so I can preach there also. This is why I’ve come.” He went to their meeting places all through Galilee, preaching and throwing out the demons.
Other readings:
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We were all preparing to go out to the street by the bus station. We’d been using that place as our center of operations for our street ministry for quite some time. But on this particular evening, our leaders weren’t doing so well. The husband was running a fever and really sick. His wife was a nurse and wanted him to stay behind and rest. Instead, like normal, we all took some time for prayer before we loaded up in the van. After we finished praying we all gathered for group prayer and the husband led the prayer. As he was praying, he started getting more and more excited and kept reciting Scripture about Christ healing people. After a few moments we noticed sweat beading on his forehead; his fever had broken. We all climbed into the van and headed out to the bus station.
In today’s Gospel reading, we find a very similar story. Jesus and his new group of followers went to Andrew and Peter’s home. Pete’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever. When they told Jesus, he healed her; she was completely restored. Peter’s mother-in-law began to go about her normal duties and fixed dinner for the weary band of travelers.
Some people have trouble with this passage because it seems to evoke patriarchy. That is, they see that the only reason Peter’s mother-in-law is healed (who’s not even named, not even in Holy Tradition) is so she can start fixing dinner while the men (who are named) just sit around and let her do all the work because cooking is “woman’s work.” As I’ve said before, while there might be some of that going on, it has more to do with us reading our current worldview into ancient texts with ancient worldviews. That’s called eisegesis. Let me explain.
The problem comes from our view of biblical authority. In other words, how do we view the Bible? It is the literal Word of God dictated (or handed down) from Heaven to humanity and therefore, it’s infallible and unquestionable? Or do we see it as a human book that captures the experiences of ancient people in their interactions with the Divine? Or maybe it’s a little bit of both? Perhaps it’s none of these. Generally speaking, biblical authority falls into two categories — 1) the Bible is the literal, infallible, unquestionable Word of God or, 2) the Bible is a collection of stories with ancient peoples encounters with the Divine.
What’s surprising to me is that some of the people who view the Bible in the second category are the ones who claim the Bible promotes patriarchy. In other words, they read into ancient worldviews their own views of social justice and equality. They don’t believe that the Bible’s indubitable or infallible but still feel that the Bible advocates patriarchy. But the question that comes to my mind is — If the Bible wasn’t divinely dictated and delivered by angels to people containing God’s views of everything, then how can it inspire patriarchy?
Certainly, there are plenty of churches that will use the patriarchy in the Bible to teach modern patriarchy. Those churches see the Bible in the first category — as a book of laws and rules that teaches the way God wants things to be; God’s perfect will for humanity. For example, when they read the “husband” is the “head of the wife” (Ephesians 5.23)3 they take this to mean that this is God’s perfect plan for marriage (but they never seem to know what to do with Genesis 1.26ff).
So, I think what some progressive Christians mean when they say the Bible teaches patriarchy is that they recognize the propensity of some churches to misinterpret and, therefore, misuse ancient cultural norms to promote their own agendas. I mean, think about it. The people who advocate patriarchy aren’t the people who actually believe that women are equal to men and should be treated as such. Just the opposite, in fact. “I really believe women are equal to men, but, the Bible teaches that they should submit to men, so, that’s what I have to believe because that’s what the Word of God says.” That’s hardly the scenario.4
What the Bible shows us (in most places) is not the way things should be but the way things were when they were written. The writers of the Bible aren’t recording timeless truths and God’s will on every page (per se) but the then current events and understandings of the people in the story and the worldview of the writer or editor. What we see, then, is what we expect to see — the ups and downs, the highs and lows, the righteousness and sins of the people who encounter God. We see the struggles of people as they have to now learn to live differently because of their experiences. In other words, when we read the Bible, we read real human stories of people trying to live a holy life because of an encounter with the Divine.
And much more besides.
The Bible does contain God’s view of things, too. For example:
— When humanity was condemned because of Adam, God rescued the world back to Godself through the blood of Jesus on the cross (Colossians 1.19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19) and humanity’s been made right with God (Romans 5.18, 21; 1 Corinthians 15.22) .
— God’s Realm started during the life of Jesus (Mark 1.15) and will continue to grow like yeast in dough (Matthew 13.33) until the entire cosmos is fully rescued (Isaiah 65.17; Revelation 21.1, 5); until creation is filled with the knowledge of God as water covers the sea (Isaiah 11.1-9; Revelation 21.1-7).
— The vocation of people who follow Christ now is to be Christ in the world (John 20.21; 2 Corinthians 5.18ff), co-workers with God (1 Corinthians 3.9; 2 Corinthians 6.1) in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5.18ff).
And it’s this very picture we see in the Gospel lesson today. Peter’s mother-in-law was rescued and restored to life with God. This is what it means when the promised Realm of God comes to our world — people are healed and restored. And that’s our ministry today. As God’s co-workers, we’re to proclaim the Realm of God in our very being, our actions, and our words to the whole world bringing about God’s restoration, healing, and rescue. Through the power of God’s Spirit, we’re to lift people up from their current place of sickened, outcast, and rejected place in life to a fully restored place as children of God alongside their sisters and brothers.
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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1. Scripture quotations marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
2. Two very good books on this subject are N. T. Wright’s, Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today, and Marcus Borg’s, Reading the Bible Again For the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally.
3. And, yes, they generally only use the King James Bible, too.
4. The same holds true with anything those people are against — women’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, taking care of the poor, racism, ecology, etc. It’s not that they’re truly for those things but the Bible says they shouldn’t be. It’s that they don’t believe in those things to start with and then they proof-text their views from out-of-context biblical passages.
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