How "Fever" Calls Us to Serve

Author: Pastor Mike Gutzler (Sermon from 2/7/2021)

One of the most wonderful aspects of scripture is its ability to speak meaningfully to our lives today, no matter what is happening around us. The weekly scripture selection of a scene or words from the life of Jesus can seem to completely hit the mark. It could also be a single word that triggers a reaction like never before. The word from this week’s reading has to be “fever.”

The text says Simon’s mother-in-law had a fever. Probably in any other non-pandemic circumstance we would pass over the word fever and focus instead on the surprising mention that Peter was married. It’s weird we do not hear anything about his wife, extended family or, possibly, children.

But for today and this year, “fever” raises our antenna. The fact that we can’t go to appointments, some stores, or other venues without getting our temperature taken makes us pause and consider how being sick changes life’s daily activities. For us today, any sign of a fever quickly moves us into a deep concern, not only for our own health, but also to the health of those around us. A fever is the first symptom of being infected by COVID-19. With a fever, we quickly start taking everyone else’s temperatures and maybe try to find a rapid test site to see if we are positive for the virus. We can’t just take a couple of Advil or Tylenol like years past and assume it will all go away.

Our response to a fever and having the medical establishment around us, especially during COVID, illustrates the drastic difference between a fever today and a fever in Jesus’s day. For Peter’s mother-in-law, a fever could spell dramatic health issues without any medical intervention. A simple fever, and the potential virus that came with it, possessed a very real possibility of impending death. It is no wonder that it only takes 14 verses in the gospel of Mark for Jesus to gain Peter as a disciple and then be at Peter’s family’s home to provide healing.

Then, not moments after the fever is gone, Peter’s mother-in-law gets out of bed, stands up, and starts to prepare a meal for the guests – a testament of thanks to Jesus, but also a gesture of hospitality for Peter’s guests.

One of the elements of this story, and particularly where it sits within Mark’s gospel, is formative to the way Jesus starts his ministry. Scholars have more recently seen the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, which is bookended by the casting out of the daemons on one side and the cleansing of the leaper on the other - all in the same first chapter of Mark – as definitive of what Jesus is up to. Central to Jesus’s ministry, and foremost on his mission, was to do everything necessary in order to bring those who are unable to participate in meaningful relationships back into community.

Said another way, Jesus (out of love) provides healing so people can be their full selves in order to return to the community and participate in meaningful relationships. When you think about it, this makes total sense. Jesus, the messiah, comes into the world to repair the broken relationship between humans and God and in also doing so sets healing and forgiveness to be the way we grow closer together. No wonder Jesus summarizes all of the laws into “Love God and love neighbor.”

With Jesus’ help, the formerly possessed, the sick, and those with disease are healed and then returned to society in order to be the complete human – relationships and all – God intended them to be.

Now I don’t think it’s too big of a leap here, but I hope you would agree that the pandemic is preventing us from being our whole selves. We cannot be in community and in relationship – as agents of God love in the world- the way we need to be. 

Yes, thank God for technology and the many ways we are able to be connected, but at the same time we are unable to be fully present with our friends, family, and co-workers. The pandemic prevents us from contributing to the world and its needs in many ways, and also prevents us from building new relations with others – especially the stranger. We are only now starting to see the ways some of our oldest members of the congregation are able to reenter the world as we knew it. Dream with me for a moment.

Imagine our situation a year ago. What if it was February 2020 and I came before you and said: “Holy Trinity, there is going to be a global pandemic. Over 500,000 people in the US are going to die, and millions are going to get sick.” You probably would have hoped that I was not telling the truth and that this could not be real. But then I go on to say: “In a year when we have a vaccine (which may not seem possible either), our senior citizens will be among the first to get a vaccine and the first to have an opportunity to go back out into the world to love and serve their neighbors.”

Would you have believed it? Outside of our first responders and essential works, the seniors members of our community would be the first called back to help heal the world? Saying all of this a year ago, you would have had a whole year to discern: how is God calling me today? You could have thought “If I am going to be first out of the gate and back into the world – what is God calling me into today?'“ What a moment of prayerful discernment. If you are in that moment right now, maybe you had your first shot and waiting for your second, this could be your moment to prayerfully consider what God is saying to you. 

Now, the second half of the Gospel today, is for the younger demographic here at HT. Yes, I am talking to the parents amongst us, those of you who are tired, stressed, overworked, can’t escape, couped up in your house, no babysitter, working at all hours trying to do it all. The second part of the gospel is for you.

Did you notice that after Jesus takes on the sick people, heals the diseased, and casts out the daemons of the possessed, he gets some sleep and then in the morning he gets up, goes to a dessert place, and prays? He takes intentional time to be by himself and maintain his prayer life and conversation with God.

Our God, Jesus the Messiah, while on earth takes times for moments of quiet and prayerful meditation. It is only at that point that he has the discerning mind and confidence to make his next move to go to the neighboring towns.

I am not going to be so bold as to suggest you need to add one more thing to your day and tell you to take a moment of sabbath and rest – I know you know in your heart of hearts this to be true. What I want to tell you today is that God sees you, God hears you, God cares for you, and God loves you. You are not alone. These are not words of practical assistance, but they are words of Gospel truth that you can hold on. You can have faith and trust that you don’t have to hold it all together on your own. God is in so much greater control then you will ever be. God is with you. Amen!?

Which lets me conclude with one final thought, and it has to do with the nature of the church – our congregation. On the one hand, we have an abundance of seniors, our new front line workers with years of child rearing experience almost ready to be back into the world fully vaccinated. On the other hand we have another population of families and parents trying to work two jobs, juggle parenting, clean the house, do the laundry, make dinner, and keep it all together.

Maybe, just maybe, the church is the perfect environment we all need right now. What if we have the perfect combination of people and needs to make our way to the end of this pandemic with the help of God? Maybe, working together, we could all be the healthy and healed contributors to the world and the lovers of God and neighbor we are called to be.

God, open our hearts and minds to the ways you are at work in our souls, homes, and community. Amen.