SERMON The Mother-in-Law

Epiphany 5 (B) (2009):

     Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-11, 20c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39

This morning we hear about a mother-in-law. Think "mother-in-law." What comes to mind? Even better, google "mother-in-law." Know what the first hit is? "Mother-in-Law Stories and Mother-in-Law Jokes" -- a website devoted to both. Google "mother-in-law jokes" and you get 1,090,000 hits -- and possibly as many jokes:

     • Q: What is the worst thing an emergency doctor can tell you after admitting your mother-in-law?

        A: Sir, we were able to save her!

     • Q: What is the ideal weight for a mother-in-law?

        A: About 2.3lbs, including the urn.

     • My Mother-in-law is banned internationally from playing poker, as she keeps all the chips on her shoulder!

     • Q. Is it possible to kill a mother-in-law with newspaper?

        A. Yes, if you wrap an iron in it.

     • Q: The difference between outlaws and in-laws?

        A: Outlaws are Wanted!!

     • A wife complains, "A wall clock almost killed my mother today. It fell only seconds after she got up from the couch. " Her husband mumbles, "Clock always was slow. "

     • Q. What's the definition of mixed emotions?

        A. When you see your mother-in-law backing off a cliff in your new car.

     • (my favorite) A big-game hunter went on safari with his wife and mother-in- law. One evening, while still deep in the jungle, the Mrs awoke to find her mother gone. Rushing to her husband, she insisted on their both trying to find her mother. The hunter picked up his rifle, took a swig of whiskey, and started to look for her. In a clearing not far from the camp, they came upon a chilling sight: the mother-in-law was backed up against a thick, impenetrable bush, and a large male lion stood facing her. The wife cried, "What are we going to do?""Nothing," said the hunter husband. "The lion got himself into this mess, let him get himself out of it."

The jokes are funny. Even so, as a mother-in-law (who was not without her own mother-in-law issues, whose son-in-law is not without his), I cringe when I hear them. And I especially cringe when I read the mother-in-law stories on the blogs. Some are pretty horrific.

Horrific as those blogs are, they are not the whole story. There are also stories of mothers-in-law who are esteemed. Think "mother-in-law" and you might think "Marian Robinson," Michelle Obama's mother and now both a White House resident and the country's First Granny. (Google "mother-in-law" and, after the blogs and the jokes, you will find Marian Robinson.) What a woman! A fiercely independent woman, Marian Robinson is 71 and a widow and, until she retired from her job to take care of her granddaughters during the campaign, was an executive secretary for a bank. Her busy life style included not only her job but "competing in the 100- and 50-yard dash at the Illinois senior games." (Chicago Tribune 1/10/2009)

As a grandmother, Marian Robinson is adored by her grandchildren and, as a mother-in-law, is esteemed by their father. The president has said as much -- repeatedly. As the Chicago Tribune noted, "her close relationship with her son-in-law was documented in Election Night photographs of her holding his hand as they watched returns." Marian Robinson is not only adored by her grandchildren and esteemed by her son-in-law, but she is a departure from two prior Presidents' mothers-in laws who were residents of the White House, both of whom were blog and joke fodder. According to the Tribune,

Harry Truman's mother-in-law belittled him constantly while living [in the White House], questioning both his policies and ability to govern. Dwight D. Eisenhower's mother-in-law often wintered at the president's mansion, where she lounged in bed and bossed around the staff and her daughter, Mamie.

Marian Robinson will decidedly "play a much different role than her predecessors." And decidedly is not mother-in-law joke material.

Which brings us to this morning's mother-in-law. What do we know about her?

Well, we know that she was Simon Peter's mother-in-law. That she had a fever, That on a sabbath afternoon, in the privacy of Peter's house, Jesus came, lifted her up, and healed her. And after that she got up and served Jesus, Peter, Andrew, James, and John.

All very simple, straightforward, right? Not at all. Lurking behind that simple narrative is great deal more. Both about Peter's mother-in-law and about Jesus.

That the account of Jesus' healing Peter's mother-in-law is preserved in the synoptic gospels probably has something to do with Peter's emerging as the head of the Jerusalem Church after Jesus' death and resurrection. Peter was a first century ecclesiastical equivalent of Barak Obama. That his mother-in-law was healed by Jesus was news, just as Marian Robinson's moving into the White House is news (and Harry Truman's and Dwight Eisenhower's mothers-in-law were news).

But despite the prestige of their sons-in-law, Peter's mother-in-law is not a Marian Robinson. Marian Robinson chose (albeit after a great deal of soul searching) to move to Washington to help out. By contrast, Peter's mother-in-law has no such choice. Nor does she have any business living with Peter and her daughter. Women in first century Palestine, moved into their husband's households when they married. If their husbands died, they moved in with their sons. If they had no husband and no sons, they returned to their own families. Normally, men did not have mothers-in-law living with them to deal with. (Remember when Jesus talks about bringing not peace but a sword? He says, "I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, [a mother-in-law against daughter-in-law,] and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." Matthew 10:35 [Luke 12:53] There is no mention of mother-in-law against son-in-law and vice verus because the situation did not arise.) Mother-in-law jokes were restricted to women.

Except in Peter's house. What is Peter's mother-in-law doing living in Peter's house? One answer might be (this is my thought but apparently no one else's) that she has developed a fever while visiting her daughter. The implication, however, is that she is living with Peter and her daughter. And she is living with them because she has no husband and no sons and no living family to return to. In the words of one commentator, "In the Middle Eastern world, this is a fate worse than any sickness, indeed, worse than death." (Pilch 1996, 32)

Jesus comes to Peter's house and immediately learns that Peter's mother-in-law -- a person who has lost everything and who is reduced to living with her daughter and her daughter's husband -- has a fever. In first century Palestine, fevers were frequently fatal. In that world, a fever was not a symptom of illness but an illness itself. An illness, like all illnesses, that is spirit-related. When the author of Luke re-tells Mark's account of the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, Jesus "rebuke[s] the fever and it [leaves] her." (Luke 4:39) This morning Jesus simply takes Peter's mother-in-law's hand and lifts her up and the fever leaves her.

She is cured of her physical illness. But she is cured of more.

Think about it. Once cured, Peter's mother-in-law could go back to bed and, taking a cue from Dwight Eisenhower's mother-in-law, boss others around. Or criticize her son-in-law like Harry Truman's mother-in-law. Or justifiably despair of her social situation and do nothing.

But that isn't what happen, is it? We learn that Peter's mother-in-law gets up and serves Jesus and the disciples. She is made whole both physically and spiritually. As was true of the exorcism of the man last week with the unclean spirit, her healing is about the in-breaking of the kingdom of God that is and is to come -- an inclusive kingdom that includes women and outcasts like her and restores wholeness to them and the community.

And that's something we can know now, individually and as a community.

It doesn't happen often, but physical healing is something that sometimes happens with a touch, swiftly and mercifully. After six months of unrelenting discomfort and pain that weighed like an unwanted spirit, I had that experience this past New Year's Eve. An amazing sensation of suddenly being pain free. Of the weight gone. Of being reborn. Of being whole. "Precious Lord, take my hand," and it happens. As the prophet goes on to transcribe in Isaiah, "For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you.'" (Isaiah 41:13)

But there is more. More in Peter's mother-in-law's service. More that relates to all of us.

Most have assumed that Peter's mother-in-law got up and confirmed her cure and wholeness by serving Jesus and the disciples food. And no doubt she did. Something commentators have pointed out that would have been unusual for a woman in first century Galilee to do for unrelated males. Something that points to the Jesus movement's being characterized by "equalitarian social practices (including meals) that conflicted with widespread . . . ancient notions of propriety." (Kramer 2000, 422) A movement with a place for mothers-in-law in sons-in-law's homes.

What suggests that there might be more than domestic tasks to Peter's mother-in-law's service is the word for serve. The word in Greek is diakonei. It is the word Mark uses when he speaks of the angels ministering to Jesus in the wilderness. It is the word Jesus uses in Mark when he says the son of man has come not to be served but to serve. It is the word the early church uses to describe the work done for others by deacons like Stephen. Whether Peter's mother-in-law goes on to become one of the many women who follows Jesus in service we don't know. It cannot be ruled out.

But what can be ruled out is that none of this has anything to do with us. Far from it. We do not have to be cured of physical illness to know the in-breaking of God's kingdom in Word and Sacrament. In worship, in this community. When we build houses in Waukegan. Sing in the choir. Prepare activities for Little Lambs. Visit the sick. Teach a class. Shovel the sidewalks. Tend the nursery. Feed the worms. Plant the gardens. Bake bread. Read the lessons. Play an instrument. Advocate for social justice. Touched by God, and by and with God's grace, we are all -- every one of us -- Peter's mother-in-law. And that is no joke. Amen

February 8, 2009

Ruth VanDemark, pastor

Wicker Park Lutheran Church

Chicago