Finding Faith ... in our divine vocations

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Feb. 2, 2021. This was the 38th digital service we performed after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic.

This week's preaching text: Mark 1:29-39

Jesus Heals Many at Simon’s House

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

A Preaching Tour in Galilee

35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38 He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Message:

A very important teaching of Martin Luther's, and one that has had a great historical impact on our church, is his teaching on vocation. Luther taught us that all Christians have callings, or in other words, vocations. You may often hear the word "calling" associated with pastors who lead congregations, or possibly others in the medical field, or selfless types of professions. But Luther was adamant about teaching us that all vocations are equal in moral and religious significance.

He further taught that Christians who receive God's grace through Christ become priests to their neighbors. Mitigating priests to their neighbors, mitigating God's love to their neighbors. And they do that through their vocation.

Tonight's gospel also teaches about vocations, Faith Family. But first, a story ...

So, my dear, sweet, 84-year-old mother was a waitress in small town cafes for more than 45 years. From the time she was an older teenager, all the way up until she was 62 years old, when she finally retired with Social Security. First in Crookston, our hometown, and then later in smaller towns, such as Fertile and Beltrami. And if you ever happened to travel through one of those small towns from the 1960s to about the year 2000, and stopped to eat, you probably met my mother.

It was often back-breaking work, and she certainly never got rich doing it. But she raised a family of nine of us kids waiting those tables, and she never ever complained. Not ever once.

She often left home by 4:30 or 5 in the morning, and she would return in the afternoons, only to start taking care of us kids. The work, of course, eventually caught up with her body. And in her later years, she's endured a lot of physical pain as a result, as you can imagine. But still, she never complained.

In her heyday, my mother actually had fans who would drive from neighboring towns, all around, to come and eat at the places she worked. And, as a matter of fact, there were over-the-road truckers, at the time, who would plan their routes through those small towns that one of my mother's cafes just so that they could come by and see Lois. ... Simply because she brought them so much joy through her service and her sweet demeanor.

My mother was called ... to be a waitress. ... In fact, it was her vocation. She didn't find the work demeaning as some might think about waiting hand and foot on others. Not my mom.

I asked her one time in her later years, after she had retired, what was it that she loved so much about waitressing. And she lit up, and in her own words said that she knew she was feeding people's souls through their stomachs. ... My mother certainly in her vocation mitigated God's love to her neighbors through her waitressing.

We also learn about vocation tonight from the woman, Simon's mother-in-law, in our gospel too. This poor woman whom the writer of the Gospel of Mark doesn't even name was called to serve too. But let's very clear here tonight. This is not a text about gender roles in the 1st century. Jesus is not calling on the woman to serve them after he heals her because she is a woman. Not in this case at all.

The woman's service comes through her dedication to her role as a host in the 1st century Middle East. She is playing out a role that serves others, and in our gospel, she is living out her vocation, or her calling as it may be. Which I think should give us some insight into what Jesus was doing in his early ministry.

We should remember with this text, that just on the heels of last week's text, this healing takes place right after the events in which Jesus casts out the demon in the man in the synagogue, his very first act of public ministry in Mark.

Right in the beginning of tonight's gospel text, we're told that they are coming from a synagogue, and they are going to this house. And so the healing of Simon's mother-in-law turns out to be Jesus' second act of public ministry. And it becomes his very first healing. And in that very first healing, whom does Jesus choose to heal? ... A woman. ... And a woman of low enough status that she's not even named by the writer of the gospel.

I think it's safe to say that Jesus in this very public act of healing this woman is making a statement about his burgeoning ministry. And he's also making a statement about people's vocations and their importance to the furthering of the Kingdom of God.

First off, by choosing to publicly heal Simon's mother-in-law -- a woman considered so ordinary that she doesn't even deserve a name -- Jesus demonstrated that his ministry was to shake up the world built entirely on status.

And second, through resurrecting this woman, make no mistake, this is a true foreshadowing of what is to come in Jesus' life. Jesus resurrects this woman and restores her ability to serve out her vocation. In that act, Jesus was signaling to everyone in that day that their work to further His father's kingdom here on earth was not only important, regardless of the status of their vocation, that work is divine.

Luther, over the years, spilled a lot of ink writing about vocation, Faith Family. And Jesus, as our gospels tell us, will go to great lengths to symbolize the importance of following God's call. But, as our gospel text tonight tells us, there is not one, single vocation that is unimportant to furthering God's Kingdom.

And maybe even more importantly, God will stop at no lengths to remove the impediments to our serving out our individual vocations, even resurrecting us from fatal illnesses. And that, Faith Family, is the Good News for this Tuesday, Feb. 2, and Sunday, Feb. 7, the fifth Sunday after Epiphany. ... Amen.