<html><body><div>I was emailed that the first part is "too big" and waiting to be moderated.</div><div><br></div><div>In the past, I've found that this means that it will never surface again, so here's the first part of the first part. I'll wait to see if this arrives before sending the second part of the first. </div><div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>5 EPIPHANY b</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>ISIAIAH 40:21-31<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>4<sup>th</sup> FEBRUARY, 2018</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>1 CORINTHIANS 9:16-23<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>PSALM 147:1-12, 21c</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>MARK 1:29-39</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Would
you have expected otherwise? Even today, in some places, but particularly two
thousand years ago, if your temperature was below 102</span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>°, any woman or man
would have been expected to be working away, in Simon’s mother-in-law’s case in
her day and age, cooking sweeping the dusty floor, maybe shaking out the blankets.
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>THAT</u></b> was a daily routine.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>But it seems that Simon’s
mother-in-law was really ill. The whole house, such as it was, would have
depended on her.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Curiously, nothing is said about Simon’s
wife. Maybe she was an invalid too, but then, why didn’t the Gospel writer
mention what was going on in her life. Jesus might have taken care of her also.
So that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>IS</u></b> strange. Unless
Simon’s wife had died. Nothing is said about children either.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This makes Simon’s mother-in-law all
the more important for the stability of the home. Simon had been a fisherman, providing
food for at least the two of them and some to sell at the market so they could
buy the other necessities. And don’t forget Andrew. He may have lived and
worked there too. After all, he was Simon’s brother. But maybe he’d moved out.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This makes Jesus’ visit after Church
all the more strange. Who of you, with a spouse at home with the flu, would
have dared to bring someone home unannounced? <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><u>THAT</u></b> would make for an interesting conversation! We know
that Simon had a reputation for being capable of speaking and behaving without
thinking things through, but, really, was he <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><u>THAT</u></b> dense? The more we think about Simon – who was to be renamed
Peter, and on whom the whole Christian Church was to be developed – the more we
learn about Simon, the more interesting he becomes.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I wonder what scripture passages Simon,
Andrew, James, John and Jesus heard that day as Sabbath worship. We can’t even
begin to guess, but I wonder if they’d anything to do with the compassion of
God, or the power of God to heal and renew.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I wonder what they all talked about
as they walked to the house from the synagogue. “Can you believe Ephraim’s
prayer shawl? All those tassels!” Or “What a klutz that bar mitzvah candidate
is!” Or were they struggling with why Simon’s mother-in-law was so ill, and, on
the Sabbath, when she had to tough it out for another twenty-four hours before
she could get some medical help, however primitive?</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I wonder if Jesus knew what He was
going to do? I don’t think He had a computer brain with x-ray vision. His
vision would have been limited to day-to-day situations He’d have seen, and to analyzing
how on earth He could make a difference for the people of that village, or,
probably, for Galilee.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I don’t know if you remember the
film with Morgan Freeman and Jim Carrey which was called “Bruce Almighty”. Jim
Carrey’s character takes over God’s powers and responsibilities for a day, and
it became a chaotic mess.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>But Jesus-on-earth was a practical
person, one who dealt with people individually, right where they were. Maybe,
as they wandered over from Church, they <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>DID</u></b>
talk about Simon’s mother-in-law, and, just possibly, Jesus was trying to sense
what might be the best, the most effective, the loving thing to do.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This is one of the most appealing,
most endearing sides to Jesus, I think. He didn’t make up His mind as if one
size of reaction fits all. He didn’t expect everyone to want or to need to be
the same. He looked directly at the person and held out His hand. He took on
Himself the burden of lifting Simon’s mother-in-law – notice that she’s
nameless – what does <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>THAT</u></b>
say? ; He took on Himself the burden of lifting Simon’s mother-in-law on to her
feet. He made sure that she was steady, and then He left her to it. In other
words, He left her to find out what it was that she wanted or needed to do, and
He left her to make up her own mind as to how and when she’d do it. It’s that
old free-will thing again!</span></p>
</div></body></html>