Kirkepiscatoid

Isaiah 40:21-31:

²¹Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? ²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; ²³who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. ²⁴Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. ²⁵To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. ²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? ²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. ³⁰Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; ³¹but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Mark 1:29-39:

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

³²That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴And 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. ³⁵In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and his companions hunted for him. ³⁷When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” ³⁸He 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.” ³⁹And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Ok, let me get the annoying part of the Gospel reading for this week out of the way. Peter’s mother-in-law has a fever. Jesus heals her and what’s the first friggin’ thing she does? She gets up and plays house for all the boys. How lame is that? I have this feeling that all over America, in churches who use the RCL, every XX chromosomed person in the sanctuary was either rolling her eyes, grunting, snorting, or giggling.

That’s kind of schmucky on Peter’s part. He ought to be going, “Here, let me fix YOU dinner.” Shades of when my dad used to sit on his butt in the recliner and yell, “Woman, fix me a sandwich!” Sigh. I suppose you could get away with that one better in the 1960's (Word to the wise, fellows: The command “Woman, fix me a sandwich!” these days, more than likely, will result in a sandwich suppository.)

And really, when you think about it, I don’t see where Peter’s mother-in-law would be all that thrilled about her son-in-law gallivanting all over East Cupcake and leaving the family at home to fend for themselves. But the Gospels don’t seem to address THAT one! I can see it now: “Simon Peter, you worthless sonofabitch! When are you going to stop farting around and come home and take care of things! I don’t care if he IS the Messiah, I should have never let my daughter marry you, you vagabond piece of shit no good fisherman who doesn’t even fish! Now, Moishe the butcher, if I had let my daughter marry HIM, HE would have taken care of us!”

Now that I’ve gotten my pet peeve out of the way for the readings....

Isaiah 40 is in my mind, the most powerful chapter in the OT. It’s one of the most beautiful and poetic, and I loved it dearly even in my “lone wolf Christian” days. I have read that one many times, from stem to stern, and I am still in love with that chapter. It speaks of the awesomeness of God, nature, and ourselves all in one swoop. It was a comfort to me in a time I could hardly be comforted. I discovered that chapter when I was a teenager, and it has served me well.

The problem is, of course, God’s ways are even more bumfuzzling at times.

But I’ll tell you about what stuck in my brain today:

“Everyone is searching for you.”

You know, you can't blame the disciples from going to find him. After all,there were all these people still wanting to be healed.


Kirkepiscatoid's opinion: I think when the disciples said, “Everyone was searching for you,” Jesus was thinking “everyone’s pokin’ at me.”

I know that feeling of "everyone's pokin' at me." All of a sudden this group of people has an expectation for you that you do not want to be doing forever, and you are sort of stuck because their expectations are pretty defined.

This story is from early in Jesus’ ministry. One-on-one healing with Peter’s mother-in-law, no problem. But then all these people show up and he heals a bunch of them...and they just keep coming.

If I were Jesus, I would think all these people showing up would feel a little overwhelming. Jesus is just coming into his own, he’s just coming to grips with all these things he is discovering about who he is and what he is meant to do. He’s thinking, “I know I have these talents...but this is not what I’m about. I can’t just stay here and keep healing people day after day, because yeah, I can do these things but THIS IS NOT WHO I AM. Hell, I’m still not totally sure who I am, really, but I know this ain’t it. I’m not some revival tent healer. I don’t want to do this all the time, in one place.”

So what does he do? He goes out “in the dark, in a deserted place.” (Hmmmmm. Kind of like how I go off and sit in the dark, or by my chiminea when I'm pent up or troubled.)

Jesus is probably thinking, “For cryin’ out loud. I’m a CARPENTER. I have no right to be a healer. Why do the rules have to be different for me? Everyone’s pokin’ at me, telling me all these things about me that I’m not entirely convinced that I am. But I know God wants something for me, and I sorta understand this, but not quite.”

But I honestly think part of this was that he felt pretty overwhelmed about it. He felt overwhelmed in a way all of us feel now and then. It can certainly drive any of us to despair.

I was thinking the other day about the explosion of stores closing in the area. A lot of these are in fairly new buildings. People don't have money to shop. I got to thinking, "Who holds the notes on these mortgages? Banks, obviously. All it would take in this country to spin us into a Depression that would be the equal and then some of the one my grandparents experienced, would be for a few more major banks to crump.

Then another sobering memory of when my lategrandparents used to talk about the Depression popped in my head. My grandparents remember when banks failed--one of the first things that happened when the banks failed was that "they started callin' in the notes." Maybe if you were fortunate, you would be able to have enough assets to at least agree on how many cents on the dollar you could get a break. Of course, most people didn't have the money to negotiate this. they just LOST their houses, their stores, their gas stations.

How can we see Isaiah-style beauty in all of this? Not easy. But I am wondering if we're going to have to live in Babylon for a while. Most people do not know how to live without credit. Spurring the economy by "buying stuff" with credit cards and buying things made elsewhere while jobs are scarce here is just a smoke screen. I about fell over when I saw a recent article that sort of chided people b/c they were SAVING money instead of spending it. I am convinced it will get worse instead of better. A lot of people will be living one paycheck from disaster.

Will this be an opportunity to turn to God? It could be. I do not wish hard times on any one. But sometimes, (and this has been true of me at certain times of my life), we turn to God when "that's all we have left." Easier access to credit and an abundance of cheap stuff has deluded some people into thinking they still had something left. But if that is what happens, the Church has to stand ready to be a support system. When we argue about which way the hymn books should be in the pew, and whether we should keep the sacristy door open or closed when the church is idle, or who goes to the rail and who doesn't, or who is the "real" church and who is not, it sort of screams "not ready." Are we ready to be lifted up and healed ourselves in the tragedies of others if this financial crises worsens? It remains to be seen.