Fr. Tom’s Homily – 5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – February 7, 2021 930am

The story of the cure of Peter’s mother-in-law is a short story, but I think it offers us much for our prayer, our reflection.  Peter’s mother-in-law lived with him and his family in the same house that Peter’s brother Andrew and his family lived in. 

And that was unusual.  At that time, a woman was dependent on a male relative.  She grew up dependent on her father.  When she married, she was dependent on her husband; if he died, she was dependent upon a son, or if she didn’t have a son, a brother.  And if there was no one, she became a beggar in the streets.  So for Peter to take her in, so that she could live with her daughter, I think is saying something about the love that Peter had for his wife, and also about his generosity.  And maybe that’s a little bit about why Jesus chose him to be the leader of his disciples.

But to get to the story of the cure.  When they got to the house, they told Jesus about her, and he went over,  and he took her by the hand, and raised her up and she was cured.  She was restored, not only to health, but to her family, to her community.  And the word that was used for ‘raised her up’ is also used in the story of the daughter of Jairus.  That Jesus went in and took her by the hand, and brought her back to life.  He raised her up.  And the word is also one of the words that’s used to describe Jesus being raised at the resurrection.  The word speaks not just of the physical act of standing up, but of being restored.  Restored to health; restored to the fullness of life; maybe restored to life, and being restored also to the community. 

And when Peter’s mother-in-law was raised up, she began to wait on them.  And the term that’s used for that is diákonos, which is where we get the word deacon. What she was doing was not just simply getting out refreshments, she was doing a ministry.  A service ministry.  Her response, her thanksgiving was to minister.

But all of us in some way or another, have been taken by the hand by Jesus, and have been raised up.  Maybe restored to health in some way.  Certainly, spiritually we have been raised up.  Given life; restored to life through healing; through forgiveness.  Maybe had that life deepened in our relationship with God.  We have been taken by the hand and raised up maybe socially, emotionally, in any number of ways. 

And because of that we are a thanksgiving people.  That’s why we’ve gathered here this morning, to be able to come together and give ourselves to God in thanks for all that He has done for us; for all the ways that He has given us life and restored that life, and restored us. 

And so we come and we give ourselves in thanksgiving and God, in His wondrous mystery, gives us an even greater gift.  But as a thanksgiving people, we also need to be a people of service; a people of ministry.

We have been restored to the community; the community of God’s kingdom, the community of God’s family.  We have been made part of it and brought together in it, and restored to it, maybe.

And so, like Peter’s mother-in-law, we need to serve, to minister to that community, or with that community to the world outside. 

We are a thanksgiving people.  Peter’s mother-in-law…the only time we hear about her is in the story of her healing.  We don’t even know her name.  She’s an anonymous disciple of the lord, just like we are.  But she gives us the example that because God has made us his disciples, in thanksgiving we become a people of service.