Unnamed Woman, First Deacon of the Church

Sermon for The Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany

Saint Peter's | Arlington, VA

Mark 1:29—39

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Being loved and receiving love are two different realities. They don’t necessarily go hand in hand, either.

Our gospel lesson tells us of many people’s encounters with Jesus, and two particularly contrasting responses...

Jesus’ ministry has begun with a flurry of activity. He begins curing people at an impressive pace. In one story after another: people draw close to Jesus, and they are changed. So, naturally, a crowd shows up at his doorstep seeking to be healed—and the “whole city” even comes to watch.

And as Simon Peter watches all of this unfold, the spectacle overtakes him.

It was just the other day that some guy came along and said to him: “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And without hesitance he got up and walked away from his lifelong vocation. As luck would have it: this guy, Jesus, turns out to be not just a miracle worker but an overnight, viral sensation!

An entire city is enraptured by this rising mega influencer, so to speak. And it would seem Simon’s imagination begins to run wild: What if we set up a spiritual healing center, right here in Capernaum? With these crowds, surely people would come from all over for some of Jesus’ magic jazz hands. And if they eventually lose their mojo, well, we’ll just pivot to producing other content—like essential oils or diet plans for 30-day total body transformation or motivational memes.

Just think of the opportunities: power, fame, fortune—the very things Jesus was just recently tempted by in the desert, and which he rejected. Nonetheless, Simon searches out Jesus to capitalize on the moment and demands more.

...We are also presented a different response, though: the unnamed woman, who is solely identified by her relation to Simon. Just before the mass crowd descends, Jesus comes to visit their home.

There he finds a bedridden woman. He sees her in distress and—in violation of purity codes requiring gendered boundaries and separation from disease—he takes her hand (and on the sabbath day no less!). This loving touch restores her to wholeness—and she immediately begins to serve.

Fresh from what may well otherwise have been her deathbed, this woman urgently prepares a meal for the gaggle of men gathered in her home. I can’t help but wonder who did the dishes afterward...

There’s something about this story that’s just a bit uncomfortable. Because in a patriarchal social world defined by multiple hierarchies between people, what does “good news” look like for this unnamed woman?

Central to Mark’s Gospel is the theme of power; more specifically: the subversion of illegitimate power. More so than any other account, Mark is rife with confrontation. First, Jesus proclaims a message that challenges the authority of powers and principalities, and he then embodies this message through miraculous healings that upend the status quo.

Time and again, those who both encounter and receive this message are made well, returned to wholeness, transformed. Through being loved and receiving that love, people are made new. And in a groundswell of reciprocal love like this, it is only inevitable that oppressive systems are confronted and reimagined.

It is much the same in the instance of this seemingly inconsequential Mother-in-Law…

It is from the greek word translated for her act of service, diakoneo, that the word “deacon” derives. And when Jesus emerges from his forty-day fast in the wilderness and is greeted by angels who “waited on him,” it’s this same word that is used. But even more so, Jesus himself uses this same word to summarize his own ministry, that he “came not to be served but to serve.”

It matters a great deal that while navigating a patriarchal world in a male body, Jesus defies constructs and conventions. He willingly lays down the prospect of a lofty social position and instead devotes himself to selfless service. It is a commitment that both imagines a world beyond simple binaries which is “close at hand,” and also brings it into being.

In a similar manner, this woman’s choice to express care is far from inconsequential...

While some see in Jesus an opportunity or power to be seized upon (perhaps even exploited), this woman—the one most disempowered by the reality of the times—simply receives the gift that is offered, and immediately sets about reciprocating it.

It will take some time for Simon to understand this... Because being loved and receiving love are two different things. But her gets there, eventually!

Later, Jesus will say to Simon,

“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

Curiously, something quite similar to what he’d enthusiastically imagined before is now entrusted to him. By that point though something new will have settled into his spirit.

Surely, Simon’s Mother-in-Law had influence on his life. In witnessing her way of living and caring for others, which had no doubt been radically transformed through her encounter with Jesus, I can’t help but wonder how it slowly took root in Simon.

Now, just as the ministry of the angels, the ministry of this woman, and Jesus’ ministry are intimately related, so too is our own. We too are called to join in proclaiming good news through care and service that mend hearts and restore souls to wholeness. No matter how simple or small: every act of love creates a new world.

When we allow ourselves to receive love, something new can then be created. It has a way of multiplying. Because when it is embraced and settles into the marrow of our being, it begins to spill love out onto others. And the ripple effect is immeasurable.

Beloveds, as we seek to walk in the way of Christ’s love, may we find inspiration and encouragement in the life of this unnamed woman, first deacon of the church.

Amen