The Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany February 7, 2021

Isaiah 40:21-31 Psalm 147: 1-12, 21c 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 Mark 1:29-39

“Have you not known? Have you not heard?” In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Amen

As we prepare to wrap up this season of Epiphany, the second evangelist has taken us on a whirlwind journey in just the first 39 verses of the first chapter! Everything happens quickly and the author provides us with relatively few details. Despite this sense of urgency, Mark’s primary purpose throughout the first half of his gospel is to identify who this Jesus is, the mighty Messiah and Son of God. Let’s do a quick recap:

1st Sunday of Epiphany: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you, I am well pleased.”

2nd Sunday: “Nathanael replied ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God.’”
3rd Sunday: “Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God,

and and saying ‘the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has

come near; repent and believe in the good news.’”
4th Sunday: “and the unclean spirit cried out, ‘I know who you are, the Holy

One of God.’”
The Last Sunday (The Transfiguration): “This is my Son, the Beloved;

listen to him.”

Mark has regaled us with amazing stories of the locust and honey-eating John the Baptist, the calling of James and John, Simon and Andrew, to follow him and begin new lives of catching people for the kingdom, of casting out demons, of rebuking evil, of astounding the religious, of healing all manner of people plagued with all manner of diseases and sicknesses, of Jesus’ need to refresh and commune with his Father, and of Jesus’ understanding of his mission to widely proclaim the message of repentance and forgiveness in preparation for the coming reign of God. All of these stories help with the unveiling of who this Jesus is, which is the theme of Epiphany. All this in just 39 verses!!

In today’s gospel reading, we read four brief snippets from Jesus’ early ministry: the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law, the arrival of folks from throughout the city seeking Jesus for his healing touch and words, the importance of spending time with his Father away from the maddening crowds, and finally the realization that his mission and purpose has a far wider scope and import than receiving accolades from the locals in Capernaum. Whether confronting evil in the form of the man with the unclean spirit in the public setting of the synagogue or healing Simon’s

mother-in-law in the privacy of her home, whether dealing with the masses until well into the night or seeking retreat in a deserted place, Jesus reveals a God who is made manifest in silence, word, and deed; epiphanies indeed.

Given the focus of this season, of God’s revelation of himself, how, when, or where did you experience God’s presence in your life this week? How did God reveal himself to you? Very importantly, what was your response to this experience(s)? These are not just theoretical questions; these are the types of questions that shape our theological thinking about our relationship with God, about how we live and act in the here-and-now. These types of questions dig deep into our souls and encourage and enable us to not only know God better but set us free from the bondage of our sins while allowing us to live the abundant life God promises to those who fear him, to those in awe of him.

Truth is, we know we don’t live in the world God wants for us. The sin of broken relationships, greed, anger, loneliness, disease, mental illness, poverty, impatience, arrogance, abuse of all kinds, hypocrisy, (need I go on?) weighs us down, diminishes our joy, and quite frankly, wears us out. The world around us is filled with individuals who are not only desperate but destitute. We live in communities where too many people are just plain hopeless. Even those who at least tacitly believe in God, a god, wonder where God is? They are not alone; people from the beginning of time have asked this same question.

The Jews in exile in Babylon asked this same question and the prophet Isaiah had a response, not just for them but for us as well, one that needs repeating again, and again, and again. And who will deliver this message to this torn up, torn down world? YOU AND ME!!!

Isaiah asks these two questions twice: “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” He then goes on to remind his fellow countrymen that it is God who “sits above the circle of the earth, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, who makes the rulers of the earth as nothing...that the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He reminds them that God does not faint or grow weary, that he gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless, that those who wait upon 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 be faint.”

Yet even we sometimes forget Isaiah’s encouraging words, right? One of the commentators I read put it this way: “that we are ‘theological amnesiacs.” Even those of us grounded in God’s word, who receive life-giving bread and wine each week, sometimes find ourselves forgetting that God is always present, always available, always helping us, and like Simon’s mother-in-law, to rise to wholeness. The prophet tells us that even when God seems elusive, he is still ever-present. If we sometimes forget, how about those who have “never known or never heard?” Is it any wonder why so many feel lost and alone?

Simon’s mother-in-law provides an amazing life lesson by her response to her healing. She shows gratitude by getting up and serving them. Gratitude is the response to healing; gratitude is the response to God’s presence; gratitude is the response to opportunities to serve others.

By our gratitude, we express through word and deed the words of the psalmist: “Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God! How pleasant it is to honor him with praise! (The Lord) heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds, the LORD lifts up the lowly but casts the wicked to the ground. We are to “sing to the LORD with thanksgiving, to make music to our God upon the harp.” By our actions of gratitude and thanksgiving, we manifest our God of hope and healing, our God who does not grow weary, whose understanding is unsearchable.

My friends, God ministers to us so we can minister to others. God lifts us up so we can extend a helping hand to someone else. God strengthens us when we are weary and feel powerless so we can be a source of strength and comfort to those who are faint and need to lean on us. Another of the commentaries I studied this week put it perfectly: “It is in the speaking and the doing that God is revealed - not only in the heavens above but the earth below. This is our work as Christians today, speaking and living out God’s word. For some people, we are the only Jesus they will ever meet.” With God’s help, may we be ready for such an encounter!