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| Peter's House in Capernaum |
Epiphany 5, Year B – 8 February 2015
Text: Mark 1:29-39
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
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It was almost exactly a year ago to
the day that Steve and I walked in the area where today’s Gospel lesson probably
took place. It’s hard for me to believe. There are many “holy” sites in the
Holy Land – sites that we call “holy,” but we aren’t positive that some Biblical
event actually happened there.
Recent archeological discoveries at
this particular site in Capernaum lead us to believe that the place we visited - the place they call "Peter's House" - might’ve
really been the home of Simon Peter. The site itself looks like a stone ring,
surrounded by more stone rings.
An excerpt from the magazine
“Biblical Archeology” –
“Although slightly larger than
most, the house was simple, with coarse walls and a roof of earth and straw.
Like most early Roman-period houses, it consisted of a few small rooms
clustered around two open courtyards. Despite later proving to be one of the
most exciting Biblical archaeology discoveries, the house appeared quite
ordinary. According to the excavators, however, it is what happened to the
house after the middle of the first century A.D. that marked it as exceptional
and most likely the house of Peter, the home of Jesus in Capernaum.
In the years immediately following
Jesus’ death, the function of the house changed dramatically. The house’s main
room was completely plastered over from floor to ceiling—a rarity for houses of
the day. At about the same time, the house’s pottery, which had previously been
household cooking pots and bowls, now consisted entirely of large storage jars
and oil lamps. Such radical alterations indicate that the house no longer
functioned as a residence but instead had become a place for communal gatherings,
possibly even the first Christian gatherings…”[1]
Suspended over this archeological
site is a huge modern church building – still in use today. When Mass ended, we
entered this building. In the center of the church is a glass floor, so you can
look down inside those ancient stone walls.
But before the huge, glass church
building suspended in air like a UFO, before the fifth century church that was
also built here - before all that, was a house. Someone’s home – Peter’s home,
we believe, and the place where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law from her
fever.
We may hear that she had a fever
and think, “What’s the big deal?” but remember that in ancient times, illnesses
were much more deadly than they are today. This woman was sick enough to have a
fever – sick with a fever before ibuprofen or antibiotics. The family’s concern
for her health under these circumstances is perfectly understandable.
So the family tells Jesus about
her - he's already got a reputation as a healer - and he goes into her, he takes her by the hand, and raises her up from her
sickbed. And then, she is well – well enough, we’re told, to begin serving
those who are gathered in the home.
There are, in certain
denominations, people who are ordained as deacons. Some deacons are only
deacons temporarily – my mom was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church
before she was ordained a priest, for example. Other deacons remain deacons for
the entirety of their ministry – my uncle is a vocational deacon. Regardless of
which type of deacon someone is, this ministry is a ministry of service.
The word used in the Gospel of Mark
to describe the service done by Peter’s mother-in-law is the word where we also
get our word, “deacon” – diakonos.
After she is healed, she serves because she is like a deacon – she is like one
who serves – in other words, she is healed so that she can do the work she is
called to do.
As much as we don’t know about the women in early Christianity, we do
know that women helped support the ministry of Jesus and his followers in
various ways. Women were financial backers, in some cases. They were disciples,
in some cases. And some of them provided for the needs of Jesus and his
followers by hosting them in their homes, and serving them. They were, like Peter’s mother-in-law, some
of the first deacons – not necessarily ordained by an organized church body
(that would come later) but still fulfilling a calling by God to serve God and
God’s people.
We are, in one sense, like Peter’s
mother-in-law. Maybe we are weighed down by many things, including our own
health limitations. Maybe we are anchored by our fear. Maybe we can’t see past
our current footsteps, and so we don’t want to walk forward at all.
When we are stuck like this, do we
allow Jesus to enter in, to take our hands, and lift us up? Do we allow Jesus
to restore us, so that we may serve God and others in the many and various ways that we are called to?
For we are not only like Peter’s
mother-in-law – we are also like Jesus. We are called to be the ones who lift
others up, we are called to be ministers of reconciliation, we are called to be
the ones bearing the light of Christ in every dark place.
Each of us in this room has been
given another day to live into what God is calling us to be. Remember that
vocation isn’t just about what we are paid to do – our vocations are all the
ways in which we care for the things and the people that God has given to us.
So may we go forth, empowered by God’s Spirit, and be the loving and serving
people of God that we are called to be.
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[1]
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/the-house-of-peter-the-home-of-jesus-in-capernaum/
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