A Part To Play: A Sermon for Year B, Epiphany 5

This sermon was preached on Sunday, February 5, 2012 at Christ & Saint Stephen's Church. The Bible passages this sermon is based on can be found here. 

I don’t have to guess what most of you will be doing this evening. It’s a pretty important night for most of us. I can expect that, like me, you’ll be home in plenty of time to get the TV set warmed up. Maybe you’ll have some special TV watching snacks at the ready. If you’re like me, you’ll make sure you’ve got good command of the remote in case any instant replays are needed. Because, as I don’t have to tell you, tonight all across the nation, millions of us will be tuning in to see who will be the winners and who will be the losers on yet another...

... episode of Downton Abbey.

As you probably know, Downton Abbey is the PBS Masterpiece Classic series that concerns the fate of the Crawley family – and those who serve the Crawley family – all of whom reside at the said Downton Abbey, which, with all its lands and assets comprises the earldom of Grantham. In season one of the series, an heir to the earldom and the estate goes down with the Titanic. The next closest male heir is an obscure cousin, a lawyer, from a solidly middle class background – to the displeasure of some of the snootier Crawleys. Nonetheless, the young lawyer will someday be the Earl of Grantham, so plans and provisions are made to prepare him for the task. He and his mother relocate to a house near the estate, and are assigned the services of a valet and a maid. 

The new heir, Matthew, is a bit put out by his new valet, Mr. Mosley. In fact he finds the idea of a valet ‘ridiculous’. Matthew is a down-to-earth sort of fellow – and vows that his elevation to the more aristocratic branch of the family is not going to change him. He insists upon continuing his work as a lawyer, including riding his bike to the Downton train station to get to his Ripon office – all the while learning the ropes of running an estate from his cousin the current Earl of Grantham. When asked how he will manage such duties, Matthew explains that there are plenty of hours in the day – and then time at the weekend. The elder Lady Grantham, the Dowager Countess then must ask, “What is a weekend?” A legitimate question for a woman who was raised in aristocratic circumstances and has never worked a day in her life. 

Mr. Mosley, the valet, is most put out by his new master. He complains to the Earl’s valet that Matthew chooses his own clothes in the morning, and hangs them up when he takes them off in the evening, leaving Mosley, who should be employed in these tasks, standing there, as he puts it, ‘like a chump.’ Later when Matthew is dressing for a formal dinner, he spurns all Mosley’s help, fixing his own tie, choosing his own cufflinks, and putting them in his cuffs himself. He tells Mosley that he cannot become accustomed to being dressed like a doll. And that to him, dressing someone seems like a rather silly occupation for a grown man. Mosley is, of course, deeply wounded to hear that the gentleman he is to serve has such a dismissive opinion of the service he offers.

When Matthew raises the issue of the valet with his cousin the earl, he explains that he’d like to dismiss Mosley, not for any fault, but because his services are superfluous to his style of living. The earl asks him, “Is that really fair; to deprive a man of his livelihood when he’s done nothing wrong?” He asks Matthew if he means to deprive Mosley of the sense of satisfaction and self-worth that he gets from doing his work and doing it well? And when Matthew becomes the earl himself, will everyone at Downton be sacked? Will the butler and housemaids and footmen and all who serve the household be deprived of their work, their incomes, and their sense of satisfaction and self-worth? Lord Grantham schools his heir in the bonds shared by all who live in and work on his estate. He says, “We all have different parts to play… and we must all be allowed to play them.”

In our gospel reading today, Simon Peter’s mother-in-law is laid low with a fever. Illness is always a cause for concern. Added to that concern, Peter’s mother-in-law is unable to play the part she has been given to play in her household and in her community. In the Middle East, both in ancient times and today, customs regarding hospitality to guests were very important. There were and are serious social obligations that require that guests are treated with respect, served food and drink, made comfortable and shown honor. To fulfill one’s duty to honor one’s guest is to bring honor upon oneself and one’s household and one’s community. 

Simon Peter has returned to his home with guests, including an important guest, the Rabbi Jesus, only to find his mother-in-law ill. She is unable to serve her guests, unable to play the part she has been given to play. So when Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, he does more than just rid her of her bodily ailments. He also restores her to her place in her community. 

Our text today reads, “(Jesus) came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” (Mark 1:31) Notice the order of events, Jesus lifts her up, or as it’s translated elsewhere, he ‘raises her up’ – and then her fever is gone. That particular verb, egeiro in Greek, will appear again in Mark, often in context of healing, and it will be used again by the angel at the tomb who tells the women that the Jesus whom they seek has been lifted up, has been raised. 

Jesus’ healing of Peter’s mother-in-law is, then, much more than an alleviation of certain symptoms. It is a lifting up, a raising up. Peter’s mother-in-law has been laid low by illness, and Jesus raises her up to her rightful place again. And she carries out the part that she has been given to play. As matriarch of a household, she serves her honored guests which will bring honor to her, her household and her community. She is again in right relation to her body, and to the community in which she lives. 

We can look at it a slightly different way. Peter’s mother-in-law takes the grace shown to her by God in her healing by Jesus, and she, in turn, uses her restored health to serve others. In this regard, she is like the Apostle Paul in our reading from Corinthians this morning. Paul tell the Corinthians that he has received the gospel of Christ, but that blessing is not a cause of pride or boasting on his part. Rather it places on him an obligation. He must then proclaim that gospel to all whom he can impel to hear it. For the gift of the gospel requires Paul to pay it forward, to make sure that those who thirst for the message of God’s grace and mercy, the assurance of God’s redemption and salvation, to make sure the broken world hears the gospel message and through it, is healed.

Later in the episode of Downton Abbey that I was describing earlier, Matthew takes his cousin, the earl’s words to heart. When next he dresses, he asks Mosley to choose a less dull set of cufflinks, and to help him put them in. When he notices that Mosley has managed to clean a spot off his coat, he lets him know that he considers his valet’s work to have been very well done. In the final shot, of this scene, we see Matthew appreciating his well-turned out appearance in the mirror. Behind him stands Mosley, looking over his shoulder, with a look of concentration, staring into the mirror as well. Mosley wields a horsehair brush over Matthew’s lapel. Another tweak to the already will turned out heir. Because in the good turn-out of the heir to the earldom of Grantham, everyone can see that Mosley has done his duty and done it well. The obligation put upon him, he had discharged with expertise and with honor.

Like Peter’s mother-in-law, like the Apostle Paul, and we should note, like Jesus himself. 

After Peter’s mother-in-law is healed, many more come to Jesus for healing. After he had healed them, he went apart from them all, to a deserted place to pray. When they find him, Jesus says, “ 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.” (Mark 1:38)

We all have our parts to play; and those parts involve spreading the word of God, restoring our communities, healing our broken world. Christ’s example to us in today’s gospel includes all the tasks. He restores an ailing woman to health. Thereby he restores her to her rightful place in her household and in her community. Notice too, that after more of such service, Jesus takes some time apart, some time for prayer and reflection, and when called upon, he goes out to even more of God’s children to spread the word, and to heal the broken.

And so should we. We like Paul have been gifted with the gospel of Christ, and that is a gift indeed, a message of grace and hope, a promise of redemption. And that gift puts upon us an obligation to spread that same gospel to the world. Whatever your part is to play, play it. Serve those God sends to you to serve. 

And take the time, from time to time, to restore yourself too, as Jesus did. Maybe spend a Sunday night relaxing in front of the television. I can highly recommend Downton Abbey. But if you don’t like Edwardian costume dramas, do some channel surfing, there might be a football game on. And when you’ve taken the time to be restored. Get up, go out, and spread the gospel. There are many more in need of your service. There are so many more still thirsting to hear of the healing love and redemptive grace of God in Christ Jesus.   +Amen

© The Rev. Mark R. Collins