Sermon for Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Both your work and your rest are in God
By The Rev. Christie Webb -
Both your work and your rest are in God. Both your work and your rest are in God. These words are part of the Affirmation of Christian Vocation, a resource that can be used in worship. I find them to be so profound. Both your work and your rest are in God.
As we are in the midst of considering where and how God calls us, exploring our call stories, we so often equate that to how God is calling us to work, how God is calling us to serve. So, it seems important to remember this: both our work and our rest are in God. God calls us both to service and to rest. And we can’t have one without the other. We are called to serve. But we are also called to rest, restoration, renewal healing. And these each flow into each other.
In our gospel text we witness this call to restoration. Peter’s mother in law is ill. And while it says fever, we aren’t really sure what is going on, but it's not just a cold. It requires some real and true healing. Jesus goes to her, reaches out his hand, and raises her up. Raises her up, the same verb that will be used to talk about Jesus being raised up on the third day. We witness Peter’s mother in law’s call story right here. It doesn’t have any words to hear. Instead, it is touch and sense and healing. A hand reaches out to her, pulls her up, and she is restored. That healing calls her into action. She begins to serve. The verb used here is diakonos- ministry- Peter’s mother in law is the first deacon my friends. But she would never have been able to be of service unless she first experienced the healing, the renewal of her health through the touch of God. Both her rest and her work are in God. God’s work is not just to call us, but to also heal us, restore us, renew us.
There is a both-and to this work of being part of God’s kingdom, of being a worker of the kingdom of God.
We see it with Jesus too. Jesus has certainly been busy. He has called his disciples. He has cast out demons. He has healed Peter’s mother in law. He has healed the crowds that have come to the door. Jesus has been busy. He has been at work. But both his work and his rest are in God. “While it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” Jesus needed this moment to rest in the love of God, to connect with God through prayer, so that he could continue his work.
Work and rest. Action and contemplation. Two sides of the same coin. Both necessary. Both needed. We are called to both.
I wonder how God is calling you this day. Calling you to rest. Calling you to healing. Calling you to renewal.
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for 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 faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31)
“The Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)
Sometimes because God is everlasting, sometimes because God does not grow weary, we think that in order to serve God we have to do the same. We have to be the energizer bunny. We can’t show weakness. We can’t be sick. We can’t need healing of our own.
In our 24-7 world we often miss this call, the call to rest, the call to healing. Consider pre-pandemic life when it was a badge of honor to be sick and still go to work. Consider the ways of the world and the currency we sometimes trade in of who is the most exhausted.
But both our rest and our work are in God. God calls us to a deep intimate interaction with Jesus, one that heals us, one that binds up the broken places in our hearts, one that renews our strength. Sometimes that is physical healing. Sometimes that is emotional healing. Sometimes it is simply knowing we are not alone. Sometimes it is the profound experience of God’s presence giving us strength. Whatever it may be, it comes first, and the work, the service, the ministry we do in the kingdom of God must come from that first gift, that first call, that first encounter.
Friends, today you are invited to experience that healing, that renewal, that restoration, that experience of God that binds up our wounds. In a moment you will be invited to come forward to receive the anointing with oil, and have a prayer said over you. We will mark the sign of the cross on your forehead, just like it was marked in baptism, when the Holy Spirit first came to you and began its work in you. And we will lay hands on you, that physical touch like Jesus hand reaching out to Peter’s mother in law. And we will pray, just like Jesus did early in the day while it was still dark. I hope in this moment you hear God call to you to come and receive this gift of a reminder of God’s healing presence, and that you follow that call.
Friends, your work, and your rest are in God. May your wounds be bound up. May your broken heart be healed. May your strength be renewed. May you mount up on wings like eagles. May you walk and not be faint. May the God who loves you, calls you, tends to you, meet you this day with healing and renewal. Amen.
Living God, through the laying on of hands [and anointing], grant comfort in suffering to name/s, your child in need of healing. When she/he is afraid, give her/him courage; when afflicted, give her/him patience; when dejected, give her/him hope; and when alone, assure her/him of the support of your holy people. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The Rev. Christie Webb
Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
February 4th, 2024
