We have been looking at “call stories,” the ways in which Jesus invited his disciples to become his followers, to leave their nets and books and ledgers and follow him. Most left not only their livelihoods, but whole networks of family and community who relied upon them. We get a glimpse into the extended family of four of Jesus’ closest disciples in this week’s passage:
As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
Andrew, Simon (Peter), James and John are the four fishermen whom Jesus called from their nets to follow him. The two sets of brothers lived and worked together, and obviously Simon and Andrew lived with their extended family in the same household. And quite clearly Simon Peter was married. We don’t know about the others, but they likely had wives and children as well.
So the call to follow Jesus required sacrifice from others, not only the disciples who traveled with him. One of the most poignant reminders of this came for me in an excellent but short-lived TV series, Nothing Sacred, about a Roman Catholic priest. In one episode, we keep coming back to a statue of a woman waving, and we don’t know what it means until the end, when we learn it is a statue of Peter’s wife, waving goodbye. (I couldn't recall which episode it was, but someone has put the series up online, if you can’t stream it somewhere…)
I know many a person who has been part of a church community in which their spouse does not participate. They exist in a special tension between living out their faith with the fullness they’d like, and not taking too much time and attention from their families and partners. This can have an emotional and spiritual component as well; I’ve watched people hold back on going deeper spiritually because they don’t want to get too far “out in front” of a less believing partner.
If you know someone who is on her own in her faith journey, in terms of her family system, remember to pray for her, and find ways to “be family” for her at times. And if you are in that situation, pray that the grace and strength that you feel in your connection with God will come through you into the household, whether or not the other members of your family name its source. God’s peace is God’s peace, and it works its wondrous way whether or not we name it. Then maybe it doesn’t have to be a tug-of-war, but a way to blend without imposing. And maybe in that space, your family might find room to move toward God.
And remember to thank your family for the ways they make it possible for you to live out your faith more fully and freely. I’ve known many non-attending spouses to be generous to the church with their time and resources, and enjoy church social times.
There are passages in the New Testament in which Jesus or one of the apostles clearly states where the priority between faith and family should be. And there are others, like this one, where we see the healing power of Jesus move into a whole household and bring transformation to a whole family.
Or maybe he was just hungry and wanted Peter’s mother-in-law to get up and make her famous meatloaf.
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