Saint Paul’s Greek is very difficult to translate into English.  And once you do, it’s very difficult to comprehend his drift in a single reading.  I tell you this because, if this morning’s reading of the Epistle has mystified you, it probably mystified us all.  And yet, . . . you have heard, today, one of the more important parts of Saint Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians.  So, I will attempt to explain it.

    Saint Paul begins by saying that he can take no credit and can claim no rights for his preaching of the gospel -- his preaching of the good given to us in Christ Jesus.  . . . Paul says,

if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting.  For necessity is laid upon me.

In other words, Paul cannot claim that his preaching is the result of a particularly lofty piety; . . . Paul says that being a preacher of the gospel is not to his credit; Paul’s preaching isn’t a favor he is doing for God . . . but is a necessity which God has placed upon Paul:  “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (he says with an exclamation point).  And having made clear this obligation which has been placed upon him, Paul now patiently explains that the terms of his life are defined by the gospel itself . . . and not by his allegiance and adherence to any particular set of human customs.  This means that when Paul is preaching the gospel to Jews, he acts according to Jewish custom so that he, Paul, does not interfere with people hearing God’s appeal to them that they accept the good which Christ desires to give them.  And, likewise, when he is among people who live by customs contrary to Jewish law, Paul is governed by the customs of the people he is with.  He does this for no other reason than for the sake of the gospel being heard.  But, Paul says, . . . none of this means that He is a man of duplicity; none of this means that Paul is a man without principle:  one kind of person among one people . . . and another kind of person among others.  Paul is always the same person, “not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ” (as he, himself, puts it).  In other words, Paul is saying that he is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free; male nor female (to use the words he wrote to the Galatians).  He is governed by no human customs which have been devised to grope about after happiness while living in the darkness of ignorance;  . . . rather, Saint Paul declares that he is a child of the light:  Christ is his happiness; . . . Christ is Paul’s happiness because Christ Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

    Do you remember the Gospel Lesson from two Sundays ago?  It read, in part,

Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.”

“Repent, and believe in the gospel.”  One biblical scholar translates that word “repent” as meaning “change your way of thinking.”  Indeed, Jesus came into Galilee -- and into all the world -- declaring, “Change your way of thinking, and believe in the good I bring you.”  And, by this, Jesus means that we change our way of thinking about everything.  And so, just as it says on page 302 of The Book of Common Prayer, Saint Paul explains, today, what Jesus means by requiring that we change our way of thinking about everything:  . . . Saint Paul explains that the world doesn’t define the rules by which we Christians live -- men and women, no matter how many scholarly degrees they might have, cannot tell you the secrets of life and of happiness . . . because they are just as ignorant of the heart of God as anyone else; . . . certainly the disordered pulls and tugs of your own flesh cannot lead you to life and happiness; . . . and the Devil has his own agenda, so you don’t want to be listening to him, no matter how much power he promises to give you; . . . you don’t want to be listening to the Devil, because in the end he will devour you.  . . . No, we who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus know that it is Jesus Who is the definition of our new and divine life, . . . and it is Jesus Who is the focus of our life’s meaning; . . . and it is Jesus Who is the way into true life and eternal felicity.  It is Christ Who is the rule and the law which disciplines and governs us to live like the angels of heaven:  to live simple, chaste, and focused lives in the sight of our heavenly Father Who loves us (for the Kingdom of Heaven has come to us and welcomed us in).

    And so, in the Gospel Lesson for today, when Jesus comes to Simon Peter’s house and is told of the illness that afflicts Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, Jesus takes her by the hand and helps her sit up on the side of the bed, . . . and the fever leaves her.  Nor must she remain in bed to recover her strength.  All the weakness is gone!  In fact, the woman feels so much herself that she chases the men out of the room, gets dressed, and sets the whole household bustling so that these three guests, Jesus, James and John, can be accommodated.  The presence of Jesus is health to Peter’s household . . . and it is health to many who come to Peter’s home and gather about his door . . . just as the Presence of Christ in this place and in the Sacrament we will celebrate in a moment . . . is health to all of us.

    But . . . Saint Mark goes on to say, . . . the next day, when Peter finds Jesus praying in a lonely place apart from the city where all these things had happened . . . and when Peter tells Jesus that everyone is searching for Him, . . . Jesus doesn’t go back to the city, . . . rather, He departs with His disciples to preach and to heal in other Galilean towns.  And, by this, Mark is illustrating the thing that Paul is getting at in his Epistle:  that the Lord Christ does not serve our needs -- He is not slave to us -- but we are servants to Him.  The people of Peter’s town become enthusiastic about Jesus because they see Him as a way to get what they want . . . and not as the means to receive what God desires to give.  Focused upon their unwellness, the people of Peter’s town want Jesus to fix and heal them.  But the message of the gospel is to repent -- to change your way of thinking about everything.  And what Saint Mark and Saint Paul want us to understand is that, while there is health in knowing and loving and receiving Christ -- while the demons do flee before the Lord, . . . that is a consequence of coming to Jesus, . . . but it cannot be the reason we come.  Because, you see, you cannot receive what Jesus has to give . . . with your attention and fear focused upon your demon.  Now, don’t misunderstand me.  None of this is to say that if your tooth hurts, for example, you shouldn't go to a dentist; or while you are in the dentist’s chair, you shouldn’t pray.  None of this is to say that we should not pray “for our own needs and those of others.”  But our needs cannot be the reason for our faith or the cause of our worship.  . . . Just as the Father’s love is unconditional, so must be our acceptance of that love in Christ.  We cannot come to Jesus focused upon ourselves and upon our needs, for that is how the world and the flesh treat divinity.  No, we must repent continually.  Forgetting everything; . . . forgetting ourselves, our ills, and the devices and desires of our hearts, . . . we are before the Lord Jesus as He is before us:  in self-forgetful strength and love and joy.  For, the Kingdom of Heaven has come to you in Christ, and you belong to no one and no thing . . . not even yourselves; . . . you belong only to Jesus.  So that, like Paul and Peter’s mother-in-law, our only focus in this life . . . is to accommodate Jesus.