If you ever need a punch line.......

 

If you ever need a punch line, there's one you always can depend on: "...my mother-in-law!" Guaranteed laugh.  As long as it’s told in good fun.

Fact is I loved my mother-in-law very much and still think of her often.  But mothers-in-law are just about the only group of people you still can pick on (besides maybe Nazis) without having anyone make a peep.  There's nothing politically incorrect about ragging on the mom of your spouse — or all moms of all spouses.  

This attitude has seeped so thoroughly into our culture that one of the ways people do get happy, it seems, is by hearing jokes in which the mother-in-law is not alive.  Henny Youngman who was known as the King of the One-Liners had several that he used in his act that always got roars from the audience:

"Out of the blue, my mother-in-law told me she'd like to be cremated. I said, 'Great. Go get your coat.'"

"'My mother-in-law's an angel,' said Fred. 'You're lucky,' I told him. 'Mine's still alive.'"

"I wanted to do something nice, so I bought my mother-in-law a chair. Now they won't let me plug it in."

Yep, the jokes are out there and, as we know from Mark’s Gospel, even Simon Peter had one…a mother-in-law that is, not a joke!  And the Lord loved her very much and cured her from a debilitating fever, even as He cured many others in the same town.  Naturally, the people flocked to the front door of Peter’s home searching and hoping for something miraculous to happen.  Yet, Jesus’ response was most revealing as He later said very quietly, "Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also.  For this purpose have I come."  [Mark 1:29-39]

Jesus "had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way" but sin, so that He could live His human life for us by being "tested through what he suffered" and thus "be able to help those who are being tested." [Hebrews 2:14-18]  This message from Hebrews expresses in words what Mark’s Gospel illustrates in actions as we see Jesus reaching out, praying and caring for, curing, driving out demons from, and preaching the Good News of God’s kingdom to God’s people.  Both of these passages are supplemented by Psalm 105, which reminds us that "the Lord remembers his covenant forever," the covenant He made with "the descendants of Abraham" and all the peoples who thank "the Lord, invoke his name, [and] make known among the nations his deeds." [Psalms 105:1-9]

I can’t help reflecting on some quotes from Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who used to say that, "unless a life is lived for others, it is not worthwhile."  We know that, like Jesus, Mother Teresa’s missionary work of charity speaks stronger than her words.   She lived a life that has become a life-giving legacy of love for others.   Just as Jesus did, she put into practice whatever she preached to the world.   She used to say: "If we pray, we will believe; if we believe, we will love; if we love, we will serve."  This is exactly what goes on in Mark’s Gospel today, for we see God’s healing and liberating power being manifested in and through Jesus’ praying for, believing in, loving, and serving God’s people.

The above actions are humanly and spiritually required to give a strong and valid witness to Jesus’ gospel of love, because the Gospel is all about being faithful to Jesus’ teachings on prayer, faith, hope, love, and service.  Like Jesus, Mother Teresa, and many other genuine Christian witnesses, we’re called to make known among others God’s love, justice, and mercy by being inclusive and nonjudgmental, as we go about proclaiming and enculturating the Gospel throughout the many places we find ourselves in.

My precious and all-powerful Lord, I turn to You and You alone as the source of all Truth and the fullness of Truth. May I listen to Your voice alone and reject the many deceptions of the evil one and his demons. In Your precious name, Jesus, I rebuke Satan and all evil spirits, their lies and their temptations. I send these spirits to the foot of Your Cross, dear Lord, and open my mind and heart only to You.  Jesus, I trust in You.