Was Jesus a Geordie...Peter's mother-in-law healed

  Was Jesus a Geordie? 

Text for today:-Mark 1: 29-39

(*visual aids in brackets)

That song sung by the children this morning,  was all about the king of the jungle:

We’re good at having kings in the North-East, we’ve had Kevin Keegan, Supermac, Shearer.

But I want to talk about THE king, the REAL king this morning.

We heard John telling us a couple of weeks ago that Jesus was the person behind the biggest booze up in history, at his friend’s wedding, so Jesus wasn’t averse to a little drink now and then. (*can of Newcastle Brown ale)

 but apart from that story

Jesus could easily have passed for a Geordie and I’m going to prove it today from this week’s gospel reading that we’ve just heard.

The place where he lived, and preached, was in and around Galilee.( In Holy Land terms the nearest place you can get to the North East of England.)

Today’s story takes place in Capernaum in Galilee, where many of the people worked near the sea, or the river, just like we’ve done for years. There were people there who would have learned a trade, labourers, fishermen, boat builders; I don’t suppose there was an awful lot of jobs around when fish was scarce, or when crops failed, so there’d be quite a bit of unemployment there.

 Jesus himself was a labourer, probably a joiner or carpenter like his dad. (*lobster pot)

Galileans, like Geordies, had a really broad accent: you could recognise it anywhere; and the southerners in Jerusalem  looked down on it. They believed themselves to be superior to those in the north.

 And like most southerners, they thought they had purer Jewish blood in their veins.  Jesus had the equivalent of a Geordie accent. I suppose that’s why the disciple Nathanael, who was called a true Israelite by Jesus, says, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

(*larn yersel Geordie/passport)

They were taxed by the Romans, so the Galileans had lots of very strong opinions about what they’d do with the DHSS if they could get their hands on them.  I suppose they believed, as we do up in the north, that the government cared only for those in the south.

 That’s why they were so surprised when Jesus went to have a meal with them. He was letting the team down so to speak. (*placard-down with the government they’re useless)

In the story today we find Jesus and his friends rattling the sneck, and just walking in to Peter’s house, and making themselves at home. I’ll bet that there are many today who remember the sneck being rattled in their time, and someone shouting, “Yohoo Mary, are you in?” In those days every house had an open door.

But, inside they find that their tea’s not ready. Peter’s mother-in-law is ill and in bed. Five strapping men in the house, and there’s nothing to eat. Now, rather than putting the kettle on and making her a cup of tea, Jesus solves the problem by healing her! Typical! (*cup and saucer) So that they don’t have to do the women’s job. Can’t you just hear Andy Capp in today’s gospel, telling Florrie, “You’d better get up, Aa need me’ cup o’ tea. Never mind being sick!”

And then you see community spirit, the gossips are out and word soon gets around where Jesus is staying; he’s healing folk for nothing, getting rid of their demons, and everybody wants to be in on the act!. When they find out this celebrity is in the neighbourhood, they all want to be there. If anything is free, folks would be straight there.

It still happens. Think back to the crowds that suddenly appear from nowhere, when there’s a jackpot ‘key draw’ at the Innisfree Club.(* a big key)

And then there’s the part where Jesus gets up early to pray the next day, and no-one can find him? Just when you want a few minutes peace to yourself, someone yells, “Where y’ been man? We’ve aal been looking for ye’?

Does that sound familiar or what?

It’s interesting to read that Jesus didn’t pray just in the synagogue. More often than not, we read that he found his own place, to be with God, wherever and whenever he wanted. I know my husband often used to feel closer to God walking to work, or going through the park, or country, or in holidays by the sea, rather than in church.

I’m sure most men in the North East don’t particularly want to be seen going to a church, but that’s not to say they are deeply spiritual, they just don’t believe in showing much emotion that’s all

 But to be a real supporter, I suppose you’ve got to go and see the real thing and be part of it all. Can you imagine a football club, like Newcastle United, being able to survive if no-one ever went to see them play?

Jesus was a man of action, he wasn’t so high and mighty, and holy that he was no earthly good.. He was down to earth.

I dare say that his sandals were the Dr Martens of our day! (Dr Marten’s boots)

Jesus saw things in black and white;(* scarf or hat) He spoke the truth, he meant what he said: his yes was yes and his no was no. He wasn’t waffly at all.

When he had advice to give, it was never, “Do as I say!” like some gaffas. He practised what he preached, and showed others by his example, rather like teaching apprentices a trade, He was showing them what they would have to do one day, after he was dead and gone.

Like a true Geordie, Jesus didn’t travel very far from where he was born. Most of his ministry took place in the towns around Lake Galilee, he didn’t go much further than Jerusalem in his lifetime. Have you ever noticed that about us?

We never stray far away, us Geordies, and if we do we’re always longing to get back home.

O.K. so Jesus wasn’t really a Geordie , but he was the next best  thing to one, so surely

Jesus would have been able to identify with everyone of us here this morning. Who better to understand our real problems, our heartaches, our worries, all our joys and sorrows, than Jesus, because he was one of us.