Key Verse: So He went to her, took her hand and helped her
up. The fever left her and she began to
wait on them.
Mark 1:31
It's hard for us, today, in the age of antibiotics to
appreciate the seriousness of this situation.
When we have a fever we usually just go to bed and sleep it off or call
the doctor and get a prescription for penicillin and keep on going. A little bug isn't about to keep us from our
responsibilities.
We only need look back, however to our grandparent's
generation to understand how serious this fever may have been. I'm thinking of the flu epidemic of 1918-19
that spread world-wide in which many people died. When we remember that George Washington died
from a strep throat, do we really need to look any further? Infections, childhood diseases, bad drinking
water, were all threats to life itself. We
forget that in our age of modern medicine, but travel to a third world country
and we can be immediately back in the reality of Jesus' day. Luke, the doctor, lets us know that the fever
was "high," and in so doing, he is letting us know just how serious
the situation was for this woman.
It is interesting that this woman did not ask personally for
healing. Perhaps she couldn't. High fevers often cause delirium or a lack of
awareness of one's surroundings. We
don't know if this was the case or not, but it is possible.
Jesus simply healed her.
Luke says that He rebuked the fever, but Matthew and Mark say that He
simply touched her hand. This may mean
that, if Jesus did say anything, it was done quietly; perhaps so that He
wouldn't startle her? Who knows? There is no comment about faith here by Jesus;
no assuring that God gets the glory, just a simple touch and that is all that
was needed. Yet, even a touch is
personal. It is an act of love. It is an act of reaching beyond yourself,
outside of your comfort zone to someone who is in need.
Then, there is the response of the mother-in-law to being
healed. She understands this act of love
and appreciation and returns the favor by serving Jesus as her way of giving
thanks. This too may be a bit hard for
us to imagine. While it is true that in
our day of good health care, it is hard to imagine seeing a fever as a real
threat, we at least enjoy often laying in bed for a day to recover and get our
full strength back. That obviously is
not the case here. No recovery time was
needed. She was good to go as soon as
Jesus touched her. She didn't take that
energy and do something selfish like go shopping or take off to visit a friend. She turned right around and gave back to
Jesus what she could. Both she and Jesus
understood the language of love and nothing more needed to be said.
This healing also may have served to encourage Peter's faith
in two ways. First of all, it served as
further proof that Jesus really was who He would later claim to be. Secondly, if Peter really did follow Jesus
and become a fisher of men, he was going to be leaving his household behind. Perhaps his mother-in-law was essential to a
smooth running home. Her illness, or
death, would have made it very hard for Peter to leave and follow the master. Jesus eased that burden of concern by simply
eliminating it.
How do we show thanks for what the Lord has done for us?
Hymn: (chorus) "Give Thanks"
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