Before recounting Jesus’ public ministry on a grand scale – cures, miracles, exorcisms, sermons, controversies – the three synoptic Gospels warmly and tenderly relate the details of the healing of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law.
Although the Gospel according to St. Matthew is the longest of the Gospel accounts, on this topic the first Gospel is atypically quite short on particulars.
St. Matthew trims the happening to an intimate, personal, close encounter between Jesus and the ailing woman. “Jesus entered the house of Peter, and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and waited on him.” Here, Jesus himself notices that the woman is ill and acts on his own initiative to cure her. No disciples are needed to intervene. Then the woman, once healed, gets up and begins to wait only on Jesus. Bystanders do not enter into the picture.
Jesus’ immediate compassion, symbolized by his healing touch, is matched by the woman’s immediate response, and signified by her exclusive waiting on him. St. Matthew’s brief account of this cure highlights the vital “I/Thou” relationship that is fundamental to the Christian spiritual life. St. John Vianney is said to have encountered an elderly parishioner who sat quietly in church day after day. When questioned by the saint regarding the nature of his prayer before the tabernacle, the parishioner remarked, “He just looks at me and I just look at him.” Such quiet, personal, affective encounters with Christ are elementary to the spiritual life. Today’s busy modern society should take note.
But quiet meditation in the personal presence of Christ does not exhaust the Christian’s spiritual life. St. Mark especially, but St. Luke as well, introduce a social and ecclesial element into the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law. St. Luke does not mention the names of any witnesses but simply relates that “they interceded with him for her.” The personal aspect of prayer noted in St. Matthew’s narrative is joined by the intercessory dimension of prayer found here.
It is the task of the believing community to recognize the ills that beset mankind and call down the healing power of God from heaven to restore mankind to spiritual health. The method Jesus employs in St. Luke’s version to relieve the woman of her fever is more ceremonial than personal: “He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.” There is no mention of his taking her hand. The ritual is rather formal. Again, possibly St. Luke is envisioning the Church community whose worship services invoke the power of God through its rites and rituals. Note too that St. Luke as a physician alone observes that the fever was “severe” and that the woman got up “immediately” to wait on them, a sign of a full cure.
This coming Sunday, the Gospel passage concerning this miracle is taken from St. Mark’s Gospel which, although it is the shortest of the three synoptic Gospels, in this instance offers the most information. Possibly St. Mark’s account of the healing is an eye-witness account related to him by St. Peter himself for whom St. Mark was once a secretary. Like St. Luke, St. Mark refers to the chief apostle as Simon, his older and original name. But St. Mark also relates by name that Andrew, James and John joined Jesus and Simon has they entered the house. Such detail adds greatly to the authenticity of the recollection.
Again, it is the community that intercedes on behalf of the ailing member. “They immediately told him about her.” The social, communal, and ecclesial dimensions of Christianity are highlighted here. The soul’s personal relationship with God is guided, supported, enhanced, and sometimes even corrected by the believing community known as the Church. In later chapters of their Gospel accounts Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke will develop this community nature of the Church. Sacred orders as well as rudimentary sacramental rituals and even some rules and regulations will begin to take shape in the pages of the New Testament. An infant Church will begin to emerge within the lifetime of Simon Peter himself.
And it must not be overlooked that the woman herself bore powerful witness to the social nature of Christianity. “Then the fever left her and she waited on them.” Healing was followed by service.
The Church helps the believer by its intercessory power with God; and believers aid the Church by happily and dynamically contributing their charisms and talents to community life.
