He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.
She got up immediately and waited on them.
The rebukes of Jesus had power, not only over demons, but even over the physical phenomena of nature such as storms and illnesses. Only with this degree of authority could Jesus truly deliver on his promise to set all captives at liberty, as he here freed Simon's mother-in-law from her affliction. We can see that the debilitating disease had prevented her from thriving and living a fulfilling life. She had not been able to put her time and talent to use in the ways that she desired. Even more than removing the fever, restoring her ability to do so was what Jesus desired. It was like a resurrection from death to life, after which she seemed to immediately find her place in the theo-drama centered around Jesus himself. Perhaps even if we are healthy we still need the help of this power of Jesus to rebuke forces keeping us bound and depriving us of agency so that we too can take a more active role in his story.
And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.”
But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak
because they knew that he was the Christ.
Jesus wasn't in the business of healing the sick in order to gain popularity. In fact it seemed as though he did it in spite of that risk. He didn't want to reveal himself in ways that were incomplete, partial, and potentially misleading. Those whom he healed didn't always have a full understanding of his mission. Painting him as a healer or wonderworker was a far too simple way of categorizing him. Even though demons said, and couldn't help but say, true things about Jesus, Jesus did not allow them to be the ones to decide the time, place, and means, in which and by which he would reveal himself. The perspective of the forces of darkness on the identity of Jesus may not have been wrong, but it was unlikely to lead to faith of the sort Jesus was seeking in his followers.
The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him,
they tried to prevent him from leaving them.
Once a miracle occurs we are all too ready to make that the one and only permanent job for Jesus. Whether these healings described by Luke or the multiplication of the loaves or other times, people were always ready to sit back and let Jesus solve their problems. They weren't particularly interested in what else he might have planned. They didn't need a Kingdom that did anything more than solve their most immediate problems. But Jesus refused to be bound by the insistence of the crowds. The healings, miracles, and wonders, would continue, but only always in the services of the larger mission of proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. This good news had a greater meaning than bread that would satisfy for a day or even the healing of diseases after which one would still die. The true oppression he sought to overcome was that of sin. The final enemy he would defeat was to be death itself.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death (see First Corinthians 15:26).
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