On leaving the synagogue
Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.
Now that Simon, Andrew, James, and John were disciples Jesus would not remain on the peripheries of their lives. He would not be a figure whom they would only hear preach in the synagogues on the Sabbath. Instead, to great consequence, he implicated himself in the details of their daily lives. He entered the home of Simon and Andrew and that home would not remain unchanged. Once he was present there they couldn't help but mention the difficulties facing that household. In explaining that Simon's mother-in-law was sick they may have been excusing the limited hospitality they were able to provide without her aid. But bringing their problems to Jesus changed things, as indeed it always does.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them.
Jesus raised up this women in a quasi-resurrection event. She was restored to the fullness of health. But she too found that where Jesus was present things could not remain unchanged. Now her hospitality included Jesus and was thereby in service of his mission. What she was unable to do before because of illness she was now able to do in a new a greater way, ordered more perfectly to the glory of God.
When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
The crowds had heard Jesus preaching with authority and now realized that he had authority over demons and the power to heal disease. Jesus' preaching prepared the way for the outward expansion of the Kingdom through the physical signs of exorcism and healing. His words drew people to seek out his power. And the people who benefited from that power did not benefit merely for their own sakes but became living witnesses drawing more and more other people to seek him out.
Rising very early before dawn,
he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Jesus demonstrated that his top priority was not preaching or healing, much less seeking fame or adulation, or even resting comfortably on his laurels. Instead, above all else, he privileged his relationship with his Father in heaven. Disciples in every age would be tempted to allow one aspect of the Christian life or another to take priority over their relationship with God. But from the first Jesus left an example that demonstrated that even the best aspects of the life of discipleship were nothing if they weren't connected to God as by a spiritual lifeline.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.”
Jesus did not apparently come to heal every possible individual there and then, although all who followed him would indeed eventually be fully restored and more. But first, and more importantly, his desire was to be known by them. The condition he desired in that town had been met in virtue of the fact that everyone was looking for him. So it was time to go and preach in other places to start this same cascade there.
that through death he might destroy the one
who has the power of death, that is, the Devil,
and free those who through fear of death
had been subject to slavery all their life.
Even those who were not themselves healed immediately could still experience the freedom from the fear of death that Jesus provided. No longer would they desperately need to protect their physical lives or do all in the power to calm and numb their egos against the inevitability of disintegration. A higher power had arrived on the seen, relativizing those old and very human fears. He demonstrated again and again that darkness, though it might persist for a little while, would not have the last word.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
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