Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother In Law: Healing and Sacrifice
In the Book of Luke, there’s a short story of Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law. You can watch this story come to life in Season 1.
And although it’s only four verses long, there is so much to learn from it.
Let’s see what we can learn from Peter and his mother-in-law.
Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-in-law
The story of Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law can be found in the fourth chapter of Luke.
38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.
39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
40 At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.
41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
(Luke 4: 38-41 as found in the NIV)
Although it may seem like these four, short verses don’t contain more than a simple miracle, there’s so much to unpack from them.
Here are just a few of the lessons we can learn from Luke’s story.
Jesus Prepares People To Follow Him And Do His Will
If you hear that someone has a fever, what do you think of?
You probably think of fevers as a legitimate reason to stay home from work for the day. You probably think of a fever as a good reason to take some ibuprofen and relax. And you probably wouldn’t be too concerned about having a fever unless it started climbing out of control.
But remember, Peter’s mother-in-law did not live in a time of modern medicine and ibuprofen.
In fact, a strong fever-like hers could easily mean she was close to death.
For people living in the time of Jesus, healing a woman of a strong fever was no small miracle.
And we immediately see that recognition in Peter’s mother-in-law by how she immediately starts to serve Jesus and others around her. After being healed, her first reaction was not to celebrate but to pay it forward by doing good things for others as Jesus did for her.
Jesus Will Help Us As Many Times As We Need
Pete is probably the most easy-to-remember apostle of the Twelve.
He’s known as the rock on which Jesus built his Church and was charged with leading the followers of Jesus after Christ’s death.
But, many don’t realize that Peter wasn’t yet called to be an apostle when Jesus healed his mother-in-law.
We don’t see that happen until the fifth chapter of Luke.
1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God.
2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.
3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,
10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”
11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
(Luke 5: 1-11 as found in the NIV)
Even though Peter saw the healing of his mother-in-law in person, he didn’t feel like he needed to fall at the feet of Jesus. It wasn’t until this second miracle where Peter was truly astonished by the power of Christ.
And it wasn’t until this second miracle where Peter was prepared enough to be called to the apostleship by Jesus himself.
We should remember these stories of Jesus because we should always recognize that he will help us again and again and is preparing us to become the best versions of ourselves. We may decide to turn to Jesus and follow him one day, but following him is a daily occurrence.
And sometimes the preparation we’ll need to be ready to do what Jesus wants us to do will take more than one chapter of our lives.
Does Not Allow Evil Spirits To Testify Of Him
In the final paragraph of Luke Chapter 4, we see that Jesus continues to go healing other sick people and casting out demons.
What’s interesting is that the demons testify that Jesus is the Christ as they’re being cast out, but Jesus forbids them from doing so. If you read the book of Luke, you’ll see many men and women who are helped by Jesus testify of him being the Son of God and he does not forbid them.
What we can learn from this is that Jesus and his truth are found in good places and people.
Even though the possessing demons did not say anything different from the healed men and women in Luke, Jesus didn’t accept their testifying.
So while we may be able to find the truth about Jesus in all sorts of ways, we too should actively seek out good sources that testify of Christ.
Churches, devout followers of Christ, faithful media, and the scriptures will all lead us closer to Jesus in ways other sources just can’t.
Jesus knew this and set the example for us to follow in Luke.
Let Jesus Heal And Lead You In Times Of Need
Whether you’re sick with a fever, plagued with dark thoughts, or simply looking for direction in your life, lean on Jesus to heal and lead you.
Jesus is always there and will help you as many times as you reach out to him.
And surround yourself with good, faithful testaments of him and his life, that you may hear those testimonies and be changed by them for the better.
