The Healing of Peter’s Mother in Law

Luke 4:38–44 NKJV

38 Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her. 39 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them. 40 When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. 42 Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; 43 but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” 44 And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

A couple of weeks ago we saw that Jesus having left Nazareth because of their lack of faith and rejection of His message moved to Capernaum. And He was teaching in the synagogue there when He was confronted with a man who had a demonic spirit in him. We read that the demon knew that Jesus was the “Holy One of God”. But Jesus silenced the demon and rebuke him and he came out of the man leaving him unharmed. Fulfilling the prophecy from Isa which He had read at Nazareth that He had come “to set at liberty those who are oppressed”

It was the same day, in vs 38 when it says that He arose from the synagogue and enter Simon’s house.

When Jesus goes in to Simon Peter’s house He finds there that Peter’s mother in law is sick with a fever. This is the beginning of Jesus’ healing ministry in Luke’s gospel.

A lot of questions come to mind when we consider the extent of Jesus healing ministry. but the main one might be..

Why did Jesus heal people?

We may think that its obvious that if Jesus could heal people that He would. But then when you think about the fact that Jesus is the fulness of God then why would He heal now and not before He was incarnate and came to dwell among us.

Of course, God did heal many times in the Old Testament but not to the degree that Christ heal people when He was here among us.

I don’t think we can fully answer this question but there are a couple of things we can take notice.

The prophets of the Old Testament were validated by signs and wonders. Consider Moses who when God told him to go tell Pharaoh that God had sent him to tell him to let His people go, God gave him signs. The staff turning into a snake, his hand becoming leprous and then clean again, and the turning the water into blood.

So I believe that all the miracles of Christ served as evidence that He was of God and His word was true. But the way in which Jesus cast out demons, heals, even calming the sea. He commands with authority, demonstrating that He is sovereign over all creation. The witnesses not only marvel at the miracles but at the authority saying thing like what manner of man is this that can command the sea, or demons, or as in our text fevers. These serve as evidence that He is not an ordinary prophet but that He is the creator of all things.

But also Illness is a physical manifestation. We can see the sick, the blind, the lame, and then we can see them well, seeing, walking.

Matthew 9:2–8 NKJV

2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” 3 And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 7 And he arose and departed to his house. 8 Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

We cannot see forgiven sins, We can’t easily see the healing of the heart, although we can see the fruit of it. But we can see a paralytic get up and walk. But which is the greater miracle? Forgiveness of sin is far greater than healing from physical afflictions.

James 5:14–16 NKJV

14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Sin is our greatest issue, sin is what we need saving from and many times God allows physical illness or afflictions are for our sanctification. It is to make us holy. to keep us from pride, to deliver us from evil.

2 Corinthians 4:17–18 NKJV

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

But God still heals. Some sickness is for God to show His glory in healing and some for sanctifying the saints and we don’t know which it is but we have the promise in James that if we pray for each other God brings His purposes to fruition.

So back to our text. Id like to make a couple of observations.

Simon’s mother in law was sick. She had a high fever, so we might assume that this was even life threatening. It’s possible that this was the very purpose that Simon had Jesus come over. Having seen Jesus cast out the demon in the synagogue he may have considered that perhaps this man could also heal his mother in law.

Luke 4:38 NKJV

38 Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.

They Make Their Petition

This is maybe Simon and his wife maybe friends.

Healing requires that we ask.

Matthew 7:7–11 NKJV

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

God has given us and open door to the throne room. He have invited us to come and ask anything of Him. God is all powerful, all knowing, able to do anything and He always does what He purposes to do. Yet He in His divine wisdom has purposed that we must ask Him. We must pray. God could have healed Simon’s mother in law without them asking but He didn’t. I have no doubt that if they had not asked that she would not have been healed. If that is true then how important are our prayers of intercession. We have a great responsibility in prayer.

Luke 4:39 NKJV

39 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.

Jesus Heals Her and Immediately She Served Them

They ask and they receive. Jesus heals her sickness.

The way in which Jesus heals her

He rebukes the fever. As though it is an entity. This demonstrates the authority that the creator has over all creation. The one who speaks and the molecules and particles obey His voice. He has authority over all. He commands the fever to leave her and it does verifying that He is the God of creation.

The healing is immediate. Not over days, hours, or even minutes.

Then we see her response to healing, she serves.

The correct response when Christ has healed you whether it is from sickness, demon possession, or from the bondage of sin is to serve Him. When He gives us life our life belongs to Him.

There are a lot of ways that God heals us. When we pray for those who are sick we only sees the physical but God sees all. We may think that a person needs healing from a particular disease or affliction but God knows that our greatest sickness is sin. Sometime an illness is God’s tool for producing in us a far greater glory. So when we pray our prayers are effectual. The effect is just something better than we even can imagine.