The Cure of Simon’s Mother-in-Law
Lk 4:38-44
38After he left the synagogue, [Jesus] entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. 39He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them.
40At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. 41And 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 Messiah.
42At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. 43But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” 44And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
She got up immediately and waited on them. Simon’s mother in-law may well be the model of our own modern-day ministry. Healed by Jesus, she gets up immediately and waits on the guests. So it must be for all of us who experience being healed: we are or must be inspired into service. It is not only passing on a good deed or “paying forward.” It is getting up and proclaiming the goodness of God who has made us whole again by our own good deeds, by the very life we now lead.
Jesus does not stop at healing the mother of Simon’s wife. He lays his hands on the sick who are brought to him. So must we not cease doing good deeds in the name of the Lord whose footsteps we follow. His example and his love continue to impel us.
“The more the wicked abound,” says St. Gregory the Great, “so much the more must we suffer with them in patience; for on the threshing floor few are the grains carried into the barns, but high are the piles of chaff burned with fire.”
Are you as quick as Simon’s mother-in-law to
share God’s blessings by being of service to others,
especially the less fortunate?
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