The Tuesday after the Third Sunday after the Epiphany of our Lord
Posted on January 28, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 4:38-44 (NKJV)
4:38 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.
Devotion
The healing of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law contains three important points. First, it teaches about the infirmity caused by our sin. Because of man’s fall, the human body is mortal and corrupted. Sin dwells in the body, and the body suffers the consequences of sin: death. This is why all people get sick, and sometimes fatally so. We all suffer under the bodily punishments merited by our original sin. The soul too is corrupt. Sinful man is unable to serve God, since his will is bound to the will of the devil. This is represented in Simon’s mother-in-law, since during her sickness she was bound to her bed and unable to serve Jesus.
Second, this account teaches about the remedy for our infirmity. Jesus Christ is the Physician of both body and soul. He heals our whole self by attacking the root of our infirmity: sin. By bearing our sin and taking it to the cross, Jesus destroyed the devil’s power and restored life everlasting to body and soul. Thus, after she was healed, the woman was able to get up and serve Jesus, since she was freed from that infirmity of sin.
Third, this account teaches about the prayers of the saints. It is not a useless thing that believers on earth pray for one another. Jesus hears these prayers and answers them. When the disciples entreated Him concerning this woman, He stood over her and rebuked the fever. We also should entreat Christ on behalf of each other, since the “prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).
Collect: Almighty and Everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities, stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
