Reflection for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

“Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.”

I love this particular telling of this particular miracle that Jesus does. It is early in his ministry yet, while the word about him is still spreading, though he is doing his best to keep it quiet. After leaving the synagogue that we heard about last week, Jesus goes to the family house of a few of his disciples. And the first thing that happens is that he is told about this woman’s fever.

Of course Jesus heals her, what else would he do? That’s not what makes me love this story. What I find most fascinating is the woman’s response. She begins to serve them. In some translations, she begins to cook for them, as soon as she is well.

Now, I do not at all see this is a lesson about how women should get up off their sickbeds and tend to the “men folk.” That’s not what this is about for me, and I certainly do not think that it is what it is about for the gospel writer. Instead, what thrills me is the fact that her healing is not just a physical one, but a return to community.

Each time Jesus heals, he brings people back into community that they had lost. Part of this is due to the fact that many ritual cleanliness laws at the time were related to sickness: lepers were seen as unclean, bleeding was unclean, and so on. Simon’s mother-in-law only had a fever, but she was in bed, unable to take her place amongst those gathered. When Jesus heals her, he not only causes her body to be restored, but brings her back to the place where she can serve others.

What would this look like in our lives? What would change if we saw God’s wondrous work in our lives as not only for serving our own needs, but for the purpose of bringing us into such health that we can turn and serve others? What would it look like if faith and spiritual practice were not solely focused on our own desires, our own personal relationships, but were about how we can be used in the world for serving the needs of others?

Christ’s work was not individual, it was not for one or two or twelve, so that they alone could experience wholeness and health. Healing Simon’s mother-in-law was not only about her fever, but about her relationship to the wider community.

Christ’s work in our lives is the same: for the sake of all, for the sake of each.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.