A Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On Series

Matthew 8: 14 - 22

A Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On

14 Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15 So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them. 16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.” 18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 21 Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

The disciple Luke along with Mark also wrote of these incidents.

Mark 1, “29 Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. 31 So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them.

Luke 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.

Luke 9, “And they went to another village. 57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” 61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

As you can see they are similar but in a different order. So, let’s look at today’s passages.

14 Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15 So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them.

As you can see this incident with Peter’s mother-in-law occurs in all three synoptic Gospels. It gains in importance to Matthew because she is one of the inner groups of believers who welcome The Lord Jesus to their homes. But she was not welcoming Him this time. She was tossing and turning on her mattress. Matthew points out that our Lord Jesus ‘saw’ her. Thus he sees his Master Jesus as taking personal direct note of her. It is a reminder to us that He knows also about our needs. He ‘sees’ us too. In Mark we learn that they first tell Him about her, just as others may tell Him about our needs in prayer. But Matthew as usual cuts out the frills and goes to the essential point. Here we learn that He had a personal interest in her need, just as, if we are His, He ever sees our need. Knowing this then we have to remind ourselves that ‘What then have we to fear?’

Okay now, as we put the three accounts of the Lord healing Peter’s mother in law, we have some potential confusion.

According to Mark we find that our Lord Jesus took Peter’s mother in law by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever left her. Please note who came into the house with our Master. Andrew was Peter’s brother and James and John were Peter’s cousin so they were all family.

In Matthew’s version our Lord touched the woman’s hand and the fever left her.

In Luke’s version our Lord stood over her and rebuked the fever and it left her.