Matthew 8:14

Mat_8:14

Sick of a fever.

Peter was a disciple, yet affliction was permitted to visit his domestic circle.

Affliction at home

1. Develops social sympathy.

2. Brings out family characteristics.

3. Unites the household in devotional exercises.

4. Evokes practical and affectionate gratitude. (Dr. Parker.)

Fevers at Capernaum

How do you account for the prevalence of fevers at Capernaum? for it was there, of course, that Peters wifes mother laid, and sick of a fever. Fevers are still prevalent in this region, particularly in summer and autumn, owing to the extreme heat acting upon the marshy plains, like that of El Batihah,, at the influxof the Jordan. (W. M. Thomson, D. D.)

Domestic affliction an imoving ministry

You would not be half the man you are but for your sick child; your tendency is towards bumptiousness, aggressiveness of speech, sternness, harshness. You have a magisterial cast and bearing in your life; but that little sick child has softened you, and been like a benediction upon your life. Men now take notice of your voice and say, What new tones have subtly entered into it; how different the kind grasp, how noble the new bearing, how impressive the sacred patience, how touching and pathetic the sadness of the face! Afflictions do not spring out of the dust: do not be impatient with them; we need something to soften this hard life. O, if it were all buying, selling, getting gain, outrunning one another in a race for wealth in which the racers take no time to recover themselves-there would be no gardens on the face of the earth, no places consecrated to floral beauty, no houses built for music, no churches set up for prayer. But affliction helps to keep us right, affliction brings us to our knees. (J. Perkier, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 8:14-15. And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house — As is related Mar 1:29, &c.; he saw his wife’s mother laid — Peter was then young, as were all the apostles; sick of a fever — Fevers are ordinary distempers, and often cured by ordinary means, but this was a great fever, Luk 4:38; and it is probable such means, though used, had proved ineffectual. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her — Namely, immediately. The cure was wrought in an instant, and not slowly, like cures produced in the course of nature, or by medicine. For though the length and violence of her distemper had brought her into a weak and languid state, her full strength returned all at once, insomuch, that, rising up immediately, she prepared a supper for them, and served them while at meat, showing hereby that she was perfectly restored.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ 28. — THIRD MIRACLE — HEALING PETER’S WIFE’S MOTHER, Mat_8:14-15.

The peculiarity of this miracle seems to be that it was performed upon a person who would remain a present and permanent witness of the fact. It would, no doubt, contribute its share to produce that firm and earnest faith in the heart of Peter, the most eminent of the apostles, which he displayed so conspicuously in life and in death.

14. And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house — This third miracle in Matthew’s group was performed on our Lord’s previous visit to Capernaum, (Mar_1:29-31,) before the delivery of the Sermon on the Mount. It took place, as we learn by Mark, immediately after his curing a demoniac in the synagogue, on the Sabbath. Of Tabiga, the grand manufacturing suburb of Capernaum, Dr. Thomson says: “As there is considerable marshy land about this Tabiga, may not this account for the prevalence of fevers at Capernaum? for here it was, of course, that Peter’s wife’s mother lay sick of a fever. “Fevers of a very malignant type are still prevalent, particularly in summer and autumn, owing, no doubt, to the extreme heat acting upon these marshy plains, such as the Butaiha, at the influx of the Jordan.”

Peter’s house — And his brother Andrew’s also, as Mark says. Peter is mentioned alone by Matthew from his stronger personal character.

Wife’s mother — So the Papists have to confess that the first pope was a married man. And 1Co_9:5, plainly shows that he led about his wife in his apostolic missions. So little authorized by Scripture is the Romish enforcement of clerical celibacy. Laid sick — Evidently no slight indisposition.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat_8:16. When the even was come.—Or, as St. Luke has it, “while the sun was setting.” There were two reasons why the time should be thus specified.

1. It was natural that the sick should be brought in the cool of the evening, rather than in the scorching heat of the afternoon.

2. It was the Sabbath, and the feeling which made the Pharisees question the lawfulness of a man’s carrying the bed on which he had been lying (Joh_5:10), would probably have deterred the friends of the sick from bringing them as long as it lasted. But with sunset the Sabbath came to a close, and then they would feel themselves free to act (Plumptre). Possessed with devils.—Or demoniacs. Persons who had lost hold of the helm of self-control, and who were, in both body and mind, steered hither and thither, without any regard to the chart of reason, by malevolent spirits (Morison). But some hold a different view. “We cannot find more in this so-called devil-possession than an attempt to explain cases of disease which were obscure then, and are obscure still” (Tuck).

Mat_8:17. Himself took our infirmities, etc. (Isa_53:4).—A more literal translation of the original Hebrew than is given in our Old Testament version (Morison).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_8:14-17

One and all.—These two narratives, though in some respects different, may well be taken together. Both illustrate the special nature of the healing work of the Saviour. In the first story we see its singular completeness. In the second, its amazing extent. In the comment made on this second story, its wonderful depth.

I. Its singular completeness.—We see this, on the one hand, in the state of things with which the Saviour began. Coming into the house of Peter He finds his wife’s mother suffering from a fever. It appears to have been an attack of fever of a very serious kind. St. Luke, as a physician, seems to have especially noted this fact, and speaks of it as “great” (Luk_4:38). Its effects, however, of themselves, seem to have testified sufficiently to this fact. The sufferer’s strength had altogether given way under its fury. She was “laid”—almost she had “flung herself”—on the bed. Not even for such a guest as Jesus was she able to rise. The state of things that finally followed on this. Touching her hand—and “lifting her up” (Mar_1:31)—the Saviour both banished the fever and brought back her strength. Also (Mar_1:31 again), He did this “immediately” Also, yet more, He did it so that all her vigour came back. She was immediately as strong as she had been before the fever came on, and was soon engaged again in the same kind of duties as she attended to then. “She arose and ministered unto them”—unto Him (so some)—thus showing, if we adopt that reading, that He had touched her heart as well as her hand; and so that there was nothing deficient, in any way, in what He had done.

II. The amazing extent of Christ’s work.—How wide, in every way, in the second narrative is the area touched by His mercy! How wide, to begin, in mere number and magnitude. “When the even was come”—probably the eve after the Sabbath (Mar_1:31-32), when it would be lawful to do so—they “brought unto Him many.” So many (we learn from Mar_1:33), that “all the city was gathered together at the door.” How wide in variety also. Those who were “possessed with devils,” and so, in all probability, would not have come by themselves. Those who were suffering from sickness, and so, in all probability, could not have come by themselves. All these—all such of all sorts on that memorable evening to be found in that populous city—met together outside that door. What an assemblage they were! All differing in the nature, but none in the fact—and probably in the extremity—of their needs. Such and so, however, in no case, were they allowed to remain. The more there came the more there were “healed” (Mat_8:16). He healed them “all.” The more varied their needs, the more varied His help. The greater their extremity, the more present His power (cf. Luk_5:17).

Oh! in what divers pains they met!

Oh! with what joy they went away!

III. Its wonderful depth.—There was more here beneath the surface than there was even upon it. There was the hidden power, in the first place, of the spirits of evil. All sickness is spoken of sometimes as being not unconnected with them (Job_2:6; Luk_13:16; Act_10:38, etc.). There were some sicknesses which are spoken of as being in a special way connected with them. Such are mentioned here in Mat_8:16; and still more explicitly in the parallel passage of Mar_1:32; Mar_1:34. We cannot doubt, therefore, even though we do not know how, that these were at work in this case. Also here again, beneath the surface—though not in such a way, therefore, as to be minutely followed by us—there was the operation of sin. For what is sin but the shadow of death? And what is “death” but “the wages of sin?” (Rom_6:23). And how could there be the shadow without the substance that casts it? And how the substance without its cause? And is not this truth implied also in those striking words of the prophet (Isa_33:24)? Not to say, also, that the general truth of the hand of the evil one in our sicknesses carries with it also the general truth of the presence of sin? For what could he do against us, with all his power, were it not for our sin? Lastly, there was here, beneath the surface, the atoning passion of Christ. How was it that He could so far deliver these victims of Satan and sin? Because He was about to do that which should deliver them from still worse! Because “by death” He was about to “destroy him that had the power of death, i.e. the devil” (Heb_2:14). Because as the “Lamb of God,” He was about to “take away the sins of the world;” and to “bear our sins in His own body on the tree.” Such were His sympathy with us, and His work for us in connection with our sins. It was the same spirit which He shows here in regard to our sorrows. “Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” We may say this because He actually did thus with regard to their roots.

Two brief pregnant truths follow from this:—

1. Jesus is the Saviour of all.—However many, however diverse, however needy those who come to Him for salvation, they cannot exhaust either His love or His power. “All fullness”—of every kind—“dwelleth” in Him.

2. Jesus is the Saviour of each.—He is as ready for one as He is for the multitude (Mat_8:2; Mat_8:6; Mat_8:14; Mat_8:16). “Him that cometh to Me”—not only them that come to Me—“I will in no wise cast out” (Joh_6:37).

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat_8:14-15. The healing of Peter’s wife’s mother.—

1. Marriage is lawful and honourable in the preachers of the gospel.

2. Christ will not disdain to visit the families of His own, how mean soever they be.

3. The special thing our Lord taketh notice of in the house He cometh unto is what aileth any in it, and what need they stand in of His help.

4. Christ will show His goodness and power as need be, for the comfort of His friends.

5. Although this might seem no great matter, in comparison of other miracles, yet faith will observe Christ’s Divine power in a little matter, as clearly as in the greatest work.

6. What benefit we receive of Christ ought to be employed for service to Him and His followers.—David Dickson.

Simon’s wife’s mother.—The noticeable features of the transaction are these:—

I. That this healing was done at the request of those around Jesus (Luk_4:38).—Jesus sought out many cases Himself, and healed them unasked. Here He gives examples numberless of the converse—for this was only the first of a whole crowd of such answered requests that afternoon and evening (Mat_8:16)—direct seals of His own maxim, “ask and ye shall receive.” Ask, not only for yourselves, but for others. “Ask believing, and it shall be done unto you.”

II. The specific action with which the cure was accompanied.—The laying His hands upon the patient. This action seems to have characterised the whole group of healings which took place on this occasion, for St. Luke says of this great transaction, that “He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them” (Luk_4:40). The action, though not invariable, was a very frequent one with Him. We may regard it as giving a sacramental character to these healings. It was significant that the Sent of God and the Saviour of men should use such an action. It means that He comes as well to reverse the curse of disease and suffering as to remove the sin which brought it. That He absolves both from the guilt and from the yoke of sin and restores men to the favour of God.

III. The immediate and entire recovery of the patient.—In addition to the statement common to all the synoptic Gospels, that the completeness of the recovery was proved by the good dame’s prompt help at the table, St. Luke records the “rebuke” of the fever—a detail which would strike the mind of a physician. The transaction is utterly removed by these details out of the category of an ordinary event.—Prof. Laidlaw, D.D.

Mat_8:14. Sin as a fever.—Sin may be likened unto a fever:—

I. In regard of the origin thereof.—Both arise within.

II. In regard of the nature thereof.—

1. The substance of the fever is a heat besides nature, which extinguisheth the natural heat. So the fire of concupiscence and lust of sin, doth extinguish the fire and heat of zeal.

2. The fever ariseth diversely, from divers humours. So sin sometimes ariseth from the lust of the flesh, sometimes from the lust of the eyes, sometimes from the pride of life.

3. There are two kinds of fever: a continual fever and a fever with some intermission. Some sin with intermissions of repentance, some sin perpetually.

III. In regard of the manner of the proceeding thereof.—

1. At first the fever makes us cold, but by and by we burn. So at first we are afraid of sin, by and by fearless thereof.

2. The fever inflames the whole body. So sin wounds and enfeebles us, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot.

IV. In regard of the effects.—

1. The fever debilitates and weakens the whole man. So by sin we are so weakened that we are neither able to walk in the ways of God, nor run the race that He hath set before us, nor work out our salvation.

2. The fever in the understanding disturbs and takes away the use of reason, making a man not know what he saith or doth. And this is very often mortal and deadly. So, when men grow obstinate and bold in sinning, and are neither sensible of sin nor punishment, but will do whatsoever they will, it is an argument of a soul not distant from death.

3. The fever in the appetite produceth these effects:

(1) It loathes the most wholesome things. So sin makes us loathe good works and good counsel.

(2) It longs for that which is unwholesome. So we love the vain pleasures of sin, etc.

(3) There is a thirst not to be quenched or satisfied. So many are furious in sinning, and cannot cease to sin.

V. In regard of the end thereof.—Sometimes a fever ends in health and life of itself; sometimes it ends in health and life by the use of good means and the help of the physician; sometimes it ends in a sickly and weakly estate; sometimes it ends in death. Sin differs from a fever in that it cannot be cured of itself. It is cured and healed by Christ the only Physician of the soul.—Richard Ward.

Mat_8:16. The healing Christ.—

1. No time was unseasonable to Christ, when people came to Him. “When the even was come,” when rest was due to Christ.

2. Among other effects which sin hath brought upon men, this is one, to be bodily possessed with devils.

3. There is no method of liberating men of devils but that they come, or be presented by others, to Christ.

4. Christ by His word or command can easily deliver men from deepest possession.

5. Never man came to Him to be helped whom He cured not; therefore justly do they perish who come not unto Him.—David Dickson.

Mat_8:17. Christ bearing our sicknesses.—It is, at first blush, paradoxical to quote words which seem to express, not what the recovered crowds and their friends were enjoying, but what the Healer Himself was undertaking. But note the occasion. Not without significance are these words quoted in connection with this remarkable Sabbath day’s work. From morning to evening, and beyond evening into night, had Jesus been curing diseases—bodily, mental, and spiritual. He was, doubtless, much fatigued. Much virtue had gone out of Him. Much compassion had been excited within Him. He had found many harrowing cases of possession to deal with. Many sore distresses had been subjected to His view. True, He had been victorious over them all. It was a day of gladness in that place such as had never been seen since it was a place of human habitation, and doubtless the soul of Immanuel rejoiced in this outpouring of God-like help. But this well chosen citation directs our attention to some other aspects of the Lord’s healing offices. Think of the Son of God, the Eternal King of a city where no inhabitant can ever say, “I am sick,” now sojourning among suffering men. See what work ready for Him, what evils to grapple with in one little town of one obscure province of this dark earth, on one Sabbath afternoon. Then, think of His three years’ ministry, day after day healing, helping, suffering with and for men. Think, further, of the tremendous mass of human misery which Jesus Christ, through His blessed gospel, has come to remove, of the weight of His glorious but mighty undertaking, as it lay upon His mind during that compassionate, open-eyed public life of His in Judæa and Galilee. Think, finally, of the innumerable evils of humanity meeting upon Him—Him alone—who was to redeem us from them, and the force of the words will make itself felt.—Prof. Laidlaw, D.D.

Christ’s vicarious sufferings.—It is a further surprise, leading to a further expansion in the sense of this great utterance, to note that the words “took” and “bare” will not admit of being rendered merely “took away” or “carried off.” They are the proper terms for representative, place-taking, substitutionary suffering. Scholarship admits no other rendering of them. Now, at first sight, or on a superficial view, it does seem strange to say that Jesus “bare” or “carried,” like a surety or substitute, men’s sicknesses and infirmities when, in point of fact, He was sympathising with them, or better still, was relieving and removing them. But the truth is, in a great deal of our Christian teaching the central doctrine of atonement has been shrivelled up to a mere test-point of orthodoxy, instead of taking in the breadth of the Scriptures. Is not this quotation of the Evangelist a fresh light thrown on the vicarious work of Jesus? Not His death alone bare that character, but His life as well. The same redeeming energy was shown in these blessed healings as when in the latest and highest phase of it, He, through the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot unto God. And the connection of the two sides of this great redemptive work becomes clear when we read the Scriptures in their own light. Accept the doctrinal standpoint of the sacred writers, and the whole becomes clear as a sunbeam. Suffering and disease are effects of sin and types of sin. The removal of disease, then, is an effect and a symbol of the removal of sin itself. And He who takes away the sin of the world is He who takes it upon Himself in life and death. As Jesus wrought these mighty and merciful works throughout the towns and villages of Galilee, He was showing Himself, by type and foretaste, the suffering, yet conquering Redeemer upon whom the Lord had laid that iniquity of us all from which all our pains and diseases flow.—Ibid.

Christ and affliction.—This central thought brings the diseases and sufferings of the children of God in every age within the sweep of that healing ministry of Jesus. There is more in this one line of the Gospel to support suffering Christians than in all the writings of the philosophers. Sicknesses and infirmities are to God’s children no longer of the curse, but within the covenant. He bore them for us in His passion; He bears them with us in His compassion. He can be touched with a feeling of them all. He touches them with the transmuting power of His love, and so makes them “light afflictions which are but for a moment, working out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”—Ibid.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

II

The disease in the family; the diseases in the city. Salvation spreading from the household of Peter, or the dwelling of the Lord (the Church), into the city

Mat_8:14-17

14And when Jesus was [had] come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laidand sick of a fe Mat_8:15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose,and ministered unto them [him].8 16When the even [evening] was come, they brought9 unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his [a] word, and healed all that were sick: 17That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare [bore] our sicknesses.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The accounts in Mark and Luke confirm the statement, that on the evening of the day when the Lord restored the mother-in-law of Peter, a large number of demoniacs in Capernaum were healed. Chronologically speaking, the event took place during the residence of the Lord at Capernaum, previous to His first journey into Galilee, and to the Sermon on the Mount. The statement of Luke, that Christ rebuked the disease, implies no contradiction. The healing word of Christ is omitted by Matthew and Mark, while Luke omits to mention that He took her by the hand and lifted her up. Lastly, according to Mark and Luke, the cure was performed on the intercession of the members of the family,—the sick person herself being unable to entreat help. From the circumstance that Jesus rebuked the fever, we gather that her disease was somehow connected with the sufferings resulting from demoniacal possessions then prevailing in the town.

Mat_8:14. Into the house of Peter.—According to Joh_1:44, Peter and Andrew, as well as Philip, were natives of Bethsaida. Afterward, Peter, and probably Andrew ( Mat_4:18), had settled in Capernaum,—partly, perhaps, on account of the fisheries, and partly from his connection by marriage with the place. The marriage of Peter is also referred to in 1Co_9:5. It is remarkable that he who is said to have been the first bishop of Rome was a married man. Legend has it that her name was Perpetua, or Concordia; and that her husband accompanied her on her way to martyrdom in Rome. Their daughter was called Petronella. (Clement of Alexandria.)10

Mat_8:15. She ministered unto Him, διηκόνει.—This refers particularly to waiting at table and serving, as an evidence of her perfect recovery.

Mat_8:16. It was a time when there was in Capernaum a deep stirring of enthusiasm for the Lord—the evening of a great day—when this general longing seems to have seized the inhabitants of the place, and they brought unto Him their sick, especially those who were possessed with devils, and laid them down at the door of His house. On demoniacal possessions compare the remarks to Mat_4:24.

Mat_8:17. That it might be fulfilled.—A reference to Isa_53:4 Our diseases (חֳלָיֵנוּ) has He borne (נָשְׂא), and our sorrows (מַכְאֹבֵינוּ) He has taken on Himself (סְבָלָם). In the Sept. more freely: τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν φέρει, καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνᾶται,—The Evangelist quotes from the original; but in strict accordance with its meaning, as Olshausen and others rightly remark, though Meyer denies it. It is true that in the original Hebrew, the Messiah is represented as bearing and expiating our sins. But our diseases are undoubtedly connected with sin on the one, and death on the other hand; while the suffering of Christ depends on His taking on Himself our sufferings, which again is connected with His carrying them away. We must not, however, go so far as Olshausen, and speak of spiritual exhaustion on the part of Christ. Meyer and von Ammon have overlooked the fact that, when healing those who were diseased, Christ entered into and shared their sufferings,—a circumstance evident from the narrative in Mar_5:30 (showing that He felt the going out of virtue from Him), as also from the resurrection of Lazarus. But, in the present instance, the Lord had to contend with the concentrated sorrow and sickness of the whole city, and that on the evening of a laborious day. For this labor and contest of the Lord, the Evangelist can find no more apt description than by quoting the passage from Isaiah. Christ takes away disease, in token of His removing its root, sin, by taking upon Himself death as the full wages and the full burden of sin.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The afflicted family and the afflicted city, both highly privileged by the presence and grace of Christ. Significant connection between them: salvation spreading from the house to the city.

2. The Evangelist gives us here the key to the mystery of Christ’s atoning death. By His fellow-suffering with our diseases, He gradually descended into the unfathomable depth of His full sympathy with our death. Hence His miracles of healing partook of the nature of atoning suffering, and prepared for it. Accordingly, as He suffered in all He did, so His suffering and death crowned and completed all He had done. His active and passive obedience are most closely connected. But as in His fellow-suffering He took away the sting of suffering by taking away sin and awakening faith, so also has He swallowed up death in victory by discharging the debt of sin in His vicarious death, finishing the work of redemption, and introducing justifying faith. Such, then, was our reconciliation. In virtue of His perfect fellow-suffering, He submitted to the death due to us; by His perfect surrender to God, He became our reconciliation, even as by His communication of grace He wrought in us faith in the mercy of God, and in the imputation to us of His sacrificial service. His miracles form the introduction and the commencement of His reconciliation. Comp. 1Pe_2:24.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The cross in the family.—The family and the town, as a household and a city of the Lord.—How Christianity elevated woman.—Christ and His people by turns engaged in the service of love. 1. He serves them; 2. they serve Him.—Rapid change produced in the house by the interposition of Christ: 1. One laid down by fever, an active hostess; 2. an anxious family, a festive circle; 3. the Lord a physician, the Lord a king; 4. the house an hospital, the house a church.—The right mode of celebrating our recovery.—From the church, salvation spreads to the city.—Glorious evening of power and grace.—The morbid sympathy of man, and the healing sympathy Of the Lord. 1. With reference to the former,—a. disease itself appears in morbid and irresistible sympathy; b. morbid sympathy increases disease and pestilence; c. at best, it leads to excitement and running to the Lord, while not a few are unprepared and unready. 2. The sympathy of Christ: a. Its Divine power resists all sinful influences, especially cowardice and despair; b. it penetrates into, and lights up, the lowest depths of misery; c. it conquers and removes the sufferings of man.—The sufferings of Christ in His miraculous cures, pointing to the great miraculous cure by His sufferings on the cross—Jesus has taken upon Him the diseases of man also.—The wards where those mentally afflicted are confined, belong also to the Lord.—The sceptre of Christ’s triumph extends even over the cursed realm of demons.—The apparent strength of despair, and the Divine strength of perfect confidence.—Solemn night-seasons: 1. The night of suffering; 2. the night of repentance; 3. the night of death.

Starke:—If we recover from disease, it is our duty to thank God, and all the more zealously to serve Christ and our neighbor.—Let each bear another’s burden, Gal_6:2.—Zeisius:—Above all, learn that sin is the root of all disease, and that by true repentance thou mayest be set free from it.—To visit, to comfort, to refresh, and to serve those who are laid on beds of sickness, Isa_38:1; Isa_38:4-5; Sir_7:2; Sir_7:4.—Gossner:—To come, to see, and to heal is here one.

Footnotes:

[8] Mat_8:15.—Αὐτῷ is better supported than the reading of the text. rec. αὐτοῖς.

[9] Mat_8:16.—[All the older E. V., also that of Rheims, correctly render λόγῳ: with a word, Wicl. bi. word.—P. S.]

[10][St. Jerome, in the interest of monastic celibacy, infers that the wife of Peter was dead at the time, from the fact that her mother, when cured, waited on the table. Archbishop Kenrick (Notes on the four Gospels) seems to approve of this inference. But the ministering of the mother is here evidently mentioned to show her complete recovery and her love and gratitude for it. In the natural order a long convalescence follows the cure of a fever before health returns. Moreover St. Paul many years after this occurrence (A. D. 57) refers to Peter’s wife as living and accompanying her husband on his missionary journeys, 1Co_9:5. The Prot V. correctly translates ἀδελφὴν γυναῖκα, “a sister a wife” (Tynd. and Cranmer: “a sister to wife;” Gen.: “a wife being a sister”); while the R. C. V. has: “a woman a sister.”—P. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

HEALING OF PETER’S MOTHER-IN-LAW

Mat 8:14-17; Mar 1:2-34; & Luk 14:3-35 Mark: “And immediately coming out of the synagogue? came into the house of Simon and Andrew and James and John. The mother-in-law of Simon was lying down scorched with a fever; and immediately they speak to Him concerning her; and coming to her and taking her by the hand, He raised her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she continued to minister unto them. And it being evening, when the sun went down, they continued to carry to Him all the sick and the demonized; and the whole city was gathered at the door. And He healed many sick with various diseases, and continued to cast out many demons; and did not suffer the demons to speak, because they knew Him.” Matthew gives a wonderful prophecy of Isa 53:4 :

“He took our infirmities, and carried our diseases.”

That prophecy, corroborated by our Savior, is really wonderful on Divine healing, certainly setting forth our blessed privilege in the atonement to have our bodies healed. We need physical health in order to do the work the Lord has given us, to bless mankind and glorify God in this life; our faith being the measuring-line of blessings for body as well as soul. This case of Peter’s mother-in-law, in his house in Capernaum, was really notable.

Luke says, “She was afflicted with a great fever.” The healing was so decisive that she got up at once, and proceeded to do her housework. I have seen that very case duplicated repeatedly. Last August, at Scottsville (Texas) Camp-meeting, we prayed for a lady in her tent who was burnt with a terrible fever, at the same time anointing her with oil. The fever left her immediately she got up and went to meeting within fifteen minutes. I saw her in the meetings constantly till the adjournment of the camp, with no sign of fever, and testifying to her healing. We see here that when the sun went down, they continued to bring the sick; as this was midsummer, and the sea of Galilee is seven hundred feet below the Mediterranean and surrounded by highlands, it gets exceedingly hot on the coast. Hence the importance of waiting until sunset, and perhaps in order to command necessary help, as men have more leisure at night than during the day. We see here that Jesus cast out the demons and healed the sick, thus ministering both to soul and body, converting, saving, and sanctifying the soul and healing the body. He is the same, “Yesterday, today, and forever.” O what a Savior we have! His mercies are boundless and free. It is our glorious privilege, not only to have all the demons cast out of our souls, but to have our bodily ailments healed. We should go to the ends of the earth, as our Lord commissioned us, casting out demons and healing the sick. We see here that, while all of those demons wanted to confess the Christhood of Jesus, His Divine Sonship, He prohibited them. How did they know Him? All these demons were once angels, as God never created a devil. During the bygone ages, before they forfeited their probation and were cast out of heaven, they all beheld the bright glory of the Son of God. Hence they recognized Him; but I am not astonished that He was unwilling for these fallen spirits to become the heralds of His Divinity. He preferred to let His mighty works vindicate His claims to the Messiahship.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 8:14. Πενθεράν, mother-in-law) Peter had not long before married a wife, and they are guilty of a mistake who paint him with white hair;[370] for all the disciples were young, and had a long course to perform in this world; see Joh 21:18.[371] This must be well kept in mind in every Evangelical History.[372]—πυρέσσουσαν, sick of a fever) in the actual paroxysm.

[370] Although it is not improbable that he was older than the other disciples.—B. H. E. p. 257.

[371] You may gather that concerning Judas Iscariot from Psa 109:8-9; Zebedee and Salome, the parents of James and John, were likewise both still living.—B. H. E. p. 258.

[372] For whoever will carefully weigh the youthful age of the disciples, and their original family connections and former condition, will readily make allowances for several errors which were committed by them in their state of discipleship, and, having regard to this consideration of the time, he will not require from them more than is reasonable, and so will find himself extricated from not a few difficulties.—Harm. l. c.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_8:14. Mar_1:29 ff., Luk_4:38 ff., assign to the following narrative another and earlier position, introducing it immediately after the healing of a demoniac in the synagogue, which Matthew omits. The account in Mark is the original one, but in none of the reports are we to suppose the evangelists to be recording the earliest of Jesus works of healing (Keim).

εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν Πέτρον] in which also his brother Andrew lived along with him, Mar_1:29. Not inconsistent with Joh_1:45, as Peter was a native of Bethsaida, though he had removed to Capernaum. Whether the house belonged to him cannot be determined.

τὴν πενθερὰν αὐτοῦ] 1Co_9:5.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 8:14-15 . Cure of a fever: Peter’s mother-in-law (Mar 1:29-31 ; Luk 4:38-39 ). This happened much earlier, at the beginning of the Galilean ministry, the second miracle-history in Mark and Luke. Mark at this point becomes Matthew’s guide, though he does not follow implicitly. Each evangelist has characteristic features, the story of the second being the original.

Mat 8:14 . ἐλθὼν , coming from the synagogue on a Sabbath day (Mar 1:29 ) with fellow-worshippers not here named. The story here loses its flesh and blood, and is cut down to the essential fact. εἰς τ . ο . Πέτρου : Peter has a house and is married, and already he receives his disciple name ( Simon in Mark). πενθερὰν . It is Peter’s mother-in-law that is ill. βεβλημένην καὶ πυρέσσουσαν , lying in bed, fevered. Had she taken ill since they left to attend worship, with the suddenness of feverish attacks in a tropical climate? βεβλημένην is against this, as it naturally suggests an illness of some duration; but on the other hand, it she had been ill for some time, why should they need to tell Jesus after coming back from the synagogue? (Mar 1:30 ). πυρέσσ . does not necessarily imply a serious attack, but vide Luk 4:38 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ, in healing divers diseases, showeth that he was sent of his Father, that in him only we should seek remedy in all our miseries.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

They who pretend to be critical in the Harmony of the evangelists, place this passage, and all that follows to the end of ch. 9 before the sermon on the mount, according to the order which Mark and Luke observe in placing it. Dr. Lightfoot places only this passage before the sermon on the mount, and Mat 8:18, etc. after. Here we have,

I. A particular account of the cure of Peter's wife's mother, who was ill of a fever; in which observe,

1. The case, which was nothing extraordinary; fevers are the most common distempers; but, the patient being a near relation of Peter's, it is recorded as an instance of Christ's peculiar care of, and kindness to, the families of his disciples. Here we find, (1.) That Peter had a wife, and yet was called to be an apostle of Christ; and Christ countenanced the marriage state, by being thus kind to his wife's relations. The church of Rome, therefore, which forbids ministers to marry, goes contrary to that apostle from whom they pretend to derive an infallibility. (2.) That Peter had a house, though Christ had not, Mat 8:20. Thus was the disciple better provided for than his Lord. (3.) That he had a house at Capernaum, though he was originally of Bethsaida; it is probably, he removed to Capernaum, when Christ removed thither, and made that his principal residence. Note, It is worth while to change our quarters, that we may be near to Christ, and have opportunities of converse with him. When the ark removes, Israel must remove and go after it. (4.) That he had his wife's mother with him in his family, which is an example to yoke-fellows to be kind to one another's relations as their own. Probably, this good woman was old, and yet was respected and taken care of, as old people ought to be, with all possible tenderness. (5.) That she lay ill of a fever. Neither the strength of youth, nor the weakness and coldness of age, will be a fence against diseases of this kind. The palsy was a chronical disease, the fever an acute disease, but both were brought to Christ.

2. The cure, Mat 8:15. (1.) How it was effected; He touched her hand; not to know the disease, as the physicians do, by the pulse, but to heal it. This was an intimation of his kindness and tenderness; he is himself touched with the feeling of our infirmities; it likewise shows the way of spiritual healing, by the exerting of the power of Christ with his word, and the application of Christ to ourselves. The scripture speaks the word, the Spirit gives the touch, touches the heart, touches the hand. (2.) How it was evidenced: this showed that the fever left her, she arose, and ministered to them. By this it appears, [1.] That the mercy was perfected. They that recover from fevers by the power of nature are commonly weak and feeble, and unfit for business a great while after; to show therefore that this cure was above the power of nature, she was immediately so well as to go about the business of the house. [2.] That the mercy was sanctified; and the mercies that are so are indeed perfected. Though she was thus dignified by a peculiar favour, yet she does not assume importance, but is as ready to wait at table, if there be occasion, as any servant. They must be humble whom Christ has honoured; being thus delivered, she studies what she shall render. It is very fit that they whom Christ hath healed should minister unto him, as his humble servants, all their days.

II. Here is a general account of the many cures that Christ wrought. This cure of Peter's mother-in-law brought him abundance of patients. "He healed such a one; why not me? Such a one's friend, why not mine?" Now we are here told,

1. What he did, Mat 8:16. (1.) He cast out devils; cast out the evil spirits with his word. There may be much of Satan's agency, by the divine permission, in those diseases of which natural causes may be assigned, as in Job's boils, especially in the diseases of the mind; but, about the time of Christ's being in the world, there seems to have been more than ordinary letting loose of the devil, to possess and vex the bodies of people; he came, having great wrath, for he knew that his time was short; and God wisely ordered it so, that Christ might have the fairer and more frequent opportunities of showing his power over Satan, and the purpose and design of his coming into the world, which was to disarm and dispossess Satan, to break his power, and to destroy his works; and his success was as glorious as his design was gracious. (2.) He healed all that were sick; all without exception, though the patient was ever so mean, and the case ever so bad.

2. How the scripture was herein fulfilled, v. 17. The accomplishment of the Old Testament prophecies was the great thing Christ had in his eye, and the great proof of his being the Messiah: among other things, it was written of him (Isa 53:4), Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: it is referred to, Pe1 2:24, and there it is construed, he hath borne our sins; here it is referred to, and is construed, he hath borne our sicknesses; our sins make our sicknesses our griefs; Christ bore away sin by the merit of his death, and bore away sickness by the miracles of his life; nay, though those miracles are ceased, we may say, that he bore our sicknesses then, when he bore our sins in his own body upon the tree; for sin is both the cause and the sting of sickness. Many are the diseases and calamities to which we are liable in the body: and there is more, in this one line of the gospels, to support and comfort us under them, than in all the writings of the philosophers - that Jesus Christ bore our sicknesses, and carried our sorrows; he bore them before us; though he was never sick, yet he was hungry, and thirsty, and weary, and troubled in spirit, sorrowful and very heavy; he bore them for us in his passion, and bears them with us in compassion, being touched with the feeling of our infirmities: and thus he bears them off from us, and makes them sit light, if it be not our own fault. Observe how emphatically it is expressed here: Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses; he was both able and willing to interpose in that matter, and concerned to deal with our infirmities and sicknesses, as our Physician; that part of the calamity of the human nature was his particular care, which he evidenced by his great readiness to cure diseases; and he is no less powerful, no less tender now, for we are sure that never were any the worse for going to heaven.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. Peter's house] That Peter lived at Capernaum, and that Christ lodged with him, is fully evident from this verse compared with Mt 17:24.

Peter's - wife's mother] Learn hence, says Theophylact, that marriage is no hinderance to virtue, since the chief of the apostles had his wife. Marriage is one of the first of Divine institutions, and is a positive command of God. He says, the state of celibacy is not GOOD, Ge 2:18. Those who pretend to say that the single state is more holy than the other slander their Maker, and say in effect, "We are too holy to keep the commandments of God."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(14) And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house.—St. Mark (Mar_1:29) and St. Luke (Luk_4:38) relate more specifically that it was on the Sabbath, and that our Lord had previously taught in the synagogue and healed a demoniac. The sons of Zebedee and of Jona had all been present, and when the service was over they came to the house in which Peter apparently (though born in Bethsaida, Joh_1:44) had settled on his marriage.

His wife’s mother.—The fact of St. Peter’s marriage has not unnaturally been almost unduly prominent in the Protestant argument against the enforced celibacy of the clergy. “Here,” it has been said, “is the Apostle from whom the Bishop of Rome claims succession, married when called to his office, and never separated from his wife, and yet Rome declares the marriage of priests to be unlawful, and stigmatises it as worse than concubinage.” Telling as it may sound, however, it is after all only an argumentum ad hominem. Had the case been otherwise, we should not have admitted that the celibacy of the chief of the Apostles was a ground for compelling all bishops, elders, and deacons of the Church to follow his example. And all that can be urged, as the case stands, is that there is an inconsistency in accepting these facts, and yet treating marriage as incompatible with the sacred office of the ministry. The Church of Rome might answer, that experience, or the teaching of the Spirit, or the moral authority of the saints and Fathers of the Church, outweighed the inference from St. Peter’s example, and the question must be discussed on wider ethical and social, as well as Scriptural, grounds. In that argument, it is believed, those who advocate Christian liberty (1Co_9:5) as most in harmony with the mind of Christ are not likely to get the worst of it.

Sick of a fever.—St. Luke, with a kind of medical precision, adds, “with a great fever,” and that they (Peter, John, and the others) asked Him about her, as if consulting about a case of which they almost despaired.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. Peter’s house] From Joh_1:44 we learn that Bethsaida was the city of Andrew and Simon Peter. Either then (i) they had changed their home to Capernaum, or (2) Bethsaida was close to Capernaum. One theory is that Bethsaida was the port of Capernaum.

laid, and sick of a fever] St Luke uses a technical term, “great fever,” the symptoms of which were those of typhus fever.

laid] Literally, struck down, an expression which denotes the great and sudden prostration which characterises typhus fever.

14–17. The Cure of Peter’s Mother-in-law of a Fever, Mar_1:29-31; Luk_4:38-39

St Luke’s description bears special marks of scientific accuracy.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he touched her hand,.... Sometimes he healed by a word, as the centurion's servant; and sometimes by a touch, as here; and sometimes by both, as the leper. Luke says, that he "stood over her", reached over her to take her by the hand, and lift her up, "and rebuked the fever". Just as he did the winds and sea, having all diseases, as well as the elements, at his beck and control;

and the fever left her immediately, as the other evangelists say.

And she arose and ministered unto them: the former of these actions is a proof of her being restored to health and strength, in so much that she could rise and walk about of herself; whereas generally, persons after fevers continue very weak a considerable time; which shows what a miracle was wrought upon her by Christ: and the latter of them expresses her gratitude, for the mercy she had received; she rises and serves him and his friends, preparing proper and suitable provisions for them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

14 And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.

Ver. 14. He saw his wife’s mother laid, &c.] A wife, then, Peter had, and if a good wife, she might be a singular help to him in his ministry; as Nazianzen’s mother was to her husband, not a companion only, but in some respects a guide to godliness. {a} St Ambrose saith that all the apostles were married men, save John and Paul. And those pope holy hypocrites that will not hear of priests’ marriage, but hold it far better for them to have and keep at home many harlots than one wife {b} (as that carnal Cardinal Campeius defended); they might hear the contrary out of their own canon law, where it is written, Distinct. 29, Siquis discernit Presbyterum coniugatum, tanquam occasione nuptiarum offerre non debeat, anathema esto. And again, Distinct. 31, Siquis vituperat nuptia, et dormientem cum viro suo fidelem et religiosam detestatur, aut culpabilem aestimat, velut quae regnum Dei introire non possit, anathema esto. They might hearken to Paphnutius, a famous primitive confessor; who, though himself an unmarried man, mightily persuaded and prevailed with the Nicene Council, that they should not decree anything against priests’ marriage, alleging, that marriage was honourable in all, and that the bed undefiled was true chastity. They might hear Ignatius, scholar to St John the Evangelist, pronouncing all such as call marriage a defilement, to be inhabited by that old dragon the devil. {c} But there is a political reason that makes these men deaf to whatsoever can be said to them by whomsoever; and you shall have it in the words of him that wrote the History of the Council of Trent (a Council carried by the pope, with such infinite guile and craft, that the Jesuits, those connubisanctifugae, commeritricitegae, will even smile in the triumphs of their own wits, when they hear it but mentioned, as a master stratagem). The delegates in Trent Council (saith he) were blamed for suffering the article of priests’ marriage to be disputed, as dangerous; because it is plain that married priests will turn their affections and love to wife and children; and by consequence, to their house and country: so that the strict dependence with the clergy hath upon the apostolic see would cease; and to grant marriage to priests would destroy the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and make the Pope bishop of Rome only. (Hist. of Council of Trent.)

{a} ου συνεργος μονον αλλα και αρχηγος εγενετο. Naz.

{b} Honestius est pluribus occulte implicari, quam aperte cum una ligari.

{c} Siquis coinquinationem vocet commixtionem legitimam, habet inhabitatorem Draconem Apostatam. Ign. Epist. ad Philadelph.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This account is contained also in Mar 1:29-31, and Luk 4:38-41. Mark says that Simon and Andrew lived together, and that James and John went with them to the house. He adds, also, that before the miracle they spake to him about the sick person. The miracle was direct and complete. She that had been sick was so completely restored as to attend to them and minister to them. The mention of “Peter’s wife’s mother” proves that Peter either then was or had been married. The fair and obvious interpretation is, that his wife was then living. Compare 1Co 9:5, and see the note at that place. Peter is claimed by the Roman Catholics to be the head of the church and the vicegerent of Christ. The Pope, according to their view, is the successor of this apostle. On what pretence do they maintain that it is wrong for “priests” to marry? Why did not Christ at once reject Peter from being an apostle for having a wife? How remarkable that he should be set up as the head of the church, and an example and a model to all who were to succeed him! But all this is human law, and is contrary to the New Testament. Compare 1Ti 3:2, 1Ti 3:4-5. That Peter had a wife was no objection to his being an apostle, and marriage has been expressly declared to be “honorable in all,” Heb 13:4.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Into Peter’s house. That is, which had been Peter’s house; for now he had quitted house, and all things to follow Christ. (Witham) --- According to St. Mark, (i. 29,) and St. Luke, (iv. 38,) the cure of Peter’s mother-in-law seems to have been performed previously to the sermon on the mount, of which St. Luke makes mention in chap. vi. We may suppose that St. Matthew mentions it in this order, on occasion of the miracle performed in the same place on the centurion’s servant. (Bible de Vence)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

This story is related, with some further circumstances, Mar 1:29-31; Luk 4:38,39. Mark tells us it was the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John; ( it seems they lived there together); that they told him of her sickness, after he had been there some time; that he

took her by the hand, and lifted her up. Luke saith it was a great fever; that they besought him for her; that

he stood over her, and rebuked the fever. Here is no contradiction, only some amplifications of the story. It is plain from this text, that Peter was a married man, and continued so though called to be an apostle, and that he had a family. Fevers are ordinary distempers, and often cured by ordinary means, but this was a great fever. The miracle here was not in the cure of an incurable disease, but in the way of the cure, by a touch of his hand, or a lifting her up; and the suddenness of the cure, it immediately left her; and her sudden recovery of strength, that she could presently arise and minister to them: that she could do it, argued her cure miraculous; that she did do it, argues her sense of Christ’s goodness, and thankfulness, and teacheth us the use we should make of all God’s gracious providences to us, to make us fitter for the service of God, and to employ ourselves in it; so taking the cup of salvation, and praising the name of the Lord, Psa 116:13.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 14, 15. The healing of St. Peter"s wife"s mother. Parallel passages: Mar_1:29-31 Luk_4:38, Luk_4:39.

And when Jesus was come into Peter"s house. Straight from the synagogue (parallel passages), for food, ver. 15 (Chrysostom). It seems clear, from the parallel passages, that St. Peter had not previously told our Lord about his mother-in-law"s illness, but that he, with others, now asked (hrwthsan , Luke) him to heal her. Among these others were probably Andrew, who also lived in the house, and James and John, who accompanied our Lord (Mark). Whether or not it was Peter"s own house, we have no means of telling (but see next verse). He saw. Presumably on entering, before they asked him about her. His wife"s mother. (1Co_9:5) As St. Peter lived for some forty years more, he can hardly have been now very long married (cf. Bengel). Laid (beblhmenhn); ver. 6. And sick of a fever.

Vers. 14, 15. A domestic scene.

The long day is nearly over. The great sermon has been preached, the healings by the way have been accomplished; at last Jesus has come home to rest for the night with one of his friends. But even now his ministry cannot cease. Wherever he goes he sees human need; whenever he sees human need he is ready to put forth power to help.

I THERE IS TROUBLE IN THE HOME. Pain and sorrow are not shut out when the darkness of night is excluded and the door is closed on the tempest. Though there be no trouble in the streets, the bird of evil omen may brood in the very centre of the family. All may be well with the state, yet the household may be distracted with misery. The great Atlantic steamer is sailing safely on her voyage, but sick women and crying children down below have a wretchedness of their own that is never chronicled in the captain"s log-book. How many homes of beauty and comfort are just dens of misery! how many more are haunts of anxiety!

II THE FRIENDS OF CHRIST ARE IN TROUBLE. Peter is one of the best friends of Jesus one of his newly chosen disciples. Yet a near relative of Peter"s is found to be seriously ill. The service of Christ does not insure us against the invasion of trouble. Christian families do not escape the epidemic that brings distress to the homes of the godless. The Church of Christ is not a Goshen which the angel of pestilence avoids. If the laws of health are broken in a Christian household, that household has no bill of indemnity to save it from the consequences of its mistake. While Peter lived by the low swamps of Gennesareth, a place to invite fever, it was natural that fever should appear in his house.

III CHRIST ENTERS THE HOME. He is not like John the Baptist, dwelling alone in the wilderness. He lives with his friends. He loves home-life. Though now unseen because our "eyes are holden," he still visits homes. We pray for his presence in the Church, and we hope to meet him in our public worship. But his habits on earth show us that he is quite as ready to be found in the family. The family is the social unit. Society will be out of joint unless the family is consecrated by the presence of Christ. Let us always think of him as One at our table, sharing our domestic life.

IV CHRIST"S PRESENCE BRINGS HEALTH. He was not invited into Peter"s house for the purpose of curing the sick woman. Peter knew nothing of the trouble. The fever, as is often the case in tropical climates, may have seized the poor woman without a moment"s notice. Christ was invited for his own sake, that he might partake of refreshment and rest awhile. But the most unselfish serving of Christ wilt receive back unsought and unexpected blessings. Where Christ is present, he is ready to help. He saw, he touched, he healed. According to St. Mark, some told Jesus of the distressful condition of his hostess"s mother. (Mar_1:30) Then Jesus went to see her for himself. He is not unobservant of suffering, and for him to see is to help.

V BLESSINGS FROM CHRIST LEAD TO THE SERVICE OF CHRIST, The sick woman is perfectly cured. She does not suffer from the languor that usually follows fever. Feeling well, she immediately sets about her daily work. Plainly she is a most sensible woman. It is worth while to cure such a practical person. The end of salvation is service. Each may best serve Christ in the way of his or her own capacities. The grace of Christ is not to lift us above doing the homeliest duties, but to fit us for them. W.F.A.

Vers. 14-17. (see also Mar_1:29-31 Luk_4:38-40) The instinct of beneficence.

In introduction, note the place given to the occurrence of this miracle in the two parallel places, these two defining with accuracy what is left unalluded to by St. Matthew. Also comment on ver. 17, comparing it with St. Peter"s quotation, and noting St. Matthew"s language as not that of the Septuagint. Reject all the lesser exegeses of the wonderful characterization of the Redeemer here given; such as fatigue of body through the late and prolonged work; exhaustion of soul through the fearful strain confessed by us all, of high and deep spiritual engagement; and even such as the adumbration in all this of the achievement of the cross, and all the endurance it postulated; but point out how the personality of Jesus Christ now, and all through his public life, was the unfailing and the all-gathering focus, in one way and another way and all ways, of the sufferings, and the diseases, and the evil, and the infinite sorrow of that man, one grand essential condition of the saving of whom was, that his Saviour be "One touched," really, absolutely, tenderly, keenly touched, "with the feeling of his infirmities." This verse (seventeenth) expresses "the travail of his soul." Notice

I THE EXCEEDING PROMPTNESS WITH WHICH THIS MIRACLE WAS WROUGHT. Observe on the variety of the miracles of Christ, in this one respect by itself. Sometimes delay was the rule, and in such cases, sometimes with an evident reason and use, but sometimes not so. The occasions when we can see the reason or a reason will teach us how there were reasons in the other cases, though perhaps untraceable by us. On the other hand, many miracles were marked by very quick action, as with the impotent man and the blind beggar, etc., but nowhere perhaps more than in this case.

II THE OUTWARD SIGNS ACCOMPANYING THE WORKING OF THE MIRACLE. "He touched her hand;" "he rebuked the fever;" "he took her by the hand;" "he lifted her up." In these facts stated, which may be very far from being rightly called in every sense outward signs, two leading points may be observed the "rebuke" to the oppressor, the assistance to the oppressed, significant and genuine suggestions to our Christian work, and to our conflict in Christ"s Name with human woe, and with those forces of evil which stir it and fix it and only so reluctantly loose their grasp. Nor are the forms of help barren of suggestion. He stood over her; he saw her; he touched her hand, took her by the hand, lifted her up. The very gradation in the assistance proffering us lessons, or reminding us of what we have not failed already to observe and reason upon.

III THE GRATEFUL AND DEVOUT AND PRACTICAL RESPONSE ON THE PART OF THE SUFFERER, NO LONGER THE PREY OF HER FEVER, TO HER DELIVERER. Picture the splendid contrast. The prostrate with fever immediately transformed into the active and thoughtful servant, and the minister both to her Lord and his attendants and friends. Enlarge on this as the consummate type of Christian conduct and character after genuine conversion. For this is followed by devout and unfeigned consecration of service to Christ and his Church.

Conclude with noticing the harvest of that night, after the close of the sabbath.

1. The ingathering of what untold blessings to the people!

2. The toil and travail (in the sense of ver. 17) that harvest meant for Jesus Christ. B.

Vers. 14-17. Reciprocal ministries.

Here we notice two things

I THAT JESUS ACCEPTS THE MINISTRY OF HOSPITALITY.

1. He accepted the hospitality of Peter.

(1) This apostle resided at Capernaum, and Jesus lodged with him. (cf. Mat_17:24) Peter had a house; his Master had not one. Here the servant was above his Lord.

(2) Peter formerly resided at Bethsaida. (Joh_1:44) Probably he removed his dwelling to be near to Jesus to render him hospitality, and to benefit by his heavenly conversation. In changing residences Christians should not remove from the ordinances of religion. In seeking the health of the body the health of the soul must not be imperilled. Israel journeyed ever under the Sheehinah.

(3) Peter"s wife"s mother ministered to Jesus, or supplied him with refreshments. Jesus needed such hospitality, for his humanity was real. So are still his human sympathies.

(4) In accepting this hospitality, Jesus sanctioned marriage amongst his clergy. With what little grace do the Romanists contend for the celibacy of those who, while professing to derive infallibility from Peter, go contrary to his example! (cf. 1Co_9:5)

2. He will accept the hospitality of our hearts.

(1) Though corporeally gone into heaven, Jesus is still spiritually present with us. He sups in blessed friendship with the loyal, loving heart. He looks for a spiritual ministry to him. Temporal things are valuable as they are prompted by spiritual motives and aim at spiritual ends.

(2) We minister to Jesus when we serve his Church. The Church is the mystical Christ. (cf. Rom_12:4, 5 1Co_8:12 Gal_3:16 with ver. 2)

(3) Individual believers are specimens of the Church and representatives of Jesus. So he takes home as to himself hospitalities, or conversely unkindnesses, shown to them. (cf. Mat_25:40, 45 Act_9:5)

(4) We are qualified by the grace of Christ to minister to Christ. Peter was made a disciple of Jesus before Jesus accepted his hospitality. Peter"s wife"s mother was empowered by Jesus before she ministered to Jesus. "We give thee of thine own.

(5) Peter was a young man for his wife"s mother was an active woman yet Peter was a senior among the apostles. They were, therefore, all young men. Youth is the period for enterprise. Those who waste their youth waste their lives.

II THAT JESUS EXERCISES THE MINISTRY OF SALVATION.

1. He healed all manner of diseases.

(1) "The fever owned his touch, and fled." The touch of that hand intimated the tenderness of a heart that is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities." It also evinced Divinity. The healing was as sudden as the touch. There was no interval of convalescence.

(2) Jesus healed Peter"s wife"s mother on the sabbath. (cf. Mar_1:21, 29) For "it is lawful to do good on the sabbath day." But the Jews did not bring their sick until after sundown, when the sabbath ended. (see Lev_23:32; also Mat_12:10 Luk_13:4) He respected their prejudices, and healed them all.

2. He cast out the spirits with his word.

(1) An essential distinction is here strongly marked between the spirits "cast out" and the diseases "healed". (cf. Mar_1:34)

(2) Demoniacs were prevalent in Judaea in the time of Christ because the nation was then advanced to a height of impiety. The Jews were then also strongly addicted to magic, and invited spirits to be familiar with them.

(3) If there is anything beyond charlatanry in the spiritualism of these days it is like a revival of the necromancy denounced in the holy oracles. (see Deu_18:9-12)

(4) Evil spirits have never ceased to dwell in impure affections; and they still possess the souls of the wicked as formerly they possessed their bodies.

3. These works denoted the Messiah.

(1) They were wrought in fulfilment of prophecy. The citation of Isa_53:4 here evinces this. But the words of the prophet also have reference to the atonement for sin, for so they are applied elsewhere. (see 1Pe_2:14)

(2) The miracles were wrought in anticipation of the atonement. For sickness is a consequence of sin. The removal of the consequence was a pledge that the Miracle-worker would remove the cause. Upon the same principle of anticipation Old Testament believers were saved by the death of Christ.

(3) The miracles of Jesus, together with the sympathy of his whole life, must be viewed as belonging to his great work of atonement, which was therefore only "finished" on the cross. So, in working his miracles, Jesus sometimes perhaps always in spirit, and was troubled." Both kinds of "bearing our diseases" were requisite to our great High Priest. (see Heb_4:15 Heb_5:1, Heb_5:2) Remarkably this view is expressed in the rabbinical book of Zohar: "There is one temple which is called the temple of the sons of affliction; and when Messiah comes into that temple, and reads all the afflictions, all the griefs, and all the chastisements of Israel, which came upon them, then all of them shall come upon him; and if there were any that would lighten them off from Israel, and take them upon himself, there is no son of man that can bear the chastisements of Israel, because of the punishment of the Law, as it is said, Surely he hath borne our griefs," etc.

(4) The diseases and afflictions of the body miraculously cured by Jesus are to be taken as figures of corresponding moral evils. J.A.M.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Peter's wife's mother - St. Peter was then a young man, as were all the apostles. Mark i, 29; Luke iv, 38.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Various Miracles of Healing.

Cure of a fever:

v. 14. And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.

v. 15. And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she arose and ministered unto them.

Jesus had, on a certain Sabbath-day, attended the synagogue. Returning from there, and coming into the house of Peter, who here bears his name as disciple, Jesus saw a sad condition of affairs, Mar 1:29-31; Luk 4:38-39. Peter’s mother-in-law lay bedridden with a fever. Note: Peter had a home at Capernaum, having moved there from Bethsaida, probably on account of the better market for fish, but still more probably because the Lord had chosen this city for His sojourn. And Peter was married; he was not given to a false holiness, a dangerous asceticism, as the Roman Catholic Church demands of its clergy, but made use of his right to have a sister as his wife, 1Co 9:5. Jesus was touched with sympathy. He rebuked the fever, He took hold of the sick woman’s hand to raise her up, and at His miraculous touch the sickness vanished, with all its after-effects. She arose from her bed without a sign of weakness or unsteadiness. She could wait at the table and render all manner of services, singling out, in her gratitude, especially Him to whom she owed her perfect recovery. Any gift received from the Lord should prompt us to the most active individual service.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The next miracle which our Saviour wrought, was in curing Peter’s wife’s mother of a fever: the miracle was not in curing an incurable distemper, but in the way and manner of curing: for,

1. It was by a touch of our Saviour;s hand.

2. It was instantaneous and sudden: immediately the fever left her.

3. The visible effects of her recovery presently appeared: She instantly arose and ministered unto them, That she could arise, argued her cure miraculous; that she could and did arise and administer unto Christ, argued her thankfulness, and a great sense of his goodness upon her mind.

Note here, 1. That marriage is the mistress of the gospel, yea, even in the apostles themselves and in Peter, the chiefest of them, was neither censured nor condemned by our Saviour. St. Peter had a wife and family, which Christ condescends to visit.

Observe, 2. That the first thing which Christ takes notice of in the house which he condescends to visit, is what aileth any in it; what need they stand in of his help and healing; and accordingly, together with his presence, he affords them relief.

Learn, 3. That when Christ has graciously visited and healed any of his servants, it ought to be their first work and next care to administer unto Christ; that is, to employ their recovered health, and improve their renewed strength in his service; She arose and ministered.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XXXII. Healing Peter's Mother-in-Law].

XXXII. HEALING PETER'S MOTHER-IN-LAW AND MANY OTHERS. (At Capernaum.) aMATT. VIII. 14-17; bMARK I. 29-34; cLUKE IV. 38-41.

c38 And he arose out of the synagogue [where he had just healed the demoniac], b29 And straightway, when they were come out of the synagogue, they came centered binto the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. [Peter and Andrew had dwelt at Bethsaida ( Joh_1:44). They may have removed to Capernaum, or Bethsaida, being near by, may be here counted as a part, or suburb, of Capernaum. Its name does not contradict this view, for it means "house of fishing" or "fishery."] 30 Now Simon's wife's mother lay sick of { cwas holden with a great fever. [The Papists, who claim that Peter was the first pope, must confess that he was married at this time, and continued to be so for years afterwards ( 1Co_9:5). Celibacy is unauthorized by Scripture ( Heb_13:4). God says it is not good ( Gen_2:18). Luke speaks as a physician; for Galen, the father of medicine, divided fevers into little and great.] a14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick of a fever. band straightway they tell him of her: cand they besought him for her. [Their interest in her shows the spirit of love and kindness which pervaded the home.] b31 and he came c39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever [Though it was an inanimate force, it was still subject to rebuke, as were the winds and waves of Galilee-- Mat_8:26]; a15 And he touched her hand, band took her by the hand, and raised her up [thus showing the miracle came from him, and that he felt a tender interest in the sufferer]; cand it bthe fever cleft her: and immediately she rose up aarose, band she ministered unto them. ahim. [Her complete recovery emphasized the miracle. Such fevers invariably leave the patient weak, [170] and the period of convalescence is long and trying, and often full of danger. She showed her gratitude by her ministry.] b32 And at even, awhen even was come, cwhen the sun was setting, bdid set, call they that had any sick with divers diseases, brought them unto him; bthey brought unto him all that were sick, and them amany bthat were possessed with demons. [Their delay till sundown was unquestionably caused by the traditional law of the Sabbath which forbade men to carry any burden on that day ( Joh_5:10). The Sabbath closed at sundown ( Lev_23:32). The distinction is drawn between the sick and the demon-possessed. Lightfoot gives two reasons why demoniacal possession was so common at that time, viz.: 1, the intense wickedness of the nation; 2, the addiction of the nation to magic, whereby the people invited evil spirits to be familiar with them.] cand he laid his hands on every one of them, aand he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all cthem athat were sick: 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet [ Isa_53:4], saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases. [Isaiah's vision is progressive; he sees, first, a man of sorrows; second, a man sorrowful because he bore the sickness and sorrows of others; third, a man who also bore sin, and healed the souls of others by so doing. Such was the order of Christ's life. His early years were spent in poverty and obscurity; his days of ministry in bearing, by sympathy and compassion, the sicknesses and sorrows of others ( Joh_11:35, Mar_14:34); and in the hour of his crucifixion, he became the world's sin-bearer-- Joh_1:29, 1Pe_2:24.] b33 And all the city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many demons; c41 And demons also came out from many, crying out, and saying, Thou art the Son of God. And rebuking them, he suffered them bthe demons cnot to speak, bbecause they knew him. cthat he was Christ. [Those who are disposed to frequent spiritual seances and to seek information from mediums should remember that the Son of God permitted his disciples to receive no information from such sources. He forbade demons to speak in the presence of his own, even on the most important of all topics.] [171]

[FFG 169-170]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Peter's wife's mother. Compare Mark 1:29–34; Luke 4:38–41. Peter, whom the Catholics make the first of the popes, was, therefore, a married man. See also 1 Cor. 9:5. Malarious fevers are still common in the vicinity of Capernaum, due probably to the adjacent marshes.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Here the scene shifts to a different time and place and tells of Jesus healing another person.

Jesus had come

The disciples were probably with Jesus, but the focus of the story is on what Jesus said and did, so introduce the disciples only if needed to avoid wrong meaning.

Peter's mother-in-law

"the mother of Peter's wife"

the fever left her

If your language would understand this personification to mean that the fever could think and act on its own, this can be translated as "she became better" or "Jesus healed her." (See: Personification)

got up

"got out of bed"

translationWords

Peter

servant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

14–17. THE CURE OF PETER’S MOTHER-IN-LAW OF A FEVER,

Mar 1:29-31; Luk 4:38-39.

St Luke’s description bears special marks of scientific accuracy. Both St Mark and St Luke mention that the incident took place when ‘he came out of the synagogue;’, and St Mark adds that he went into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

14. εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν Πέτρου. From Joh 1:44 we learn that Bethsaida was the city of Andrew and Simon Peter. Either then (1) they had changed their home to Capernaum, or (2) Bethsaida was close to Capernaum.

τὴν πενθεράν. St Peter alone of the Apostles is expressly named as being married. It is however a probable inference from 1Co 9:5, that all the Apostles were married: μὴ οὐκ ἔχομεν ἐξουσίαν ἀδελφὴν γυναῖκα περιάγειν ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ἀπόστολοι καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Κηφᾶς. It is worthy of note that no wives or children of Apostles are known to Church history.

βεβλημένην καὶ πυρέσσουσαν. St Luke has συνεχομένη πυρετῷ μεγάλῳ. συνεχ. is a technical word implying the ‘constraint’ of sickness; the symptoms of πυρετὸς μέγας as described by ancient physicians resemble those of typhus fever.

βεβλημένην denotes the great and sudden prostration characteristic of this kind of fever.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14-17.] Healing of Peter’s wife’s mother, and many others. Mar 1:29-34.Luk 4:38-41Luk 4:38-41. From the other Evangelists it appears, that our Lord had just healed a dæmoniac in the synagogue at Capernaum: for they both state, ‘when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, &c.’ Both Mark and Luke are fuller in their accounts than the text. The expression (of the fever) ἀφῆκεν αὐτήν is common to the three, as is also the circumstance of her ministering immediately after: shewing that the fever left her, not, as it would have done if natural means had been used, weak and exhausted, but completely restored.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14-16. From Mar 1:29-34.

The editor now returns to the incident in Mk. which follows the omitted section of the demoniac.

(M)

14. And Jesus came into the house of Peter, and saw his wife’s mother abed, and fever-sick.] Mk. has: “And straightway they went out of the synagogue, and came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. And the wife’s mother of Simon lay fever-sick, and straightway they tell Him of her.” Mt. must omit ἐκ τῆς συναγωγῆς ἐξελθόντες because he has omitted the previous scene in Mk. which took place in a synagogue. He abbreviates Mk.’s account by omitting as unnecessary καὶ Ἀνδρέου μετὰ Ἰακώβου καὶ Ἰωάνου and καὶ εὐθὺς λέγουσιν αὐτῷ περὶ αὐτῆς. βεβλημένην for Mk.’s κατέκειτο is an assimilation to v. 6; see note there. Cf. a similar change in 9:2, and cf. Mar 7:30.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Sick of a fever [πυρεσσουσαν] . Derived from pur, fire. Our word fever comes through the German feuer.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.