Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-In-Law 		Lk.4:38-40        5-7-2000 	Tape 28

TT Lk.4:38
We left off last week with Jesus right in the middle of a very busy Saturday.  

It was the Sabbath, so He went to the synagogue.  He preached, and astounded the people with His authority.  

Then there was the showdown between the forces of evil and the Son of God – the fight of the century – Jesus Christ vs. the demonic host.

w/o breaking a sweat He binds the strong man (mismatch)

Now it’s time to go home for lunch.  What follows is a collection of little events that don’t seem to fit into a flowing story (glad my preaching prof isn’t here).

That’s because the Bible was not written from an outline, it is a collection of eyewitness accounts.  That’s the way real life is – not everything that happens to you in one day fits a theme.
2:08
Lk.4:38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. 

Why is this included in the Bible?  Seems minor (tempted to skip it). 
Mk.1:29 they went with James and John There are only a few, rare times when only Peter James and John are allowed to see something.  But this is one of them.  It’s in three gospels.  God considered this a big deal.
3:43
They do what we do – “Let’s go to Peter’s house.”  

Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her

Pete was married (1 Co.9:5)  How else could a person get a M in law?

Generally a fever is caused by an infection.  Somehow, some infectious agent (such as a bacterium or virus) entered her body and began to proliferate through her body.   

That caused her body to release proteins that caused the release of chemicals that acted on her nerve cells – those chems lied to the nerve cells and caused them to produce a sensation of being cold.  When the brain got those signals, it automatically started burning fat, decreasing blood flow to the skin, shivering, and other measures to warm up the body. 

The result was her body temp went way up.  That helps the body fight the infection, but it also makes you sick.  Your temp is supposed to be about 99 degrees.  If it gets up over 100, you have a fever.  If it goes up over 106 or 107, you’re probably in for convulsions, and if it gets over 110, you probably won’t survive.
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When you have a fever, you are usually incapacitated (football players play with broken bones, but not the flu).  That’s because there is a war going on inside the body.  Millions of diseased cells are capturing healthy cells, and using them to reproduce millions more diseased cells.  

Your body fights back with millions of white blood cells, and other things.  It’s a huge battle, and if the white blood cells lose, you die.

That war takes all your strength.  Your body pours all its resources into that war, and there is no energy left.  
8:06
In medical terms, in the 1st century, the doctors had two labels for two kinds of fever.  Megeloi and mikroi (severe or mild).  “If only there had been a Dr. back then, so we could know which it was.”
Luke 4:38  Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a Megeloi fever 

Remember the last time you had one?  Miserable.  Can feel the air hitting your skin.  Don’t feel like you can stand another hour.  She didn’t have the medicine we have.  
9:15
They tell Jesus.  They knew what would happen.

39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.

Jesus said the word, and that fever left instantly – just like the demon.  
At that split second, her temp was 98.6.  When those words came out of Jesus’ mouth, all those millions of diseased cells suddenly disappeared.  

Jesus readjusted her hypothalamus, the proteins and chems were brought to normal levels, and the infection was gone without a trace.
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Jesus rebuked the fever.  He spoke to the fever.  Jesus can cause things to happen by speaking to inanimate objects.   For us, words only have an effect if we speak to someone with a brain who can interpret the message.  Otherwise, our words are just little vibrations in the air – nothing else.  They carry absolutely no power.  

Some false teachers are teaching that your words carry metaphysical power.   A pagan idea.  Mind over matter is a joke.  Only God can create or alter matter or reality simply by an act of His will (expressed by words).
11:39 
You and I and the faith healers can rebuke a fever until we are horse, and the only thing that will happen is we will be horse.  - Even if you persuade yourself that the fever will go away, and you believe it with all your heart, and the person believes it with all her heart, still nothing will happen.

Only God can create or alter reality by doing nothing more than just deciding it’s going to happen.
12:36
31 So he went to her, (she is perfectly healthy now) took her hand and helped her up. 
She didn’t need help getting up, as we will see in a moment.  It’s just an act of tenderness.

Only Mark (commissioned by Peter) describes Jesus lifting her up.  That meant something to Peter – remembered it, told Mk, Mk – even though he is giving a very brief, abbreviated account (shortest miracle account in the gospels), writes it down.  No doubt a precious memory for the fisherman.

If you had lived at the time of Jesus, and spent any time at all around Him, it’s very likely He would have touched you.  God is a God who deals with His children in very personal, tender, loving ways.

It’s not necessary at all to communicate the miracle.  Everything about Jesus teaches us the nature of God.  

Not only is God all-powerful, able to create or destroy or restore by an act of the will, and not only is He a God who communicates His will via words we can understand, but He is a personal, kind God who will reach down and take hold of a perfectly healthy person, and help her to her feet.
16:33
Heb.1:3  The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being 
If you see any contrast at all between the God of the OT, and Jesus, you have probably been influenced by some bad teaching.

39 She got up at once and began to wait on them.

The point is that she had energy (it took me weeks to recover)

He rebuked the fever, and it didn’t start getting better - she was better - instantly.  She we went from being miserable to feeling fine.  This is how Jesus healed.

Not like faith-healers – “you are healed, and soon your symptoms will start getting better”
18:35
Turn your o-line over and let’s look at v.40.
Lk.4:40 When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness  Mk.1:33 …and the demonized, and the whole town gathered at the door
  
This is the lang. of an eyewitness, painting the picture of the scene.

After sunset (Jesus had been healing at the synagogue that day.  These are the folk who cared about human rules more that people and wouldn’t even bring their own sick to be healed until after the S.  

This angered Jesus, yet He still heals them.

They key word is “all”   How many in this room would raise your hand if Jesus were here offering to heal everything?
Jesus banished disease from Capernaum.  

So why is this account in three gospels?  
Jesus decides when, where and to whom He reveals Himself, and He revealed Himself in the greatest way to these 3.
Why is this so significant?  2 reasons:
1. Healing of a woman (like healing a pet turtle of arthritis).  Women had very low status in Jewish culture and religion and Jesus is giving still another rebuke.  

There were probably plenty of sick Pharisees, and Jesus heals a woman (and a M in law - that’s even going beyond)
23:20
2. Main reason: to show a contrast.  All three gospels, immediately after the very short account of this tell about the healing of thousands.  

We get to see Jesus’ miracles from every angle.  The idea is that Jesus healed everyone in every circumstance - those very close, and those he never met, He did miracles on a small scale/large scale - friends and enemies - believers and unbelievers.  Some of those demonized people might have been healed against their will.  

This passage has nothing to do with the way God normally heals people.  It is a miraculous display of divine, sovereign power.

Some who have a big ministry to the multitudes & leave out those close to them.  One faith healer’s wife has terminal cancer.
Others only offer their ministry to certain select people in a controlled setting.  Not Jesus.
25:07
40 and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.

Yancy quote from The Jesus I Never Knew:  (sp gift = ability to put books down)
“As I now reflect on his life, miracles play a less prominent role than what I had imagined as a child.  Superman, he was not.  Yes, Jesus performed miracles - about three dozen depending on how you count them - but the gospels actually downplay them...I accept the miracles he performed...even so, the miracles raise big questions for me.  Why are there so few?”  (p.166)

The only way you can count and get that many is if you count them and them subtract all but 3 dozen.  There were hundreds and probably thousands. 
26:39
Jn.2:23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.
Jn.3:2  "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

Lk.7 (J the B) 21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind.
27:48
Jn.20:30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.

Jn.21:25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Jesus’ miraculous ministry was prolific.  He performed so many awesome mighty works of power that not even His enemies argued about whether He had supernatural power.  

God doesn’t want people to believe based on blind faith, and so He gives exorbitant, overwhelming proof for everything.  
28:34
Never in human history has there been a supernatural display of divine power like there was with Jesus.  And it wasn’t done in a corner.  The multitudes witnessed them.   

Formal investigations were conducted in an effort to disprove them, and they ended up proving that the blind were given sight, the lamb walked, lepers were cleansed, and people were raised from the dead.

Next time you want to doubt Christianity, and you come up with some kind of effort to explain away the resurrection, fine.   You have one down, and thousands to go if you want to dismiss Jesus as not being God.

That’s why Acts 2:22  Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
29:44
He performed countless miracles - especially healing (turned down other miracle requests - Satan, fire from heaven, even people wanting to be saved, but healed everyone.
30:19
Lk.4:41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.

Why do they say this?
•	perhaps they are so panicked by seeing Jesus they can’t control their mouths
•	Maybe they know the people know they are evil, and so if they speak up for Jesus, it will hurt him.

Either way, proclaiming the truth about Jesus is a privilege - a privilege not granted to these demons.  
Also, Jesus didn’t want to become a freak show - a lot of thrill seekers just made things difficult (as you see the next morning).

Scripture is careful to point out the fact that Jesus was in full control of His own revelation.  His plan was to reveal Himself as Messiah, when, where and to whom HE chose.  His plan was to do it by His words and His works.  Jesus was not like a politician desperate for publicity.

These demons wanted to speak out of turn and go against God’s plan.  Keep in mind Jesus is still God – He is still in charge of running the universe.

Jesus had such control over demons that He could forbid them to speak.
I don’t know if there has been a time before or since when an entire town was healthy.  I’m sure many of them were up all night – testing out new legs, running their hands over smooth skin, picking up heavy things with a strong back, looking around at the world with functional eyes, clutching a healthy baby, feeling good for the first time in years.
33:30
So it’s no wonder…
42 At daybreak (Sunday morning) Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 

But Jesus refused.  Whenever you have people who don’t respond to Jesus’ teaching, and they don’t really care to follow Jesus – all they want is for their problems to go away, that’s not the kind of person Jesus was after.   There are plenty of people like that today.

 Jesus devoted Himself to people who were interested in the truth.  That’s why He spent all His time preaching.
43 But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." 44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.  

This starts to sound like a broken record – the emphasis on Jesus’ miracles and preaching.  He understood that what people need – even more than physical things, is to know God.

The most important commandment is to love God, and you can’t love Him if you don’t know Him.  A shallow knowledge of God will result in a shallow love for God.
35:17
This passage teaches us about God.  We learn that God is all-powerful, and that He is good.  We could eliminate worry from our lives if we could just be convinced that God is all powerful and perfectly good.
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A few more thoughts about this woman’s response (flip O-line back over).

The proper response.  A moment ago she couldn’t have possibly done this, and even if she had, she would have gotten everyone sick.  Everything she touched would have been contaminated.  Jesus’ healing hand makes us fit to serve Him.

What Jesus does for people physically is a tangible, visible picture of what He does for us spiritually.  When you became a Christian, at that moment Jesus reached out His hand and lifted you up, and made you able and equipped to serve Him. 
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According to 2 Tim 2:20, if you are a believer, you are - a tool designed for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do good work. 

TT Eph 2:10  we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

Your being born wasn’t a fluke, and the characteristics you have are not just a chance combination of your parent’s genes.  You are God’s workmanship.  

And you were not placed on this earth in this place at this time just so you could make a living, enjoy your family and die.  You are God’s workmanship, created to do some things that God prepared in advance for you to do.

God prepared in advance some important things He wanted you to do, then He designed you in your mother’s womb to be just the ideal tool to accomplish those things.

“What are those things?”  Another name for them is your calling.  You see, after He prepares those tasks in advance, and then designs your and forms you to equip you to do them, then He calls you to that task in life.  That’s your calling.

1 Co.7:17 each Christian is assigned by God to a certain place in life, and then called to that.

So Jesus makes her fit to serve, and she serves.  What a pathetic story this would be if she had been healed and showed no gratitude.  She began serving Him and His people immediately.   

Some people’s souls were touched by Christ’s healing hand years ago and they are still looking for just the right ministry.  But not this woman; she got up at once.  

She has no way to re-pay Him for this, but what she can do she does.  She didn’t feel like she had to go on a speaking tour around Galilee.  She didn’t write a book or build a building, etc., she serves a meal – that’s what she could do.

Jesus makes you fit to serve, and you do what you have been equipped for and have the opportunity to carry out.
39:39
Sometimes people know their calling in life, but they have trouble with motivation, because sometimes your calling involves some things that seem: menial.  Maybe you don’t like it that your calling involves some drudgery - a bunch of paperwork, or folding laundry.  If so, TT Mt.8:15.
Lk. - She got up at once and began to wait on them.
Mk.  she began to wait on them.
Mt.  she got up and began to wait on him.

Your calling will involve serving others in some way, but never forget that by doing that you are really serving the Lord Himself.  That’s the motivation when you get burned out in ministry.
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•	ministry survey
•	cards
•	fellowship meal
•	tonight

Benediction 
2 Tim 2:15  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Luke 4:38-5:1

38Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 

39So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. 

40When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.  

42At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." 44And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.  

Mark 1:29-39
29As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 

31So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. 

32That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33The whole town gathered at the door, 34and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. 

35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!" 

38Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else-to the nearby villages-so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. 

Matt 8:14-18

14When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. 

16When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 

"He took up our infirmities 
and carried our diseases."  

18When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.