I looked at various paintings and icons based on the first part of this week’s Gospel lesson, Mark 1:29-39, verses 29-31, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. I was struck, especially among the Orthodox icon representations, with the resemblance between the action depicted as “Jesus took her by the hand and lifted her up” (verse 31) and that shown in the classic Orthodox icon of the Resurrection, where Jesus appears grasping Adam and Eve by their hands and raising them from their graves.
The Greek word Mark uses for Jesus’ act of raising Mary is from the same word the angel uses at the end of Mark (16:6) to inform the women who came to the tomb that Jesus had been “raised.”
Following that healing of Peter’s relative in his home, there are many more healings there that evening in verses 32-34, as “they brought to him all who were sick or demon-possessed” and the whole city gathers at the door. That plethora of healing was a sign that Jesus had come to for all people what would be done for Him after His death on the Cross, to raise up all people to life in Him.
Jesus’ actions in the final section of the text, verses 35 to 39, are a clue both to the deeper import of His mission and to its universality. Mark only shows us Jesus praying three times, and this is the first of them. Jesus retreats to be alone and gather spiritual strength for a spiritual mission. When the disciples come looking, complaining that “Everyone is searching for you,” He makes it clear that healing physical ailments is not the whole of what He came to do. He says in verse 38, “Let us go on to neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” Jesus has come not just with short-term solutions to physical distress. He has come with a message that will raise up forever those who believe it.
A couple lessons might be drawn. First, there is Jesus’ own seamless integration of what we often separate into “spiritual” and “social” ministries, the saving of souls and the care and healing of bodies. Jesus insists on keeping those together. He preaches Good News and demonstrates that it is true by healing those He encounters.
Second, there is response of the woman healed first in the passage, the mother of Peter’s wife. Though nameless, she stands out for the fact that her first thought upon rising from her bed is to serve Jesus and His disciples, presumably a meal. In effect, she becomes perhaps the first female follower of Jesus, other than His own mother. We would do well to imitate her example of receiving the blessings of God in Christ, only to offer them back in faithful service. To do so is to be truly raised to new life in Him.