The New Testament is full of understatements – in just 35 words (NIV translation), we learn that there was a problem at Peter’s house, which Jesus solved. Just like that. Another miracle! As you read these verses are you in danger of taking Jesus’ healing power for granted? Had you been there and witnessed it first-hand, how would this event have affected you? Pause and ask God to fill you afresh with awe and wonder at Jesus’ amazing compassion, authority and power.

News travelled fast and, as always, Jesus continued to minister to many people’s needs. In Isaiah 53:4, Jesus is described prophetically as carrying our diseases. What a lovely illustration of the way he deals with burdens that are too heavy for us to bear, just as Jesus himself says, in Matthew 11:28.

But, as we read on, we discover that hand-in-hand with the healing and relief that Jesus brings, is the cost of being a disciple. Jesus has given us a glimpse of his kingdom, but are we prepared to have him as our king? Are we prepared to follow, whatever it takes? Do we need to examine our priorities? Is it about what Jesus can do for us, or is it about what we can do for him?

Imagine being by the lake with Jesus. He is getting into a boat, extends his hand to you and says, ‘Follow me’. How do you feel and respond?

If the Son of Man has no place to lay his head (v 20), does that mean that his followers are also called to abandon the securities of home? Many Christians have thought so: the movement of desert monasticism in the third to seventh centuries was prompted by the belief that this and other radical sayings of Jesus were not limited to his own setting.¹ Yet it appears that Peter still had a house in Capernaum (v 14) and other references throughout the Gospel indicate that Jesus was dependent on the hospitality of his followers.² So what did Jesus mean? And what does this mean for us?

The key point is not how Jesus’ disciples are called to follow him, but whom they follow. Matthew attests that Jesus’ ministry fulfils scriptural prophecy (v 17), a theme he repeats throughout the gospel.³ The many healings and expulsions confirm his identity as God’s Messiah. Accordingly, Jesus has continuing authority as God’s representative: he is more than merely a good teacher or miracle-worker. Perhaps Jesus saw that the teacher of the Law, addressing him as ‘Teacher’ (v 19), wanted to follow him only as a pupil would have followed a rabbi. His response illustrates that a much deeper level of commitment is appropriate (v 20). Similarly, his reply to the disciple who wanted to bury his father indicates that Jesus’s identity is such that a bond with him surpasses even the imperative bond of filial obligation (v 22). Whether we need to leave home to follow Jesus will depend on our specific vocation: but all of us are called to recognise his authority as Lord of our lives.

In this respect, Peter’s mother-in-law provides a simple but profound model of discipleship. She experiences Jesus’ touch and healing. In response, she gets up and serves him (v 15). 

Reflect: what distracts you from following and serving Jesus?

¹ A Ryrie, The Desert Movement, Canterbury Press, 2011, p221  ² Eg Matt 4:13; 9:10,28; 13:1,36  ³ RB Hays, Reading Backwards, SPCK, 2015, p37