Wednesday in the First Week of Ordinary Time, January 10, 2024

Mark 1, 29-39

On leaving the synagogue Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them. When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him. Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.” He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.” So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.

During this time of Vatican scandals we should draw nearer to Jesus and to his teachings through prayer and study.  If we only hold to our course as believers, the Lord will bring us into his safe harbor of heaven.

We can learn something about the size of Simon Peter’s simply from counting the number of people we know to have lived or visited there at the time of this Gospel Reading.  There are at least five adults.  Presumably Peter’s wife was still alive so she can be counted as a sixth.  The house would need to accommodate this number of people.  It must have been at least the size of a two-room apartment.  A 1st century house excavated under the ruins of a Byzantine church in Capernaum is widely thought to be that of Peter.  The house’s walls are covered with ancient graffiti invoking the Lord and asking for his help.  The house itself was turned into a church at an early date so that oil lamps and large jars were found in its main room and not the usual pottery found in the ruins of other ancient houses.  The fact that a proper church in an octagonal form was built over the ruins on the house also points to the special significance of the site.

In this house, on the floor, perhaps on a straw mat, lay Simon Peter’s mother-in-law.  The fact that she was living with him indicates that her husband was dead for otherwise she would have lived with him at their house.  She was sick and near death.  That Simon and Andrew tell him about her lets us know that she was in the back of the house in a bedroom reserved for her and any female children.  At this point they lead Jesus to her and he “grasped” her hand.  The Greek says: Approaching her, he lay hold of her and raised her up.  Probably “helped her up” does not reflect what actually happened.  Helpless due to her illness, Jesus took her firmly by the hand and pulled her up.  

“Then the fever left her and she waited on them.”  The Greek verb has the force of “the fever was sent away”.  It was not merely a condition that ceased to exist but an entity fighting for control over her: the Lord’s power expelled it, tore it away from her.  This happened in the afternoon around the time of the main meal of the day, for this woman got up and proceeded to serve them at table, with no need or call for a period of recuperation.  It was as though the woman knew she had been cured for a reason, and she went quickly to perform her duty.

After an interval of a few hours, “when it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.”  Word of what Jesus had done would have taken a little time to spread since the cure had taken place in a private place.  Also, people would have wanted to see and maybe talk to the woman herself.  But then they came.  

“He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons.”  We do not know the number of those whom he cured or from whom he drove out demons, but it seems a large one.  The cures would have lacked drama, with the Lord simply raising people up as he had the mother-in-law.  That is usually how he works.  schooled as we are by movies and television, we expect a buildup to a miracle, gushing music and signs in the sky.  But the Lord works in such quiet ways that we miss many of his wonders, even when he works them in our own lives.  Perhaps a little drama ensued with the exorcisms, but neither Matthew nor Mark tells us about it and so we should not look for what is not there.  Also, Jesus did not permit them to speak “because they knew him”.  The Greek verb here can mean “to know”, “to recognize”, “to understand”, and “to remember”.  Now, the demons did not yet know that he was the only-begotten Son of God who assumed a human nature.  That would come later.  But they had knowledge of him as one who possessed great power — even supernatural power, for he had earlier that day cast out one of their fellow demons from the man in the synagogue.  

“Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.”  This was the central act of the Son’s day, to commune with the Father.  He does this when he is alone and away and he makes a serious effort to get alone and away, showing the way for us.

“Simon and those who were with him pursued him.”  Why? “Everyone is looking for you.”  The future Prince of the Apostles does not say, “Many people” but “Everyone”.  Even within the heart of the most corrupt human being, the desire for God persists.  We were made by him and for him so that we are naturally and interiorly urged to him.  We stifle this urge and fight against it, but it cannot be entirely extinguished.  The most horrible suffering in hell is for the damned to keenly feel this urge and to know that it can never be assuaged.  The damned have lost God forever.  All are drawn to him and our happiness lies in pursuing him and possessing him.  But not all know how to look for him or that the urge they feel deep in their hearts is for the Lord, and so he says, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.”  And then, at the time of his Ascension, he says again, “Go, therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28, 19-20).  And so he sends us.  This is why we have come.  We go out to preach the Gospel in our fallen world through our words and good example and assist others spreading the Gospel with our prayers.