Wednesday in the 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, September 2, 2020

The Feast of the September Martyrs

Luke 4:38-44

After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them.  At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.  At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

St. Luke does not include in his Gospel the story of the call of the first four men who would become his Apostles, which St. Matthew tells (cf. Matthew 4, 18-22).  Including it at this point would complicate his chronology, which he altered somewhat already in order to show how and why Jesus was rejected by his own people, beginning at the very start of his ministry.  Because of this, the visit to the house of Simon Peter in today’s Gospel reading seems abrupt.  

“Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever.”  We can infer from the fact that Simon had a mother-in-law and that she was living in his house that his father-in-law was already dead and that either she had no other children than the woman who was Simon’s wife, or that they were dead.  Normally, a widow lived with her eldest son, not the son-in-law.  From the fact that Andrew was living there as well tells us that he had not married yet and probably had not reached the age for marriage.

Now, in ancient times, a high fever usually led to death.  After witnessing Jesus exorcising the demon(s) from the possessed man in the synagogue, Simon must have felt especially eager to bring Jesus to his home, and as soon as Simon and Andrew arrived with Jesus, “they interceded with him about her.”  Here, we see intercessory prayer at work, for this is exactly what takes place: Simon Peter and Andrew ask Jesus for his help.  “He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.”  Just as the Lord had rebuked the demon and it fled the possessed man, so Jesus rebukes the fever and it at once leaves the woman.  Luke emphasizes the simple command and immediate result because the Greeks would have been impressed by this.  No strange foreign rituals or drawn-out spells or use of expensive potions, but a simple exercise of raw power.  “She got up immediately and waited on them.”  The fact that she got up at once and went to work confirms the completeness of her cure and also shows how one is to respond to God’s grace: she offered service, she “waited on them”.  

“At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him.”  News of the miracle for the woman whom all the neighbors expected to die imminently would have spread pretty quickly along with the news about the former demoniac.  Excitement and some desperation brought the people with their sick to the door of the house Jesus was visiting, but the people wait until sunset to do so.  Until sundown, it was still the Sabbath and they were prohibited from carrying anything or even their sick who would be unable to walk.  “He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.”  Jesus could have cured them all at once without leaving the house and not have tired himself.  He laid hands on each of them in order to show his personal love and care for each, and also to make certain that the people knew that the cures came by his own power, and by this know that the kingdom of heaven had arrived.  “And demons also came out from many, shouting, ‘You are the Son of God.’ ”  Demonic possession was not uncommon in the days before grace.  It would become less common as the Faith spread over the succeeding centuries.  It has become not uncommon again in these dark, faithless times.  The demons address the Lord as the “Son of God”, but they do not yet understand that he is divine.  The term was used for angels, prophets, kings, and even judges.  The demons may be tempting him to reveal himself.  But Jesus reveals himself in his own time and in his own way.

“At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.”  St. Mark writes, “And rising very early, going out, he went into a desert place: and there he prayed” (Mark 1, 35).  Jesus healed the sick for several hours, and perhaps slept for a short time.  But he got up before anyone else in the house and went out to the grassy country beyond the city in order to pray without disturbance.  While the Lord counsels communal prayer, we often see him praying alone for hours in the wilderness and on mountains.  He sets an example of prayer for us too.  While prayers of praise and intercession may be made with others, we must go into solitude for contemplation.

“The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them.”  They wanted to keep him because he brought renown to the town, but in general they did not follow him.  Later, Jesus will cry out, “And you, Capernaum, shall you be exalted up to heaven? You shall go down even unto hell. For if in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, perhaps it had remained unto this day” (Matthew 11, 23).  

“To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.”  Luke shows Jesus going forth into the rest of Galilee and Judea, and even venturing into Gentile lands, just as later his Apostles will spread out into Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome, doing the work of the Savior.  “I have been sent.”  Jesus is both sent by the Father and comes of his own free will.  He shows his power in his miracles in Capernaum, and then tells the people that he has been “sent”, leaving them to consider that the “sender” must be more powerful even than the one he sent.  In the same way, our works of sacrifice and charity point others to the God who likewise “sends” us into the world.  We do not appear randomly into a world which exists for no particular purpose, but are sent by God unto this world which he has made in order to show people that God has created them, that he loves them, and that, if they will love him in return, they can live with him for all eternity.

Today we celebrate the feast of 181 Catholics — bishops, martyrs, priests, religious sisters, monks, and laity — martyred in Paris in 1792 at the time of the French Revolution by leftist fanatics.  We pray during these violent times that we may imitate the fortitude in faith of these holy men and women.