Text

14 Then Jesus went to Peter’s house, where he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She rose and waited on him. 16 When evening fell, they brought to him many people possessed by demons, which he cast out with a word, and healed all the sick. 17 Thus was fulfilled what had been spoken through the Prophet Isaiah when he said, “He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.”

18 When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he ordered his followers to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. 19 A scribe came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man does not have a bed to lay his head.” 21 Another disciples said to him, “Lord, permit me to first go and bury my father.” 22 Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Comments

In this passage, Jesus heals many sick and demon-possessed people, which causes people to want to follow him. As short as it is, the story of Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law is meant to be a model Christian call story. When it says “she rose,” the Greek verb is egeiro, the same verb used to describe Jesus’ resurrection. When it says, “she waited on him,” the Greek verb is diakoneo, the same verb used to describe religious ministry (hence the English word deacon). In other words, an encounter with Jesus leads to new life and service to others.

Mt 8.17 quotes Is 53.4 from one of Isaiah’s Servant Songs, in which the prophet speaks of a figure who suffers to redeem his people. By this citation, Mt implies that Jesus’ ministry is not easy. It costs or will cost him. Jesus also makes it clear that there is a cost to following him for potential disciples. He tells the scribe that he will have nowhere to lay his head, and he tells another disciple to, “let the dead bury their own dead.” This may sound shocking and heartless, but in Jesus’ culture to bury one’s father was an idiom for caring for one’s aged parents until their deaths, which of course could potentially take years. Jesus is bluntly telling him that if wants to follow him, he does not have years. The scribe and the other disciple are sometimes called the “Would-Be Followers of Jesus,” but there is no indication in the text that they did not ultimately follow him. The scribe in particular seems well aware that following Jesus implies an itinerant lifestyle.