Today we see a day in the life of Jesus when he is just beginning his public ministry. He meets Peter and goes to Peter’s where he finds the mother-in-law sick with a fever. With an attitude of service, Jesus immediately goes to her and cures her fever. She gets up, now cured of the fever and begins to service them. Service again. News of this spreads quickly and Jesus spends the evening and night attending to the sick. More service.
Come daybreak after the previous day’s service, Jesus takes some time to pray and reflect. Here we have Jesus staying in the house where he cured the mother-in-law and many neighbors in the town. I don’t know about you, but I would be tempted to stay there in that house and town. I am sure Peter’s mother-in-law out of gratitude would keep cooking for me and Peter would surely let me stay there. Many of the neighbors would have to same attitude toward me. If the mother-in-law isn’t such a good cook, I could get good food every day in a different house each day from the folks I had cured. I could just stay there – nice room, good food, and acclaim among all the neighbors. What a good life for me!
But we see that Jesus’ time in pray helped him refine his mission as a mission of service, universal service. He was fortified in that mission of service due to his prayer. He was able to decline the insistence of the crowd that he stay in that one town. He knew that his service was service not for himself, nor service for a small group. His service was announcing the Kingdom of God to all and the service of curing all those human and spiritual infirmities that come with being separated from the Kingdom or just from living in an imperfect world.
This is also the rhythm of our daily Christian lives: service – prayer – service.
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Image: “The Mighty Miracles of Jesus Healing of Simon Peter’s Mother-In-law” Osprey Observer online edition/2019/04/: public domain.