Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-Law
Overview
- Testament: New
- Book: Matthew, Mark, Luke
- Chapters: Matthew 8:14–15; Mark 1:29–31; Luke 4:38–39
- Summary: Jesus enters Peter’s house in Capernaum and heals his mother-in-law of a great fever. She rises immediately and ministers to them. The healing is the first recorded miracle in a private home, signaling that Jesus’s power extends from the synagogue into the household.
Details
After healing the demoniac in the Capernaum synagogue (Mark 1:21–28), Jesus goes directly to the house of Simon (Peter) and Andrew. Peter’s mother-in-law is laid down with a serious fever — Luke, writing as a physician, notes it was a “great fever.” Jesus takes her by the hand (Matthew/Mark) and rebukes the fever (Luke, using the same word used for rebuking demons); she rises immediately and begins to serve (diakonein) them.
Several details are theologically significant. The immediacy — she “arose and ministered unto them” — is a mark of genuine healing in Jesus’s ministry: no recovery period, no convalescence. The fact that she serves immediately shows that the purpose of healing is restoration to active life, not merely the removal of illness. Luke’s use of “rebuke” for a physical fever connects bodily disease to the spiritual warfare Jesus is engaged in throughout this chapter.
The healing also confirms Peter’s personal connection to Jesus before the formal calling of the Twelve. Peter is already a disciple, already trusts Jesus enough to bring him into his household, and already has family members who will experience Jesus’s power. This domestic scene contrasts with the public synagogue miracle immediately before — Jesus heals in both settings with equal authority.
Key People
- Jesus Christ — healer; takes her hand or rebukes the fever
- Peter (Cephas) — householder; his mother-in-law is healed
Cross-References
- Capernaum — the city and setting of this miracle
- First Miracles — the broader cluster of early Galilean healings
- Mark — gives the most vivid account (Mark 1:29–31)