This past weekend I was down with an illness. Nothing life-threatening, but it had me up two nights in a row. To tell you the truth, I feel like I’ve been through the wringer.
But as the sickness cleared up, I felt grateful for the relief. Yet I also felt very unmotivated to return to work. I had spent most of my convalescence sleeping away the day on the couch, trying not to feel miserable. Part of me was loath to leave the comforts of home.
Then I began to reflect on the Gospel story of Simon’s Mother-in-Law. For those unfamiliar, here is what is presented in the Gospel of Mark:
“On leaving the synagogue he 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 raised her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them.” (Mark 1:29-31)
I don’t know about you, but when I am sick, I pray to to God quite often to get me through it all. Jesus is the God of all healing, so it is right that we bring to him all of our cares, especially our illnesses. Of all the miracles Jesus performs in the Gospels, the ones that are most common are healing miracles. This makes sense to us, since very little else matters to us when we lose our health. Life stops and in a sense it doesn’t start up again until we are better. Through my sleepless nights, I called upon the Lord.
As I wrote, there are many healing stories in the Gospels. But what is striking about this story is what Jesus does and the reaction of Simon’s mother-in-law. It says that he “raised her up.” In the early Christian world, the phrase “to be raised up,” was synonymous with the being saved by Jesus. Jesus’ physical healing is a foreshadowing of the greater spiritual healing that he brings.
But then it says that she “waited on them.” The Greek word for what she is doing is diakonia. In my previous article, we pointed out how this could me being an envoy or ambassador. But there is a simpler meaning that fits this context which means “to wait at table.” Simon’s mother-in-law began to serve Jesus and the others in the house.
The insight of this story is that this should be the universal experience of all Christians: we are saved and then we serve.
We can do nothing without the saving power of Christ. We are powerless, just as Simon’s mother-in-law was. But once His saving power comes and heals our souls, we must then put that spiritual health to the service of others in His name, so that they too can receive the healing that can only come from Him.
I was reflecting on this as health slowly returned to me this weekend. I could have been lazy and called off for another day. And if I was truly still sick, I would have done so. But since God had been gracious enough to heal me, I had to remind my lazy bones that He is healing me so that I can serve.
Yesterday, Pier Giorgio Frassati was canonized a saint. He once stated, “What wealth it is to be in good health, as we are! But we have the duty of putting our health at the service of those who do not have it. To act otherwise would be to betray that gift of God.” St. Pier Giorgio understood that once we have been raised up, we must serve. Our health, like all things, is a gift from God. God gives us this gift so that we can do His work on Earth. If he allows us illness, it is also for our ultimate good. But if you are like me, I notice my health (or lack thereof) mostly when I am sick and not when I am health, when I am feeling ill and not when I am feeling normal.
But to take on the mind of a saint like Pier Giorgio or to behave as Simon’s mother-in-law, we must as much as possible, be in a state of thankfulness for the health that we do have. And we must use that health to serve God’s people.
And we must do so until that great and final day of healing when Christ comes again.
Copyright 2025, WL Grayson
W.L. Grayson
I am a devoutly Catholic theology teacher who loves a popular culture that often, quite frankly, hates me. I grew up absorbing every movie, TV show, comic book, science fiction novel, etc. I could find. As of today I’ve watched over 2100 movies and tv shows. They take up a huge part of my life. I don’t know that this is a good thing, but it has given me a common vocabulary to draw from in order to illustrate whatever theological point I make in class. I’ve used American Pie the song to explain the Book of Revelation (I’ll post on this some time later) and American Pie the movie to help explain Eucharist (don’t ask). The point is that the popular culture is popular for a reason. It is woven into the fabric of our lives and imaginations, for good or ill. In this blog I will attempt to bring together the things of heaven with the things of earth. Of course this goal may be too lofty for someone like me.
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