The gospel of Luke carefully records truth from eyewitness accounts of numerous historical citizens of the first century.
The following is a fictional representation continued from our previous episodes of eyewitness by one of Jesus’ first disciples.
Jesus continue to show His authority, not just over demons and spirits, but over flesh itself. We began to see the Messiah as a healer of our diseases, our sorrows, yes, even our sins.
Simon Peter was a leading local fisherman. He and his wife eked out a tenuous living dependant on the winds of the sea, a few small fishing boats and hand-repaired nets which might hold a more than meager catch from time to time. Like so many of us, family members lived near by or even in our homes.
One of these was Simon’s mother-in-law, a strong-willed woman mostly. But one day Simon’s wife sent word to him that her mother was very ill. Simon and his brother Andrew were with us in the synagogue, learning from Jesus as had quickly become our routine.
38 And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. 39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
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She was in obvious pain and barely conscious when we had arrived. Jesus looked at the frail old woman and spoke to her with authority, just like when He had commanded the demons out of the man in the synagogue. Immediately her fever left her body. Simon’s wife’s mother just sat up and immediately returned to her usual household routines.
Wherever Jesus went, people in town (and out-of-towners like us) quickly followed our Master from place to place. A buzz of witness of the good news quickly spread from house to house in Capernaum.
40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them…
Miracles! That’s the only explanation. Not just Peter’s mother-in-law, but several others witnessed by many of the town’s people. Miracle upon miracle. Jesus had authority and the power of God.
… And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”
Jesus had prayed about His mission and told us He would go south from Galilee to Judea. That was a longer trip. If we were to follow the Messiah Jesus, there would be few trips back home. It was a tough decision. Many of us joined Jesus for His journey to Jerusalem – dozens of us.
We just had to learn more about the Christ promised by God. We just had to follow Jesus as our Lord.
To be continued…
