I was fortunate in that I had a good mother-in-law. While I saw her quite often when my wife and I were courting, after our marriage we moved 1680 miles away (2690 km) for eight years, and almost any mother-in-law is good at that distance. Of course I’ve heard heaps of jokes about mothers-in-law, and I’ll tell one, but please note that it doesn’t apply to mine.
A man said, “I wouldn’t exactly say my mother-in-law was a witch, but she’d have made a good test pilot in a broom factory!” It makes you wonder why Adam and Eve were not content, even though neither of them had a mother-in-law. Yet there are plenty of good mothers-in-law in our society, and it is another one of those jobs that life hands you without an instruction manual.
![Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law [Providence Collection/Licensed from GoodSalt.com]](http://peterwade.com/wp-content/uploads/healing-peters-wife-mother2.jpg)
Providence Collection /Licensed from GoodSalt.com
In the next lesson from the Great Physician, a mother-in-law is healed. The record is found in Matthew 8, Mark 1 and Luke 4, and the term “mothers-in-law” is mentioned in only one other text in the New Testament (Luke 12:53). We are following Matthew’s record, and in previous posts we have learned that the first lesson is to Establish the Will of God for your healing (the leper), and the second is to Accept the Authority of God’s Word (the centurion’s servant).
Jesus and his disciples came out of the synagogue at Capernaum (see Mark and Luke) and entered Peter’s house. “And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever” (Matthew 8:14 ESV). So Peter was married! Mark and Luke tell us Jesus was immediately told the condition of Peter’s mother-in-law. Luke calls it a “high fever,” not a common cold or influenza. So before they even thought of eating or resting, Jesus went to where she was lying. Luke uses a word that suggests the fever came upon her suddenly and she probably collapsed onto the bedding.
“He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him” (Matthew 8:15). Mark records that Jesus took her by the hand and lifted her up, while Luke records that Jesus stood over her and rebuked the fever. Usually Jesus spoke to the condition as we have seen in the previous two incidents in Matthew 8, and I don’t believe there is a record where he prayed for the sick, but plenty where he healed them. The healing was instantaneous and complete, and Peter’s mother-in-law rose and began to minister to Jesus in gratitude and love.
The third lesson from the Great Physician is actually found in the events that follow later that evening. “That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took our illnesses and bore our diseases’” (Matthew 8:16-17).
Jesus “healed all who were sick,” and then we’re told why: “to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah” in Isaiah 53:4a, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…” A few scholars believe that the Matthew quotation “has no bearing on the doctrine of the atonement,” but I am one of the majority who see it as confirmation of the real meaning of Isaiah 53. Both salvation of the soul and healing of the body are included in the atonement provided by Jesus on the cross of Calvary, and both are confirmed by his resurrection of the dead. (See the book Bodily Healing in the Atonement [1930] by T.J. McCrossan, a Biblical languages’ professor and a Presbyterian minister. The book is still in print and is also available as an ebook.)
So it is our family right, purchased by the atonement of Jesus, to be saved and to be healed. It is not a capricious God who heals some and not others, for Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), and Peter said that Jesus was your “example, so that you might follow in his steps” (I Peter 2:21), and that same Jesus “healed all who were sick.”
Whenever I go to the local library, there are racks of leaflets on knowing your rights as a consumer, a renter, an aged person, and so on. There are government websites that tell their citizens what their rights are, and whom to contact if the government agency incorrectly determines our rights. Likewise, children of our loving heavenly Father need to know their rights as members of God’s forever family. If they don’t read the Word or say they don’t believe healing is for today, then it won’t work for them.
Everything that was made available in the atonement is yours, yet you need to flick the switch of faith to make it work in your life. Yes, you will still go to heaven if you don’t believe in divine healing, in God supplying all your need; in fact, you will get there quicker! So the third lesson we learn from the Great Physician flows in sequence with the first two lessons: 1. Establish the will of God, 2. Accept the authority of the Word, and 3. Recognize your family rights.
The Mother’s-inlaw teaching makes so much more sense to me today at. Easter. Thank you and blessings!
Glad to connect with you again, Peter. I found you about 16 years ago when I escaped from a cult. Recently found an old CD you sent me back then, which led me to your website. It was the realization of Christ in me and me in Him that helped me get out of the cult.
Yes, welcome back, Steve. I’m blessed that the truth delivered you. Thank you, Father.
I take it that when you mention ,”in fact, you will get there quicker!”, that you are talking about death. “You will still go to Heaven, in fact, you will get there quicker!” Please correct me if I am wrong. I am under the impression, that no one is in Heaven at the moment except The Lord Jesus Christ! When Christ Jesus returns, the dead in Christ, rise first, then those who are alive, suddenly, disappear and rise up to meet Jesus in the air in the twinkling of an eye as though they themselves, suddenly died. Then, is it not written, that after these things have passed, that “pray ye not be in the second resurrection”, which is the next occurrence, the raising of the dead of all the others, the judgement of those who are not in Christ. Therefore, no one, except Christ Jesus, is in a after life at the moment!
Yes, you’re right, Roman, I’m talking about getting to Heaven quicker. There are many Christians who believe they go straight to heaven when they die; there are others who believe in “soul sleep” until Christ returns. From the personal Christian viewpoint, your next waking moment after death will be in heaven, whichever of the various viewpoints you hold.
Me encanto y gracias x seguir compartiendo y me detuve en “activar el interruptor de la FE”
Sabemos o es mas fácil llenarnos de conocimiento (ue es fundamental para creer) pero cuando llegamos a ese interruptor no nos damos cuenta quizás como activarlo, gracias por seguir enseñando y dando luz a mi entendimiento.
Dios lo bendiga abundantemente
Thank you so much for sharing your work concerning the meaning of the word!