7 Quick Takes 03FEB

Last night at the Young Adult Ministry we had group discussion on Mark 1:29-39 and my Quick Takes this week will be about that. From Bible Gateway, which is a site I really because you can easily switch between translations:

²⁹ And immediately after they came out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with ^[a]James and John. ³⁰ Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they *spoke to ^[b]Jesus about her. ³¹ And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she ^[c]waited on them.
 ³² When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed. ³³ And the whole city had gathered at the door. ³⁴ And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.
 ³⁵ In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. ³⁶ Simon and his companions searched for Him; ³⁷ they found Him, and *said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” ³⁸ He *said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may ^[d]preach there also; for that is what I came for.” ³⁹ And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, ^[e]preaching and casting out the demons.

1. The Greek word "diakonos" is used in verse 31 right after it says that the fever left her . In New American Standard and most other translations it is translated into English as "she waited on them." or "she served them". In the Douay Rheims translation it translated as "she ministered unto them". I thought was an interesting difference considering that while the word diakonos means one who serves its also the source of the words deacon and diaconate.
2. I thought the difference in translation was especially interesting when I found this website with this quote from the Venerable Bede: "Figuratively, Peter’s house is the Law, or the circumcision, his mother-in-law the synagogue, which is at it were the mother of the Church committed to Peter. She is in a fever, that is, she is sick of zealous hate, and persecutes the Church. The Lord touches her hand, when He turns her carnal works to spiritual uses."I know that site was a commentary from Matthew but its a commentary on the same miracle.
3. On a humorous note, all things in the Bible are interwoven together and I once heard a priest joke that the reason Peter denied Jesus three times was because He healed his mother-in-law.
4. I was reading an article in Catholic Exchange about the healing of Peter's mother-in-law which points out that in both Mark and Luke, Jesus teaches in the synagogues, heals Peter's mother-in-law and then goes back out to the synagogues. It seems to me that especially in light of the Venerable Bede's comment that this miracle is a sign of Christ healing and fulfilling the OT, establishing Peter as his vicar and then sending Peter and the other eleven out to minister and preach to the people.
5. The simple fact that this miracle was recorded in all of the Synoptic Gospels suggests that despite it has an importance that its brevity does not fully portray.
6. The fact that the mother-in-law served Jesus and the Apostles suggests that Peter's wife was perhaps already dead since it would have been her place to serve them.
7. I wonder what Peter's house would have looked like. He was doing well enough as a fisherman to have his own boat, maybe he had a nice house.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog