By: Noah Barr

What Did Jesus Do?

³⁸ Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. ³⁹ So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. ⁴⁰ At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. ⁴¹ Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah. ⁴² At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. ⁴³ But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” ⁴⁴

        Jesus had been doing great miracles! Silencing the great demons, who had put fear in all the people, and healing people who were physically broken. The people were blown away by this man who had such power and who’s authority was authenticated by that power. What great thing was this man going to do next? Rise up as a political leader? Lead a rebellion against the current oppressors? Surely this man’s power and influence were enough to set Himself up as a king! The people were begging Him to stay with them. Just being with Him brought them a sense of peace and safety. What would Jesus do?

        “Jesus left the Synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them” (V.38-39). Jesus healed Peter’s own mother-in-law! She most likely would have been living with Peter and his wife. The sickness that Peter’s mother-in-law had was deadly. The high fever would have been a symptom of a more serious problem. It is quite possible that she was close to death.

        It is interesting that there is no great urgency on Peter’s part in asking the Lord to heal her. This may point to Peter’s own confidence that the Lord was able to cure her. Peter had seen miracles done by the Lord and, without a doubt, He could cure his dying mother-in-law. Peter’s confidence was in the right place as Jesus did heal her. James Edwards talks about this miracle in his commentary on Luke saying: “Luke portrays a saving-serving relationship between Jesus and the woman. The story begins with “Jesus arising from the Synagogue”, and it ends with the woman “arising to serve them”. The word for “serve” is the typical Greek word for Christian service in the NT. Peter’s mother-in-law is, literally, the first “deacon” in the church. Her value to the community derives from what Jesus has done for her; her service flows from Jesus’ prior service of her” (Edwards, Pg. 147).

        Following this wonderful healing, Jesus would heal many other desperate people (Lk. 4:40-41). More diseases were banished, more broken bones were mended, and demons had no option but to leave the people they infested. All of these things pointed to Jesus being the Messiah, but there was something else that was even more important that Jesus did that pointed to His glorious status.

        “At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (V.42-43). The people were adamant that Jesus had to stay with them. They were so persuaded that they most likely tried physically to hold Him to stay. Obviously, Jesus’ impact was great. Why not stay? Why not set up camp for a while? If the fish are biting why would you leave?

It seems very odd to me that people ask the question: what would Jesus do? Society tends to throw around that question in a more joking way, most of the time. Obviously, what society means by that is, what would Jesus do in the little decisions of life? “Jesus would give me at least half of that cookie…”, “Jesus would drive me to the mall on Saturday”. “Jesus would not have said that”. However, these statements have very little to do with what Jesus actually did. If we really look at the Bible and ask: “what would Jesus do?” The answers are quite unique. Jesus, above all, during His life, preached the gospel. If He went to a funeral, He brought the dead person back to life. If He came to a lake, He walked on it. If He was around Pharisees, He talked bad about them. If He preached in a Synagogue, many times, the people wanted to kill Him because of what He said. When people asked Him to stick around His reply was: “there are more people than just you” (Lk. 4:43, paraphrase).

Jesus had a strict mission. That was to preach the Gospel. It is interesting that He did not say He was sent to lead and take charge. He did not say that He came to bring social justice or provide for the poor, even though He did at times. However, the main mission was always preaching the Gospel. He would not only preach the Gospel, but fulfill the Gospel in His death and resurrection. Yet, even while the crowds were bustling about Him and speaking His name, He did not bask in the fame. He left it. He left each city in amazement (occasionally in anger as well). What is strange is that He did not leave a city in order to go heal all of the people in another city, but to preach to them!

The greatness of the miracles were secondary to Jesus’ mission to preach! Healing Peter’s mother-in-law was a secondary task in Jesus’ ministry. Healing hundreds of people in a day was secondary to preaching the Gospel. Indeed, if Jesus had only healed and didn’t preach, would the church even exist today? Jesus would have been known in history as a great healer but nothing more. Jesus had a message that had to be preached. The good news was far greater than healing. The good news, would save the soul.

        What would Jesus do? is not as helpful a question as what did Jesus do? Often what we think Jesus would do is actually very far from what He would have done. What did Jesus do? is a far better question for us. It is much better for us to know that Jesus died for sinners. It is a much greater truth to grasp that Christ’s death bought us and saved us from God’s holy wrath. Jesus stood in our place! He took our prison sentence. He took our lashes and He took our guilt. What did Jesus do? He has made those who trust in Him, His very own children (1 John 3:1).