“On leaving the synagogue, Jesus went with James and John straight to the house of Simon and Andrew. Now Simon’s mother-in-law had gone to bed with fever, and they told him about her straightaway. He went to her, took her by the hand and helped her up. And the fever left her and she began to wait on them.” (Mark 1:29-31)
Today’s Gospel covers 24 hours in the life of Jesus in which he prays, preaches, heals and casts out demons, but it begins with something perhaps unexpected: he goes to Peter’s house.
After his arrival, he heals Peter’s mother-in-law, but he did not go to the house for that purpose: he is only told about her once he has arrived. Why would he “waste time” going to his friend’s house when he could have done some more preaching or exorcising or healing?
Jesus’s choice of how to use his time can help us avoid the temptation to constantly fill our timetable with work, even if it is good work that will help others, as his did.
Jesus chooses to take time with his friend Peter, which he could have spent doing more “useful” things.
The fact that Peter’s mother-in-law serves them a meal after he heals her seems to indicate that the original plan might have even been a dinner party!
We could even say that Jesus works this miracle of healing in order to make sure his planned time of rest and recreation goes as planned. Do we “work miracles” to protect our times of rest with our friends or family?
There are always times when rest must be interrupted by exceptional situations – such as in yesterday’s Gospel, when the crowds follow Jesus and the disciples as they retire to rest, with Jesus ending up teaching the multitudes at length (Mark 6:34) before the feeding of the five thousand.
But do we actually plan to rest, and see it as a virtue rather than an optional extra? Do we think our work is more important than that of Jesus himself, who took time to rest.
The example of the saints can help us realise that when we take legitimate rest, we are doing exactly what God wants of us.
The young St Dominic Savio was playing football with his friends when someone asked him what he would do if he knew he only had a short time to live; he paused, then replied: “I would carry on playing football.”
He realised that God is waiting to find us in the ordinary things of life – rest and recreation included.
Photo: Jesus and some of his disciples go fishing with nets, image circa 1754. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images.)