(Please read the Scripture passages first, before the homily.)
Does it sound sexist to you that right after Jesus cured Peter’s mother-in-law, she had to get up to wait on them? It could, but it probably was not sexist. The fact that the woman got up that day and resumed her usual activities was a sign that she had been cured. A person still sick would have spent the day in bed as usual.
When Jesus cured people, he often asked them if they wanted to be cured. He gave them the choice, to be cured and take full responsibility for their life by getting a job and doing the things healthy people or to remain needy and have other people take care of them. Peter’s mother-in-law was cured and resumed her daily activities. It takes less effort for a sick person to remain sick than to get well and have to resume normal responsibilities.
It would have been easy for Jesus to remain at Peter’s house since everyone was looking for him. Jesus, however, needed the freedom to do his job, to travel throughout the whole of Galilee. The people of Capernaum needed healing from their total dependence on someone else to provide for them. Unlike the mother-in-law, they did not seem to want cured of their laziness.
Jesus’ mission was to travel and call all peoples to repentance and the forgiveness of their sins so that they could grow as God wanted them to grow.
Receiving forgiveness of our sins is a healing that demands that we take control of our lives and not rely on someone else to take care of us. We are the mother-in-law. We are the ones with the various diseases. We are the ones for whom Jesus has come. We have the ones who have to take responsibility for ourselves and take control of our normal duties. This is how we show that we really desire forgiveness and healing.