“And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.”
So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them — he bent over her (epistās epanō autēs) communicates physical presence and attention — Luke's physician's eye for the bedside manner. The rebuking of the fever applies the same exorcism language to physical illness — fever, like the demon, is an enemy to be rebuked and expelled. She got up at once and began to wait on them: the immediate service is the response to healing throughout Luke.
Church Fathers on Luke 4:39
Luke having first introduced a man delivered from an evil spirit, goes on to relate the healing of a woman. For our Lord had come to heal each sex, and he ought first to be healed who was first created. Hence it is said, And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house.
For He honored His disciples by dwelling among them, and so making them the more zealous.
Now, see how Christ abides in the house of a poor man, suffering poverty of His own will for our sakes, that we might learn to visit the poor, and despise not the destitute and needy. It follows: And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever: and they besought him for her.
Read all 17 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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