Peter's Mother-in-Law

There's a story in Luke 4:38-39 in which Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law.

It's brief:

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 and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once
and began to wait on them.

I've always been slightly irritated by this story. This woman has been sick for who knows how long, Jesus comes over, heals her, and then she gets up and starts taking care of everybody....waiting on company immediately after recovering.

It bristles against my feminist leanings.

Men.

Always expecting us to take care of them.

I understand Peter's mother-in-law, now.

I woke up today feeling the tide turning in my typical, week-long suffering from chemo. I was still physically weak, but I had a mental alertness and an energized will to get out of bed and do things....anything. It had been a restless night of achy joints and inconsistent sleep, but I knew the worst was over. Instead of laying in bed, waiting for DH to get up with the kids and get them ready for school, as he has done during my bad days, I sprung out of bed and decided to make pancakes for everyone.

I felt well enough to be of service to someone else. I had a desire to care for my family because I haven't been able to when I have been in the depths of side effects. I wanted to wait on them out of gratitude and love for them.

So.....I won't read about Peter's mother-in-law with a haughty sneer any longer.

I get it.