Today's Gospel in Art - Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever

Christ Healing Simon Peter's Mother-In-Law, by Rembrandt © Frick Collection, New York /Fondation Custodia

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 1st September 2021 - Luke 4:38-44

Leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. Leaning over her he rebuked the fever and it left her. And she immediately got up and began to wait on them.

At sunset all those who had friends suffering from diseases of one kind or another brought them to him, and laying his hands on each he cured them. Devils too came out of many people, howling, 'You are the Son of God.' But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.

When daylight came he left the house and made his way to a lonely place.

The crowds went to look for him, and when they had caught up with him they wanted to prevent him leaving them, but he answered, 'I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do.' And he continued his preaching in the synagogues of Judaea.

Reflection on the Drawing

When Rembrandt made his drawings, he usually focussed on the main protagonists of the story, excluding any additional figures or other distractions. He did this to fine-tune his craft of drawing the figures, studying their pose, their expressions, etc… The only 'additional' touches we can see in our drawing are just few lively strokes of brown ink to suggest the bed or blanket on which the woman reclines. Upon first glance, we may think that Rembrandt just used brown ink to make this drawing, but he actually used four materials to convey the subtleties he wanted: pen, ink, brown wash and white paint. It is the perfect blending of these four materials that make for a very gentle, captivating drawing.

Jesus is portrayed as a Jewish man in our drawing, and in the few sketchy lines, we do see the care Jesus has for Simon's mother-in-law as he cures her fever. He tenderly holds her hands. As with the other healing miracle stories, the Gospel reading today follows the same pattern: the illness is described, a setting is painted, Jesus heals and then the results of the action follow.

In our journeys of faith, all of us have been healed at various times. As it is the 1st of September and we come back from holidays, today can be a day where we reflect on how we can help with healing and serving in our own parishes by reaching out to the poor, visiting the sick, running courses, coaching sports activities for the youth, becoming a lector, server, eucharistic minister, etc…A myriad of possibilities that may well help or heal someone else close to us in our parishes.

LINKS

Today's story - https://christian.art/en/daily-gospel-reading/916
Christian Art - https:/www.christian.art