1:29–34 In this episode Jesus is shown healing a particular person, Peter’s mother-in-law, which seems to illustrate and document the summary reference to Jesus’ healing miracles in 1:32–34. The disciples mentioned with Jesus, Simon (later called Peter, 3:16), Andrew, James, and John, are the same ones already named in 1:16–20 and are all from Capernaum; mentioning them by name in this very specific and homey account gives the scene a certain realism.

We are probably intended to see in the simplicity of Jesus’ healing action, his merely taking the woman by the hand, another indication of Jesus’ power and authority—this time in the face of illness. Her response is probably intended by Mark as illustrative of the proper resp…