Responding to love

In tomorrow's gospel reading Jesus goes to Simon Peter's house after attending synagogue worship services in Capernaum. There he heals Peter's mother-in-law. The Rev. Barbara Beam, Vicar of St. Nicholas' Church, in Noel, Missouri has a first person sermon from the perspective of Peter's mother-in-law which says in part,

He took my hand. He smiled. He lifted me up. I forgot about my fever. I forgot about my aches and pains. I forgot that I was worried about Simon. I just wanted to do something for this man who had touched me in a way that no one had touched me before. I had to make some kind of response to his love. So I did what I best knew how to do. I got up and I served him; yes, and his friends, too.

The full sermon is well worth reading.