A Midsummer's Reflection Series

Saturday, June 13, 2026

Meditation 13: Mark 1:29-34

The Bedroom, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Arles, October 1888

The Gospel of Mark 1:29-34 presents a fuller account of what we find in Matthew 8:14-17, where Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, she serves Him, and others come into the home to have Jesus heal them. In this account, it is clear that not only Simon Peter, his wife, and mother-in-law were living in that house, but also Peter’s brother Andrew. Moreover, other of Jesus’ disciples were there, too, namely James and his brother John. So what we find, implicitly, is the hospitality of Peter and his wife, as well as of her mother, in opening their home to Peter’s brother Andrew such that the home was known as “their” home, “the house of Simon and Andrew” (1:29).  

Thus, the hospitality of Simon Peter and his wife, in letting Andrew live with them, prepared the way for welcoming Jesus, as well as James and John, into their home.

Once Jesus was present, and once Peter’s mother-in-law was healed, their home was open in a new way to multitudes of the sick and those who needed Jesus. This is inevitably what happens with us, as well. Our living the virtue of hospitality prepares us to be better disposed to welcome Jesus into our homes and into our lives. Once Jesus is with us, we, too, find that we are better positioned to help others through our prayer, our advice, and our acts of service, as well as in other ways. People are waiting for Jesus, and it is up to us to bring Jesus to others. Authentic evangelization is a part of Christian hospitality, and, at the same time, authentic Chrisitan hospitality is an important means of living out the Church’s evangelizing mission.  

Good and gracious God,

help us be Spirit-filled evangelizers who,

knowing Christ, bring Him to others. 

Dr. Jeffrey Morrow, Ph.D. is a professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and the Director of the St. Paul Studies Center at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He spent 15 years as a professor of theology at Seton Hall University’s Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. In his final year in that role, Dr. Morrow worked on the Preaching as Hospitality Formation Program, writing these reflections on Scripture through a lens of hospitality. 

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