Wednesday of Week 22 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 | Psalm 32:12-15,20-21 | Luke 4:38-44
Leaning over her he rebuked the fever and it left her. (Luke 4:39)
Picture a child inspired by this passage to stand over her ill mother and loudly declaim: “BAD FEVER, BAD! GO AWAY!” I’d imagine the poor parent would be torn between a wry smile at such tender innocence…and a heartfelt plea: “Hush now, sweetie, not so loud. Mommy’s got a terrible headache!”
But just a few sentences later in today’s Gospel we read this:
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. (Luke 4:41)
I thought Luke’s multiple uses of “rebuke” to be rather odd, until I discovered that the word is used six different ways in translated scripture, according to the King James Dictionary. Today’s Gospel passage is therefore better understood as:
Leaning over her he [stopped] the fever and it left her.
and:
Devils too came out of many people, howling, ‘You are the Son of God.’ But he [silenced] them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.
So much meaning packed in a single word.
Lord God Almighty, we implore you:
rebuke (chide) us when we stray,
rebuke (restrain) Satan from turning us away from You,
rebuke (punish) us not in Your anger,
rebuke (silence) us when we spread falsehoods,
rebuke (heal) our physical and spiritual maladies,
rebuke (calm) our stormy passions and restless hearts,
so that we may be reunited with You at the end of days,
to sing your praises for ever. Amen.