Simon's wife's mother - See on Matthew 8:14-17 (note). As soon as Peter began to follow Christ, his family began to benefit by it. It is always profitable to contract an acquaintance with good men. One person full of faith and prayer may be the means of drawing down innumerable blessings on his family and acquaintance. Every person who knows the virtue and authority of Christ should earnestly seek his grace in behalf of all the spiritually diseased in his household; nor can he seek the aid of Christ in vain.

he.

Matthew 8:14,15 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever...

Mark 1:29-31 And immediately, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John...

1 Corinthians 9:5 Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

they.

Luke 7:3,4 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent to him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant...

Matthew 15:23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and sought him, saying, Send her away; for she cries after us.

John 11:3,22 Therefore his sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick...

James 5:14,15 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him...

Private Prayer, and Public Worship.
"And, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day."--ST. LUKE iv. 16. "He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there He prayed."--ST. MARK i. 35. These two texts set before us our Saviour's habit in regard to public and private spiritual exercise; and they suggest to us the question, What have we, on our part, to say of these two elements in our own life? These texts, we bear in mind, represent not something casual or intermittent in the life of our Lord. They …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

His Training.
WITH the exception of these few but significant hints, the youth of Jesus, and the preparation for his public ministry, are enshrined in mysterious silence. But we know the outward condition and circumstances under which he grew up; and these furnish no explanation for the astounding results, without the admission of the supernatural and divine element in his life. He grew up among a people seldom and only contemptuously named by the ancient classics, and subjected at the time to the yoke of a foreign …
Philip Schaff—The Person of Christ

Standing with the People
We have found two simple and axiomatic social principles in the fundamental convictions of Jesus: The sacredness of life and personality, and the spiritual solidarity of men. Now confront a mind mastered by these convictions with the actual conditions of society, with the contempt for life and the denial of social obligation existing, and how will he react? How will he see the duty of the strong, and his own duty? DAILY READINGS First Day: The Social Platform of Jesus And he came to Nazareth, where …
Walter Rauschenbusch—The Social Principles of Jesus