Scripture · Mark 2:1-12
Matthew 8:14-17
Healing the Sick
When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever. So He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve Him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to Jesus, and He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”
Sick people and their companions crowd the steps and doorway around Jesus as one seated man reaches upward toward him.
About the artwork
Copping builds the scene around a single reaching figure without losing the people waiting nearby. Faces fill the doorway and bodies occupy different levels of the steps. Those changes of height allow a large gathering to remain readable, while the extended arm draws attention back to one person’s need.
Jesus stands on a higher step, yet bends down toward the man in front of Him. Nearby, a child sits with bare legs across the steps; behind the man, another figure holds a staff. The vertical crowd is made of bodies that cannot all approach in the same way. Jesus’ lowered posture closes one of those distances, making the busy gathering readable as an act of attention.
Featured in: Luke 4 in Art: The Temptation, the Hometown Sermon, and the Verses Worth Remembering
What does Matthew 8:14-17 mean?
Matthew 8:14–17 begins inside Peter’s house, where Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, and expands outward to the many people brought to him that evening. Matthew links these healings with Isaiah’s description of one who bears human infirmities. The movement is from one household to a wider gathering of need.
Copping’s crowded steps provide a visual setting for that expansion. A parallel account in Luke 4:40 emphasizes Jesus laying hands on each person. The image can be read with both accounts in view: the number of people matters, but the encounter at its center remains individual.
The waiting crowd and the reaching man give visual form to Matthew’s movement from a household healing to the many brought to Jesus at evening.
Sources
Original painting location unknown; historical book reproduction.
Luke 4 in Art: The Temptation, the Hometown Sermon, and the Verses Worth Remembering. Artwork reading adapted from this guide.
Matthew 8 — Berean Standard Bible. Context for Matthew 8:14-17.
Luke 4 — Berean Standard Bible. Parallel account of the evening healings in verses 38–41.
Also from Matthew:Marriage of the VirginThe Dream of Saint Joseph
Continue looking:God’s CreaturesThe Calling of Saint MatthewThe Angelus