<p>4:39 <i>And he stood over her and rebuked the fever; and it left her-</i> Also the language of the day, because illness was understood as having to go somewhere when it was healed.</p><p><i>And immediately she rose up and served them</i>-&nbsp; Her response to her healing was to serve the Lord and His people. This should be the underlying motive why we ask for healing and good health- so that we can serve. And our response to the Lord&rsquo;s touching of us can never be passive- it involves some level of active serving. Perhaps the use of&nbsp;<i>diakoneo</i>&nbsp;looks forward to the office and practice of women being deacons, ministers, in the early church. For the church of any age is to be an extension of the men and women who followed the Lord Jesus in Galilee.&nbsp; There was a Rabbinic prohibition of women serving men at table, so this is yet another instance of the Lord and His people being driven by their desire to respond to God's grace to breaking accepted social norms about gender.</p>