This little pericope shows that the former two healings were not isolated cases. Jesus' power benefited many people who came to Peter's house after sundown ended the Sabbath and enabled the Jews to travel farther to obtain His help (cf. Exod. 20:10; Mark 3:1-5).
"The two-step progression is the most pervasive stylistic feature in the gospel. It occurs in phrases, sentences, pairs of sentences, and the structure of episodes. It is a key to understanding many lines and episodes. A simple example is, When it was evening, after the sun set. . . .' The time reference, When it was evening,' is repeated in after the sun set.' However, this is no mere repetition, for the second part adds precision and clarifies the first part. Both parts comprise a two-step progressive description. The first part is important, yet the emphasis often lies on the second step which usually contains the more significant element. In this example, the second step refers to the setting sun, which denoted precisely the end of the Sabbath when people were again permitted to travel and could therefore seek out Jesus for healing."53
"Jesus forces healing on no one. He does not seek people out to heal but heals only those who come to him. He initiates a healing only when he takes responsibility for healing on the Sabbath. And Jesus heals freely, with no strings attached to those healings. He does not demand that people believe he is the anointed one (none do) or even believe in the Jewish God. He does not require a person to be morally good . . . . Jesus does not expect to gain personally from healing, for he never asks anyone he heals to follow him. Usually he orders them, often harshly, to keep quiet or go home. They proclaim or follow on their own, and Jesus does not consider either action a condition for healing."54
Probably Jesus did not permit the demons to identify Him because this would have encouraged the people to think of Him as most of the Jews then thought of the Messiah. He wanted to avoid this stereotype as much as He could because it did not represent the type of Messiah He was. Notice the clear distinction between demon influence and mere physical illness (cf. 6:13).
This section of the Gospel (1:21-34) shows Jesus doing miracles to identify Himself as God's Servant and to authenticate His message (v. 15).
