Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.
In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."
Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."
The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.
When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, 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."
Matthew 8:5-17
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Faith.
Where would we be without it?
Well, lost for one…and I think we all can relate to those times when we allowed life’s circumstances to make us feel helpless and maybe even hopeless.
Yes…if Satan wants to launch an attack on any of God’s children, he surely knows where to start. All he needs to do is try and take away our faith…and he’s made the necessary progress to start having his way with us.
As we look at today’s scripture, we find a centurion dealing with a matter that could have easily taken him to a point of giving up and surrendering to what he might have seen as irreversible.
At the center of his anguish was one of his servants who was at “home paralyzed and in terrible suffering”. No doubt hearing how Jesus had miraculously healed the afflicted, the centurion went to Him after He “had entered Capernaum”, asking for help.
Now this centurion had already shown faith just by going to Jesus, as did the leper who was healed earlier in chapter 8. Both had reasonable expectations already that Jesus could do what they needed done before they approached Him.
Interestingly enough, Jesus must have sensed the centurion’s faith in Him and so with no question or deliberation, He simply said, “I will go and heal him." Easy as that.
Or at least it seemed easy. But look at what the centurion does next. For he had just started to display the faith that the Lord honors and expects.
For as Jesus offers to go to the centurion’s home and heal his servant, look at what the centurion says:
"Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
The centurion was all too aware of what it was like to have authority. He was in command over countless soldiers. But the authority the centurion held paled in comparison to the power in Jesus…and the centurion was well aware of it.
How do we know this?
Because the centurion knew that Jesus could heal his servant by just speaking the command. There was no need to travel all the way to where the centurion lived. And further, notice the incredible humility shown by this man of military might. For he saw himself of unworthy to even have Jesus come under his roof.
Friends, do you get the connection here?
Humility breeds faith. For unless we adopt an humble attitude and see ourselves unworthy of having Jesus enter into our sinful homes, we will never fully realize our reliance and dependence on Him and thus our need for faith in all that He is and all that He can do.
The centurion can serve as a model for us all. For he believed that a miracle would be done just by a word spoken by Jesus. He didn’t need to go and see it take place. He knew it would happen because He had faith and trusted his Lord.
Back to the scriptures…for when Jesus heard the words of the centurion, “he was astonished” …so much so that He said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” And with that, He told the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would”…and that’s what happened for the “servant was healed at that very hour.”
Question: How strong is your faith in the One through which all things are possible?
Are you like Thomas who would not believe He was looking at the resurrected Jesus unless he could place his fingers where the nails had pierced Christ’s hands and put his hand in Christ’s side? (John 20:24-29)
Or are you like the centurion who knew and believed in the awesome power of Jesus, trusting that just the mere words of His mouth could bring about healing and transformation and salvation?
Jesus has told us who He favors…the centurion…the one who displayed great faith. We should all follow suit.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment