April 17, 2019

BIBLE READING: MATTHEW 8

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

The first reason I like this man is that he was genuinely concerned and compassionate for his “servant”. There are other stories in the Bible about men that were concerned about their son, their daughter, their family, their property, etc. This man, although he was the servant’s master, seemed to genuinely care for him. We should all be like that. Never should we think that we are above anyone else. We should always have a heart for others, no matter who they are. He seemed to have “TRUE COMPASSION”.

I noticed secondly that according to this passage, this man never really asked Jesus to heal his son. The Bible says he “beseeched” Jesus, that appears to be just to get his attention. He simply told Jesus of the need. It does not appear that this man was just trying to take advantage of Jesus. This man was not trying to boss Jesus around or act as if he felt entitled that Jesus should do something for him. He had “TRUE MOTIVES”.

He goes a step further when Jesus tells the man that he will come and heal his servant, the centurion said that he was unworthy that Jesus would even step foot into his house. That seems to be “TRUE HUMILITY”.

Then this man tells Jesus that he does not even need to come to his house. He said if you just speak the word right here, I know that you could heal him. Wow. He did not demand to see it done. This is what you call “TRUE FAITH”. In fact, Jesus called it “great faith”. Here is a man that was used to giving orders, and used to telling people what to do, and yet here he is humbled and simply believing Jesus because he was desperate. Jesus said that he had not seen a great faith like that in all of Israel. I wonder how that made his disciples feel? I will tell you one thing about this man; his servant was healed. It is amazing to see the miracles that will happen in your life when you have true compassion, true motives, true humility, and true faith. Maybe it is time for a “TRUE CHANGE”.