23/04/2024
FAITH THAT MARVELS
Matthew 8:5-13 NIV
[5] When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. [6] “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” [7] Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” [8] 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. [9] 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.” [10] When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. [11] 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. [12] But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” [13] Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
From this scripture we can see A centurion challenge those following Jesus,the subjects to Jesus. He was not an Israelite but a gentile. The response he gave Jesus made Jesus think what kind of Faith this guy had and he has many following him, they are with him all the time and they are subjects and they don't have such faith. He used the centurion to teach faith in those who seemed to follow him and yet they didn't believe.
There are people who God has given the opportunity to work for Him eg ushers, pastors, deacons,elders, instrumentalists and many more but what eats them is familiarity. Like the Israelites who followed Jesus they still don't believe in Him and most of them miss the blessings from God and someone comes from nowhere and gets the blessings. Then Jealousy puffs up between those who have been there for awhile and the one who got the blessings. This should be an eye opener for us. Let's tap the grace that has been made available.
Pst Humphrey Aliero
Encouraging Son.