QT 29 Mar 17, Faith, Believing in God's power and God's care

Matthew 8:5–13 (ESV) — 5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

NOTE: This event was immediately following the Sermon on the Mount and prior to some controversies that Jesus would cause. It is probably one-third to one-half through Jesus' three year ministry. Jesus had already met with Samaritans, and possibly Gentiles, but the focus of his ministry has been the people of Israel. His response is interesting and one has to wonder if the Centurion was Jewish (an unlikely possibility since Jesus' statements that follow suggest his faith is not seen in Israel), or the servant was Jewish. Neither of these issues really matter, as the intent, by the context, is to show Jesus' authority. The physical presence was not required for healing. Jesus' word alone was powerful enough to heal without the necessity of proximity. This is not the healing power of an Elijah, but something much greater than Elijah, whose word alone could heal. Actually, Elijah healed Naaman without seeing him, but necessitated actions on him to demonstrate faith. In this case, Jesus alone heals. But Jesus doesn't heal all of our hurts and pains every time. Sometimes the answer is no, as Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus would later find out. What do we do when our prayers of faith are not answered? If we really have faith, then we would believe that God cares, and is working to bring good out of our situation, and that we can rejoice in our suffering. That is the definition of faith.