Grace To To The Powerful
Posted in boasting, centurion, filter, grace, Mike's Posts, power 0 comments
Matthew 8:5-13 tells of the faith of a centurion.
A centurion was a soldier in charge of 100 other soldiers. He comes to Jesus and has a servant who is paralyzed at home. Jesus agrees to heal him and is ready to go make the house call. The man says who he is and there is no need to come because Jesus can heal him from there. Jesus applauds his faith.
To the human eye, this centurion may have been many different things:
Arrogant, cocky, bossy - He was a man who was in charge. He told people where to go and for how long to go. He was used to bossing people around.
Needy - He sought Jesus out because he needed something that in all of his power and with all of his resourses, he could not provide.
Important, boastful, powerful - He was a man of power and comes off somewhat proud.
Ashamed - He didnt want Jesus in his house. We could argue as to why, but the question is: Why? Was there something there he didn't want Jesus to see? Was the situation so urgent that it had to be done NOW? Was it because the house was dirty? From the human eye, we wonder what it was and why he didn' want Jesus there.
But Jesus tells the story through grace.
He tells a different story that what we see. He tells of a man who has faith like he had never seen in all of Israel. He sees a man who was broken and at the end of his rope and needed picked up. He sees the need and the faith of the man and through grace heals the servant.
What a challenge in our life! May we also see people through Jesus' eyes, through a filter of grace.
A centurion was a soldier in charge of 100 other soldiers. He comes to Jesus and has a servant who is paralyzed at home. Jesus agrees to heal him and is ready to go make the house call. The man says who he is and there is no need to come because Jesus can heal him from there. Jesus applauds his faith.
To the human eye, this centurion may have been many different things:
Arrogant, cocky, bossy - He was a man who was in charge. He told people where to go and for how long to go. He was used to bossing people around.
Needy - He sought Jesus out because he needed something that in all of his power and with all of his resourses, he could not provide.
Important, boastful, powerful - He was a man of power and comes off somewhat proud.
Ashamed - He didnt want Jesus in his house. We could argue as to why, but the question is: Why? Was there something there he didn't want Jesus to see? Was the situation so urgent that it had to be done NOW? Was it because the house was dirty? From the human eye, we wonder what it was and why he didn' want Jesus there.
But Jesus tells the story through grace.
He tells a different story that what we see. He tells of a man who has faith like he had never seen in all of Israel. He sees a man who was broken and at the end of his rope and needed picked up. He sees the need and the faith of the man and through grace heals the servant.
What a challenge in our life! May we also see people through Jesus' eyes, through a filter of grace.
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