Today’s Reading: Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-17
Out of faith came healing…
When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”
Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!…”
Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour. – Matthew 8:5-10, 13
No one would have expected a Roman officer to have faith in Jesus, yet his faith was strong enough to believe that Jesus could simply speak the healing into being. And that is what Jesus did.
HE TOOK THE FAITH OF A POWERFUL MAN AND DISPLAYED THE POWER OF AN OMNIPOTENT GOD.
Out of compassion came healing and then perhaps faith…
Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother. – Luke 7:11-15
There is no mention of the widow’s faith here; no mention of anyone requesting that Jesus bring this young man back from the dead. Yet Jesus, out of compassion, did something wonderful for this woman and her son, as well as for everyone else who was watching. Jesus gave this son back to his mother. If there was no faith on display before, there certainly was now.
HE TOOK THE SORROW OF A GRIEVING MOTHER AND DISPLAYED THE COMPASSION OF A LOVING GOD.
There are times when God does something wonderful for us because we ask, and there are times when God does something wonderful for us in spite of the fact that we do not ask. As a result of our faith, God moves, and in order to grow our faith, God moves. And out of this faith comes hope. And that is my prayer for all of us this year — that God would strengthen our faith and give us hope for what is ahead.
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. — Romans 15:13