Today's Scripture
TODAY’S READING SCHEDULE: 1 Kings 8 -9; Matthew 8:1 -17
Humility – Matthew 8:5-13
5 When Jesus went to Capernaum, a centurion approached, 6 pleading with him, “Lord, my servant is flat on his back at home, paralyzed, and his suffering is awful.”
7 Jesus responded, “I’ll come and heal him.”
8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I don’t deserve to have you come under my roof. Just say the word and my servant will be healed. 9 I’m a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and the servant does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was impressed and said to the people following him, “I say to you with all seriousness that even in Israel I haven’t found faith like this.11 I say to you that there are many who will come from east and west and sit down to eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.” 13 Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it will be done for you just as you have believed.” And his servant was healed that very moment.
What does this passage mean to me/us?
The centurion asking healing on behalf of his servant shows us true humility.
A centurion, who pledged allegiance to the Roman Empire and executing others who are against the Empire, is in front of Jesus calling him Lord. Furthermore, he pleads mercy on behalf of his servant. In the standards of the world, this does not make any sense.
The centurion might have to risk everything he had, by approaching Jesus in this manner.
That might be one of the reasons Jesus says, “he was impressed and said to the people following him, “I say to you with all seriousness that even in Israel I haven’t found faith like this” (Matthew 8:10).
Faith requires humility acknowledging Jesus is our true Lord. Is he truly my Lord?
Prayer
Lord, we want to love you and follow you faithfully. In the name of Jesus, we pray, AMEN.
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