Blackrook
Diamond Member
- Jun 20, 2014
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The centurion approached Jesus and asked him to cure his sick servant:
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. 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. 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. 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.
Matthew 8:5-13
There's a lot of stuff packed into this short story, and it would take days to unpack it all.
The reason I like the story is because it demonstrates that salvation is for EVERYONE who has faith in Christ, and is not limited to one people, or one group of people.
The Roman centurion is a man who would be the last the Jews would suspect could be saved. And yet, this gentile, who believed he was unworthy of Jesus visiting him, believed in Jesus so thoroughly that he said all he needed was Jesus' command and his servant would be healed.
What the story foretells is that while many Jews would reject Jesus' message, his message would go out among the gentiles, and throughout the Roman Empire.
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. 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. 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. 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.
Matthew 8:5-13
There's a lot of stuff packed into this short story, and it would take days to unpack it all.
The reason I like the story is because it demonstrates that salvation is for EVERYONE who has faith in Christ, and is not limited to one people, or one group of people.
The Roman centurion is a man who would be the last the Jews would suspect could be saved. And yet, this gentile, who believed he was unworthy of Jesus visiting him, believed in Jesus so thoroughly that he said all he needed was Jesus' command and his servant would be healed.
What the story foretells is that while many Jews would reject Jesus' message, his message would go out among the gentiles, and throughout the Roman Empire.
