After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. For I also am a man set 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 slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. (Luke 7:1-10 NRSV)
Have you ever prayed for something and not gotten it?
I think we all have. And someone has probably said to you, “well if your faith was stronger you would have gotten is.” And is that true?
We place a lot into our own faith, and the faith of others. As Lutherans we profess we are saved by grace through faith. It is because of our faith that we will make it to an eternity with God. But is is because of my faith?
We are saved by grace through faith. Grace is a gift from God and if it is a gift it can not depend upon how good our faith is. If it is really a gift from God it can not depend upon me or what I do or do not believe. It is a gift from God. Well yes but it is not just we are saved by grace, it is we are saved by grace through faith. Yes but is it our faith?
We are saved by grace through faith just like the faith of the soldier above, our faith is in knowing that things we were told would happen will happen. That the promises we have been given are real. The faith here is not ours but Jesus’. It is His faithfulness to follow through on the plan that was set forth.
So,let go of your faith and join the community around you in a communal faith given to usall through Jesus. And pray Our Father…
aSacredRebel 