Now when Jesus had come down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. A man with a skin disease came, kneeled before him, and said, “Lord, if you want, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do want to. Become clean.” Instantly his skin disease was cleansed. Jesus said to him, “Don’t say anything to anyone. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded. This will be a testimony to them.” When Jesus went to Capernaum, a centurion approached, pleading with him, “Lord, my servant is flat on his back at home, paralyzed, and his suffering is awful.” Jesus responded, “I’ll come and heal him.” 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. 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.” 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. 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. But the children of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.” 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. (Matthew 8:1-13, CEB)
Do we believe because we see?
“Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing.” I know that from The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2. We can see things and not believe them. I remember when I was younger David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear. I saw it on TV. But it didn’t actually disappear, it was an optical illusion. We can see things that are not true. But I believe in God and know that God is there for me. So God can and does do things that I don’t have to see to believe.
The centurion knew those under him listened to his orders and followed through on them. So he knew if Jesus said the word, his servant would be healed.
Do we have that faith? Or do we need to see it?
Know seeing isn’t everything. And faith is trusting in what you can not see.
Loving People. Loving God.
aSacredRebel 