Matthew 8:5-13
A Roman
Centurion Comes To Christ In
Faith
8:5
"And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came
to Him, imploring Him,
6 and saying, "Lord, my
servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully
tormented."
7 Jesus said to him, "I
will come and heal him."
8 But the centurion said,
"Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my
roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be
healed.
9 "For I also am a man
under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say
to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another,
'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!'
and he does it."
10 Now when Jesus heard
this, He marveled and said to those who were
following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found
such great faith with anyone in Israel.
11 "I say to you that many
will come from east and west, and recline at the
table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom
of heaven;
12 but the sons of the
kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness;
in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth."
13 And Jesus said to the
centurion, "Go; it shall be done for you as you
have believed." And the servant was healed that
very moment. "
Jesus Heals Peter's
Mother-In-Law
14 When Jesus came into
Peter's home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick
in bed with a fever.
15 He touched her hand,
and the fever left her; and she got up and waited
on Him.
16 When evening came, they
brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and
He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all
who were ill.
17 This was to fulfill
what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "HE
HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR
DISEASES."
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to change
the way that we think, and the way that we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
The Faith Of The
Centurion
The reason this Roman soldier
was called a centurion is because he was in charge
of 100 men whom he led into battle. Being a
centurion also meant that he was hated by the
people of Israel as were most Roman
soldiers.
Rome occupied the Jewish
nations at this time and were known for their
oppressive behavior toward the
Israelites.
This Soldier Was
Different
The centurion here was
different because he did not let known prejudices
stand in his way of showing faith toward Jesus. In
fact, his faith was so strong that Christ was
amazed and "marveled" at this humble
behavior.
Jesus knew that many of the
religious leaders did not even come close to
comparing to this Roman where faith was concerned.
Lastly, He told the crowd
that lack of faith would keep many of the religious
Jews out of the kingdom of heaven. In its simplest
form, they did not accept Christ as Savior because
tradition did not allow it.
But, how about us? Do we have
traditions embedded so deep that we can not take a
step to have faith in Christ? God works in His own
way and we must have enough faith to put away our
prejudices and habits to accept Him as
Lord.
Don't let a habit ruin your
relationship with God. Try and capture the faith of
the centurion.
Peter's
Mother-In-Law
This woman showed thanks to
Christ by waiting on him -- Something we sometimes
neglect is asking God what we can do for Him when
He helps us through difficult times or sickness.
Have you asked God what you can do? Have
I?
-
Love in Christ
- Bob
If you have never made the
commitment to receive the love and life-changing
experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to
go
here and take the
first
steps to salvation.
Another Bible Study Verse: Matthew
8:1-4 -
Jesus
Heals Leprosy
-
These passages
in Matthew tie in the miracle of healing leprosy to
Jesus' ability to forgive sins. Both are diseases
and, through Jesus Christ, both can be healed. Walk
through this Baptist lesson and see what the
Scripture reveals about sinning and how it is
forgiven.
Verses about healing the centurion are from
New American Standard Bible
Comments are welcome. Please email
me with any questions or comments you
may have.
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