CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE DAILY DEVOTIONAL ON YOUTUBE
Matthew 8:5-6
As we begin this next passage of Matthew 8:5-13, I want to break it down a little more and take it a verse or two at a time as there is much to be learned by this one passage. Today we will look at Matthew 8:5-6 and try to grasp what is happening in this one sentence (NKJV).
Up until this point in our study of the Gospel of Matthew, the teachings of Jesus have been primarily directed to the descendants of the Israelites/God’s chosen people as the “Sermon on the Mount” was directly related to the commandments that God gave to Moses but with a newly refreshed understanding of how the commandments should have been received by them, which is from the heart. But yet within the teachings of Jesus is the implied and to be understood inclusion of all people as we see in Matthew 5:38-48, which also includes having love for even your enemies. Why is this important, you might ask? Because the centurion who came to Jesus, pleading with Him for the well-being of his, “dreadfully tormented” servant (Matthew 8:6, NKJV) was a Roman soldier; a Gentile who, not being an Israelite, had faith in Jesus to heal his servant.
This is an example that the love of God in Christ Jesus is extended to all who will believe in Him.
The centurion in today’s Bible study was not someone who was considered to be included in the grace of God in the eyes of the community of the time in which Jesus physically walked the earth healing the sick and preaching the gospel. But this centurion possessed the one characteristic that God desires us all to have: he believed in the healing power of Jesus. But he had also reached a point in his life that had exhausted all his resources, he was hopeless in finding a cure for his servant, whom he must have treated properly as his love for his servant is clearly seen in his desperation to have him healed. When all his resources, which should have been many worthy resources from the life of a Roman centurion, were exhausted, he turned to the One who he must have known as the Healer – Jesus.
This is a pet-peeve of mine with God, even though God has given me understanding for why He works as He does, but it is most often when we turn to Jesus that we have tried everything else to no avail; we have exhausted our resources but have continued to come up short in the desired results we have received. I personally wish and pray that God would simply open our hearts and minds to the saving grace that He offers to each of us without having to fall so deeply into hopelessness before we get to that point. But God has to break the grasp of Satan on our lives and allow us to see that we cannot accomplish what God has for us by ourselves. We are stubborn and hard-headed, just as were the Israelites in the day of Moses as they wandered in the desert for forty years refusing to put their faith in God. We are no different; the sinful nature attacks us all in the same way and is a proven worthy attack of Satan to keep us blinded to the grace of God…until we fall flat on our faces with no hope but to finally turn to God. It is then that we become truly sincere in our efforts to seek God as we realize our need for Him and the salvation that He offers us in His One and only Son Jesus – just as did the centurion in today’s Bible passage.
Dear LORD,
As the centurion came to Jesus, pleading for help in healing for his faithful servant, we know that Your will is supreme and Your will does not always provide healing as we would desire. But we also know that Your way is best, and that in Your way is for us to have faith in You in seeking and following Your will for our lives in all situations as our understanding is limited in the vastness of Your strength and power and where You are desiring to lead us in bringing glory to You through our lives. Please give us understanding enough that we would put and keep our faith in the healing power of Jesus in seeking Your will for our lives. In Jesus name I pray, amen.