Matthew 8:10-13

Matthew 8:10-13

And after Jesus heard, He marveled and He said to the ones who followed, “Amen, I say to you all.  In Israel I found no one with this degree of faith!  And I say to you all that many from the east and west will come and they will recline to eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness.  In that place there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”  And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go.  Let it become as you believed.”  And the personal slave was being healed in that hour. 

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Jesus offers a great compliment to this centurion.  Jesus lifts up this man and indicates that He has never experienced anyone with the level of faith that can be found in this centurion.  Imagine receiving such a compliment from the mouth of the Son of God.  Indeed, there are few higher compliments that a human can receive from God.  If we want something to imitate we can find it readily in this passage.  The centurion didn’t need God to manifest Himself personally in his own home or presence.  The centurion didn’t need to see Jesus do some mystical incantation or perform some magical gesture.  The centurion just needed to hear God affirm that something would be done and that was enough for him!

How often are you content just hearing God’s promise?  Do you ever get angry at God because you want a physical manifestation instead of His Word as promise?

Second Thought:

In the same act, Jesus offers up a scathing critique of the Jewish nation!  Jesus has just taken a Gentile and declared that this Gentile has more faith than anyone that He’s met in Israel!  Can you imagine being in the crowd and hearing this?  However, remember that the centurion was the backbone of the Roman occupational force.  They were hated by the typical Jew.  Jesus didn’t just take any Gentile; Jesus took the iconic representation of the enemy of the Jewish people and lifted him up with an incredible compliment.  Jesus is not making friends in this story.  Jesus is giving the people around Him every reason to realize that He is not aligning with traditional Judaism and the political climate of His day.  Jesus is telling them that God’s method of viewing the world does not match up with the typical human evaluation – even the evaluation of God’s chosen nation!

Would you have the guts to do what Jesus does here?  Do you have the ability to look into those who are often outcasts or disliked by the general populous and see something redeeming in them?

Third Thought:

Then, Jesus makes His point rather clearly.  Jesus uses a very common analogy among the Jews who look forward to the coming of the Messiah.  You can see this image quite vividly in Isaiah 25:6-9.  Jesus speaks about the great banquet in the day of the Lord.  But look at what Jesus says.  Jesus says that the sons of the kingdom – the chosen ones, if you will – will be cast out into the darkness.  In their place, people from the east and the west – the rest of the world, if you will – will come into the banquet.  Again, Jesus makes His point.  God’s means of evaluation, measuring, and judging people is vastly different that the means employed by the world.  God will evaluate people based upon their own faith and faithfulness rather than a biological connection to a centuries-dead man of faith.

Why is it important to you that God’s means of judging is based on faith and faithfulness?  do you think this is an easily accepted message or a message with which some struggle?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 8:14-17