Faith

Matthew 8.1-13

When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.’ He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Then Jesus said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’


When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralysed, in terrible distress.’ And he said to him, ‘I will come and cure him.’ The centurion answered, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man 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 him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.’ And the servant was healed in that hour.


Reflection

The stories of the leper and the Centurion show us faith in action. Notably, one might argue that neither man had reason to turn to the God of Israel, the God of Jesus. The leper suffered from a terrible illness; given human nature, it would have been just as likely for the leper to turn on God in anger and resentment. The centurion was a Roman, a foreigner with his own gods. Yet both men chose to take a risk, to place their trust in hopes in God that God might help them. Are we willing to overcome our doubts about what God can do in our lives, to have confidence in God? This Lent is the time to ask ourselves the question – and to pray for the strength to be able to answer ‘yes’!

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