"And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour."
The first part of today's lesson demonstrates how one must only have faith in Jesus Christ in order to receive the blessings we need, or desire. Jesus need not be present to work a miracle in our lives, we need only to put our faith in Him and ask.
As was noted in today's quote, simply because the centurion believed that Jesus was able, if asked to heal his servant, He would, and could do it. Jesus, acknowledging the faith of the centurion, did indeed heal his servant.
There are two separate lessons within today's quote. (It is important to note that the centurion was a Roman soldier, one who was probably hated among the Jews.)
The first lesson relates the healing of the centurion's servant, and the second is that the descendants of the Jewish forefathers would wholly reject Jesus Christ and would be replaced by the Gentiles and therefor would be "cast out" of the kingdom. Speaking of the faith of the centurion compared to the faith of the Jews, Jesus said, "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."~
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