Friday, March 3, 2023 – Luke 7:1-17
“When Jesus heard this, he was amazed” (Luke 7:9).
What makes Jesus amazed? Is it the things we do? Is it how much money we make? Is it the title of our job? Is it how we raised our kids? Is it how clean our house is? Is it how much we read the Bible? What makes Jesus amazed?
It is not the things we questioned above, it is our faith. Jesus was amazed at the officer’s faith in who Jesus was and what Jesus could do. The officer went to Jesus and made a request that one of his highly valued slaves be restored to full health. In making this request to Jesus, he did so by recognizing that Jesus had the power of God which meant he did not have to touch him, speak to him, or go and see him. Jesus had the power of God to heal at that moment from where he was.
In many other miracles in the Gospels we see people coming to Jesus, bringing their loved ones to be touched by him… but this officer knew all it would take is Jesus’ will to heal his slave. He made his request, and then let Jesus do the rest.
When you make a request to Jesus, do you fully give it to Jesus? Or do you hold on to it trying to still maintain even a little bit of control? Earlier this year in January, I got married. It was a beautiful day and my husband, and I felt so celebrated, loved, and encouraged. However, this passage strikes me as I think about the planning and preparation that led to our wedding day.
My biggest prayer leading into our wedding day was that God was present and that our marriage would honor and celebrate his love and covenant with us. I prayed this, but I still held on to control of so many details that even if I'd wanted to be able to control – I couldn’t. Like whether my husband cried when he saw me for the first time; how much fun our dance floor would be… that everything would run on time and run smoothly. Ultimately, these are valid things, but also at the end of the day, our number one prayer was that God was present and that God was glorified.
I could have saved myself a lot of stress and my husband and me from small bickering moments if I could have truly released the request to Jesus. I could have requested this and trusted that God would be present regardless of those minor details and how the day was going to run. Because of course, God was going to be present and of course, our day was going to glorify God whether David teared up or not. God was going to be present even if we were not perfectly on time all day.
Looking back, I wish could have had faith like the officer and I hope I can learn from this going forward. It doesn’t take being on time or a big dance floor to amaze Jesus, rather it takes trust and total faith in who God is and what God can do.
Questions for reflection:
- Has there ever been a moment in your faith where you think Jesus was amazed? Reflect on what made that moment impactful.
- Is there something in your life that you are trying to give to Jesus while simultaneously holding onto right now?