Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of Proper 22: Year 2
Morning, Psalms 121, 122 and 123; Evening, Psalms, 124, 125 and 126;
Micah 1:1to 9; Acts 23:12 to 24; Luke 7:1 to 17
“When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” (Luke 7:9)
Here is yet another example of Jesus raising our awareness of the faith of non-Israelites. In this case, it is the Gentile centurion who values his relationship with his slave (which the same Greek word also means servant), so much that he seeks out Jesus to save his servant’s life.
This Gentile centurion models the understanding that we Christians should have; that is, we do not have to have the physical Jesus under our roof to do the healing. We too, like the centurion, must believe that if Jesus just says the word, regardless of where he physically is, His healing will be done.
My beloved people of faith, you who are true believers, you must find a still, quiet place in your homes and in your hearts and quietly, and intentionally, ask our Lord Jesus to just say the healing words for the one you love who is in trouble. When you do this, I have found that relief often comes in one of two ways. First, human responders arrive who have been sent by God to fix the situation. Second, the situation “seems” to just resolve itself. Both are born of our Lord Jesus. But we must have the faith of this centurion. As I have said before, Jesus uses the faith in us to heal us or those we love. It is astonishing to me that the cure is already in me but I can’t make use of it. Faith is like a first-aid kit on a military person’s belt. One might think he or she has the first-aid kit in case they have to use it on someone they find who is injured. But no, you have that first-aid kit in case you yourself are wounded, whoever finds you will use your first-aid kit to assist you. Therefore, it is so important that you examine the kit often to make sure it contains all that is necessary in case you are in need of it. The same is true with our faith.
Jesus is the one who finds us broken but then uses our “faith-aid” kit to heal us or those we love. Our Lord Jesus has been doing this remotely, as far back as two thousand years ago. How about this for remote healing?; and these people back in antiquity never heard of cancer or COVID. Our God is amazing! Thank You Lord Jesus.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools. And, as we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray:
Most Holy Lord Jesus, through whose words all things came into being, we pray that you still use your healing words where we need them. We need your words as protection against storms, against disease, against racial and cultural divides, against mental illness and against hatred. Come inside us Lord Christ and use our faith in you to heal our sad situations. Amen.
onewhoponders 