Title (Wood) The Centurion Who Became an Umbrella
Contents
Hymn: 342 (New Hymn No. 543) 'When you are in trouble'
Meditation: Are you an umbrella for those in need?
Confession of Faith: Apostles' Creed
Text: "Jesus said to the centurions, "Go, let it be according to your faith." And immediately the servant was healed..." (Matthew 8:5-13)
When David is on the brink of death due to King Saul's envy, his friend Jonathan is an umbrella for David to escape from danger. Also, Barnabas became Paul's umbrella. Paul's real name was Saul. He was a Jew and had been involved in harassing and killing people who believed in Jesus.
However, after being changed by God's grace, I tried to hang out with my fellow Christians, but people did not believe me. The person who became an umbrella at that time was Barnabas.
In this text, you can meet one person. A Roman centurion. He came to Jesus with a problem, not his own, but a problem that a servant in his house was ill. In Jesus' day, slaves were treated like objects. But the centurion did not treat his slaves that way. There are many reasons why this happened, but what is clear is that the slave must have been a necessary servant for the centurion and must have been his beloved servant. In fact, we do not see the servant suffering from disease, but rather struggling to stop the rain.
Jesus is God. Because He is God, He is a God with the power to solve any problems that humans have. Today, the Roman centurion came to Jesus with faith in God.
What kind of image did Jesus see of the centurion and do the work of healing? The first is the correct confession of faith. In verse 6, the centurion confesses, “Lord.” In fact, for the centurion, the 'lord' is the emperor. Nevertheless, the centurion confessed that Jesus was “Lord”. This is where miracles and salvation took place.
The second is faith in the power of Jesus. The centurion acknowledges the Lord's authority by saying, "Speak only to me" (verse 8) when Jesus was about to heal him.
Third, they knew the mission of Jesus as the Messiah. He says that he also has servants (verse 9). The centurion recognizes the Lord as the Messiah by linking the ministry of Jesus to his ministry. When Jesus saw the centurion, he said, “I have never seen such great faith” (verse 10).
Prayer: Loving Heavenly Father, help me to experience the power of God through beautiful faith in Jesus as my Savior. I pray in Jesus name. Amen,
Lord's Prayer