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Gospel Reading for September 16, 2024 – Luke 7: 1-10
CONVICTION
When Jesus had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, “He deserves to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.” And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord do not trouble yoursellf, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
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In the gospel reading, the centurion is asking Jesus to save the life of his slave who is very valuable to him. Meaning, the SLAVE has acquired a VALUE, so much more than just a PRICE. He probably realized how much he would be losing if his slave died, that even with such stature as an officer of the Roman Army having 100 soldiers under him, he had to ask friends to approach Jesus who was famous for his healing powers, to request for the healing of his slave. His friends convinced Jesus that the centurion deserved to be helped by describing the good works of the centurion. But, it wasn’t his good works that convinced Jesus, because as described in Matthew 5: 45 – “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” It was because the centurion’s faith had CONVICTION. He was so sure that even just the Word of Jesus was enough to heal his slave. Jesus need not enter his house.
It is important for our faith to be akin to a TEETER TOTTER that can never be in balance because one side is always being pulled in a stronger direction. The only way for the teeter totter to be in balance is when there is no motion, or a person standing in the middle doing nothing. CONVICTION is what will pull us in a stronger direction. Our faith cannot be in a balance. It cannot be MOTIONLESS.
My help comes from you, O Lord, the maker of heaven and earth! (Psalm 121)
