Ian Barclay's Thought For The Day

A CHRISTIAN LOOKS AT MATTHEW’S GOSPEL
The centurion and faith
Reading: Matthew 8:5-13 Click to view passage

We will spend another day looking at faith. Again you can see the three steps of faith. (i) Knowledge. This soldier comes to Jesus because he has somehow heard that Jesus can help his little page-boy (v6). By coming to Jesus at Capernaum he shows his (ii) Belief. There is certainly plenty of (iii) Trust in the words, “Just say the word,” (v8).

As we saw yesterday, people all over the world exercise common faith everyday. Imagine two men going down into Brighton late in the morning. One, realizing that he is hungry, says, “Look there is a Pizzeria over there.” Here is knowledge, somehow both men know that a Pizzeria can deal with hunger. They enter, it is early for lunch, so they are the only customers. The waiter gives them a plasticised menu with colourful pictures of Pizzas. Everything is there from a Margherita to a Marina. The waiter takes their order and in many ways this is an extraordinary act of Belief because there are no customers eating and there is no evidence of a kitchen. Both men now Trust as they sit and wait. Eventually their trust is rewarded when two freshly cooked pizzas arrive.

Meditation: What can I do to prepare myself to exercise faith?

Prayer pointer: I need help in dealing with the fallacy of the world that “seeing is believing.”

Matthew: 41