Jesus had just finished teaching his disciples at the mountains and when He came down great crowds followed Him. A Leper came to Him and knelt before him saying ‘Lord, if you want to, you can heal my body’. Jesus was not irritated, He did not withdraw, the bible says He stretched out His hand saying, ‘I want to, Be clean’! Such a compassionate man. Jesus demonstrated attitudes of compassion when He was on earth, we are going to see it shortly. So, the bible recorded that immediately his leprosy was cleansed, but in vs 4 Jesus said something to him; He said “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest along with the appropriate expression of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words will bear witness to what I have done.’’
Why did Jesus tell him not talk about this all over town but quietly go to the priest? I believe this is because Jesus has just started His ministry and did not want to draw to much attention to himself. He had a mission; he had an assignment, and that assignment was to die for you and I and he was aimed at keeping that mission on track.
He also told him to go show himself to the priest along with the appropriate expression of thanks to God, so he could be accepted into the society again.
As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a centurion man came up in a panic and said “Master, my servant is sick, He is in terrible pain. Jesus said I’ll come and heal him. “Oh, no” said the centurion man.” I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine”. Woa!!Hmmm. okay next paragraph pls lol
Jesus was taken aback with such statement. The centurion man exercised a high level of faith in Jesus. He trusted Jesus so much that he believed that Jesus did not have to go with him to his servant, he believed that if Jesus could only say the words his servant would be healed. Wao!! Jesus was even marvelled when He heard the centurion made such confession. At least at that time He had not seen anyone who exercised such faith in Him and His words.
There is a difference between trusting God for yourself and just knowing God on a casual level. Do you know Him for yourself, do you trust Jesus and believe His word over your life, or you just go with the flow of what people say about Him? Some people pray to God because it’s a normal thing to do, it’s not a conviction to them. The bible says when you pray unto God believe in your heart that you have received it and it will be yours. A lot of us do not know how to pray, we raise concerns to God Mark 11:24 ‘Therefore I tell you whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours’. Jesus did not say it will be yours immediately, He said it will be yours, whether now or later, its yours already.
One of the differences between the centurion and the people Jesus met at that time was that the centurion had believed in the words of Jesus even before meeting Him, he had settled it in his spirit that Jesus was able to heal his servant but to the others fear was more than faith. Most of them just knew Him as a healer, a lot of them did not believe in Him, they saw the works they did not see the person.
Isn’t it surprising how a lot of us are like this, we see the works, focus on the miracles that Jesus has done for us and not the man himself (Jesus)? Funny enough we just want what we can get from Him, e.g. You may be going through something challenging and have tried every possible way, but nothing changes and then you remembered prayer, you remembered Jesus. Its good you remembered to pray but are you convinced like the centurion man that when you pray, your prayers are going to be heard? Is there faith in your heart or is there fear?
Friends Jesus wants to be more than just a good God to you and I. He wants to be more than a father to us. He needs intimacy. He yearns for fellowship with us.
Culled by Eseosa.