With a Thankful Heart 

(our theme for November)

Luke 7: 1 -10 

After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of people, he entered Capernaum.  A centurion there had a servant whom he valued highly and was close to death.  When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.  When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.”  And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you.  But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me, and I say to one, ‘Go’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this’ and the slave does it.”  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.”  When those sent returned to the house, they found the servant in good health.

Clearly, the centurion understood that Jesus held the ultimate authority.  While it was also known the centurion had a significant degree of power in Capernaum, it paled when compared to that of Christ.  That also rings true today, as Jesus said, “I am the alpha and the omega.”

Personally, within the last year I had good reason to pray when my wife suffered tremendous abdominal pain.  When urged to go to the ER, she refused.  It turned out to be the weekend and the next day she relented and agreed to go to the clinic.  She was not there long, when she was sent off to the ER anyway. Fortunately it was an early Saturday morning, the ER was empty and she was evaluated quickly.  Just as quickly she was given a shot of morphine and was taken away as the door locked behind her.

Turns out she had lifesaving abdominal surgery.  To that time she had lived with a congenital defect which resulted in her ascending colon collapsing upon itself.  It could have happened anytime before our marriage.  It could have happened when she was at work, the gym, on a cruise, overseas on vacation.  The list goes on, but it did happen.

It just so happened that a highly skilled surgeon was on call at Blount Memorial Hospital, along with an equally skilled anesthesiologist, incredible operating room nurses and support staff.  She had outstanding post operative care and made a swift recovery, as I prayed.  

That same Jesus that was at Capernaum hears our prayers today.  He loves us.  He commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  He commands us to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul and all your mind.  It is something we can all do and walk a closer walk with Jesus.  He walked the walk to Capernaum, but was stopped in his tracks by the faith of the centurion.  I am sure we can all do likewise.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son Jesus to be your messenger, to teach us.  Not only did you send him, but you sent a helper too, the Holy Spirit.  Fill us with your Holy Spirit to have the faith of the centurion and give us determination to walk the walk that Jesus would have us walk.

Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Sam Barto.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life. 

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org. 

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.