9 Dec 2014
Matthew 8:8-12
Matthew 8:8: “The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus is impressed at the faith of this Gentile, who believed that all Jesus had to do to heal his sick servant was say the word. This sort of faith could not be found among the Jews, but it did exist among the Gentiles.
Jesus warned the Jews that a great many Gentiles would enter the Kingdom and sit down with the Jewish fathers, but many Jews would be cast out and lost. Why would this happen? Because the Gentiles had faith and the Jews did not. Or – to put it another way – the Gentiles had faith in Jesus while the Jews had faith in their ancestry.
To this day that has not really changed, but it won’t always be like this. The apostle Paul tells us that one day the Jews will lose their blindness to the truth and will be saved. That day has not arrived yet, but it is coming.