Matthew 8
One man who came to ask help. of Jesus was a leper: he must have already known of Jesus’ great power and believed He was from God. for he called Him “Lord”: he said,
“Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.”
The leper knew what a dreadful diase he had, yet he believed Jesus could cure him, if He would. Was Jesus wilng? Yes, He was very willing; right away He said to the man,
“I will; be thou clean.” And the man was cured of the disease.
Then Jesus told the man to take a gift to the temple, as told in the law, that the men there, would know that such a great miracle had been done, as a leper cured.
There is something we all have, that is like the dreadful disease of the leper,—it is our sins; they make us unfit, or “unclean” for God. Jesus is just as able and willing to forgive, or cleanse us of our sins, as He was to cure the leper of his awful sores, if we believe Him as Lord and Saviour.
Another man who came to Jesus for help, was a captain; he is called a centurion, which means he had one hundred soldiers to direct. This man. had a serpant whom he liked very much, who was sick, but he believed Jesus was able to cure him, and he came to ask Him, and like the leper, called Jesus, “Lord.”
Jesus told the captain that He would go to his house and cure his servant. But the captain felt he was not good enough for the Lord to come to his house, and he asked Him to just speak the word to cure the servant, Jesus said to the captain,
“Go thy way, as thou hast believed so be it done unto thee.”
That captain was not of the nation of Israel, yet he believed Jesus’ power more than many who had heard more about Him, and Jesus was greatly pleased at his trust.
There was another Man who came to Jesus about this same time; he was a scribe, one who did writing, or copying, for then all such work was done by hand. This man may have copied the writings of the prophets about the One to be sent to earth by God, and so knew the promises well. Anyway he believed in Jesus as a great. person, and wanted to go with Him wherever He went. This was the awer of Jesus,
Does that not seem strange that One who was doing such good to all, had, Himself, no home, and still more strange, because that One had made all things, and was Lord over all. But Jesus did not claim a place for Himself when on earth, and was not always given a place, because some of the people did not like His true words.
ML 03/07/1943