The faith par beyond His followers!

 

Truly I tell you, with no one in Israel I have found this Faith! ( Mathew 8:10)

Interestingly Jesus was replying this not to his beloved desciple or the people who heard his sermon of mountain, but to a centurion of Israel, who came to Jesus with the appeal to heal his servant. We can symbolise this centurion to the modern day Police officer or business man or a team leader or a political leader. Atleast for some desciples who claim to be always accompanying Jesus, this centurion might not be as acceptable as a believer or a man with faith, since he does not follow Jesus, where you expect him to. But, even if the outside world does not appreciate your faith since you may not seem to be present in the gatherings  where other disciples expect your presence, your personal faith,Christian disciplines and deep devotion in Lord are the most valued credits before Jesus. 

It remind me the words of Jesus' beloved desciple John :- "Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” ( Mark 6:38)

 Jesus' reply to him made him realise that folks of Jesus were not just the group which claimed to follow him, but was beyond the humanly drawn territories. Lord replied him not to stop him and warned them that,  whoever is not against us is for us. Before the Lord there are no gentiles and Israelites..all are one under an umbrella of salvation with faith in Him. 

You need not be a desciple counted among the twelve to have faith beyond your peers, but its the deep, overpouring trust you have in the Messiah, which makes your faith acceptable before Him. And all whom you find to follow Lord need not have the faith which He demands from you, but most importantly we are not to judge others , but recheck ourselves every day , the depts of our faith in Lord!

In Mathew 8: v 10-12 Jesus replies :" many will come from east , west, and sit in the Kingdom of heaven while the sons of the Kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness".   

At any point of time, if we are puffed up with the feeling that you are the sons of the kingdom of God and we begin to take faith and Christian disciplines lightly, remember the Centurion and the words of Jesus!!! 

But stay delighted if you are just like the centurion, who is strong in his personal faith.  Remember your Lord values your faith, even if your peer donot! 

Dr. Sanoop Kumar Sherin Sabu, MBBS, (M.D Gen. Med.)

19-02-2021