Day 24 of 49
Great Faith
When Jesus spoke to his disciples, he often said, “Ye of little faith.”
In Mark 4, as the storm raged and Jesus slept, the disciples feared for their lives. When Jesus woke, he asked, “Have you still no faith?”
At this point of the narrative, they have seen multiple miracles of healing. They have heard his teaching. They had even gone out on a journey where they themselves prayed for the healing and deliverance of many.
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”
And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.
And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.
But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Mark 4:35–41
By this time, with all their experience, they should have known that when Jesus said “we’ll go to the other side”, they’d get there.
However, they still held a superstitious view of the sea and its power.
After Jesus calmed the sea, they feared him. If Jesus could stop the wind on the sea, then he was greater than even the gods of the sea. Perhaps this is the first time they realized he might be the Lord God.
For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
Psalm 95:3–7
Let’s contrast with some of Jesus’ interaction with Gentiles. The Jews grew up with the teaching of the Torah in which they learned of the power of God. They learned of the many miracles performed by God. They learned that God always kept his word. But God didn’t always act in the way they wanted, sometimes it seemed he was absent.
Gentiles in the land of Judea, learned about God from the people around them. They had limited access to worshipping God. They might listen at the synagogue, but could not participate. They could only go into the court of the Gentiles at the Temple.
God-fearers defined the Gentiles who desired to follow the Lord God. Despite their exclusion from the Temple worship, they still wanted to worship the Lord God of Israel.
One such God fearer, a Roman army commander, heard about Jesus. He approached Jesus in order to find healing for his servant. When Jesus said he would come, the centurion knew Jesus would be criticized for entering a Gentile’s home.
When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him,
“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.”
And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man 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 servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.
Matthew 8:5–13
So what statement did the centurion make that received the praise of Jesus. The centurion understood the extent of Jesus power in the kingdom as the One who came in the authority of God. He knew that Jesus did not have to be present in order to work a miracle. He knew the power of the Word of God over the earth.
A Gentile in his heart, recognized truths about God that the Jews knew, but doubted in their hearts.
Lord, restore the awe and wonder of who you are. Let my heart’s desire be to always seek you, even when it feels like you are sleeping in the boat.
TRICIA LATHROP 