Amazing Demonstration of Faith

Amazing Demonstration of Faith

“The royal official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’  Jesus said to him, ‘You may go; your son will live.’  The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.”  (John 4:49 – 50)

I had been a Christian for many years before I understood what faith means.  I remember that the first time I came to realize that faith means believing or trusting in what God says to us, I was surprised.  It sounded so simple.  My immediate reaction to this definition of faith was:  “Would anybody doubt what God says?”  In fact, this is what we do most of the time.  

When Jesus said to the royal official, “You may go, your son will live,” scripture reported that “The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.”  Later when his servants met him on the way to inform him that his child was healed, he asked the time of his improvement in order to confirm to himself that it was Jesus’ action and not a coincidence.  His trust in the words of Jesus is to me an amazing demonstration of faith.

A centurion approached Jesus on one occasion and appealed to him saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.’  He said to him, ‘I will come and cure him.”  The centurion told Jesus that there was no need for him to come personally but to “only say the word and my servant will be healed.”  Jesus praised his faith and healed his servant.  For me this is an amazing demonstration of faith by the centurion.

The good Thief who saw beyond sense evidence to recognize the divine in Jesus when his bloodied body hung on the cross demonstrated an amazing faith when he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’  He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23: 42 – 43)

There are many amazing demonstrations of faith in the Gospel, but I chose to focus on these three today.