“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
...we need to trust the power of Jesus:
only say the word and my servant will be healed.
We need to trust the authority of his words. What if we don't feel like we can bring Jesus into the home of our hearts? If we are honest, our hearts are not the pure temples which the LORD deserves. Jesus readily says to us, "I will come and cure him." He is willing to enter the depths of our darkness and sickness with healing for us. But we are afraid. Our hearts are not fully his. If he enters our hearts, surely he will see all of the little idols we worship instead of him. Surely he will see the stains of our past sinfulness covering walls, floor, and ceiling. Jesus is happy to come regardless. And even if we aren't ready for that his word itself is enough. He will not force his way into our hearts. Yet he is willing to bring healing with a word if we trust him to do so.
Trust in the power of the word of Jesus is fundamental. We "should ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord" (cf. Jam. 1:6-7). Jesus tells us that, "whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (cf. Mar. 11:24). We know that our prayers are just wishful thinking with no power apart from the God who hears and answers. We need to believe in the power of Jesus to answer our prayers. We need to believe that he listens. We need not be worthy. We need to believe that he delights to answer him when we cry out. He says to us, "I am willing". To our impure hearts he says, "Be clean!" And this word does not return to him empty (cf. Isa. 55:11).
Many of us are at times like centurions in the service of the occupying forces of evil. We receive the orders from the top and impose them on those below. We accept temptation ourselves and cause little ones to sin. Today we are offered hope that the LORD can change us.
He shall judge between the nations,
and impose terms on many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.
We are offered hope that he wants to change us. He wants to do more than we are prepared to accept. We might not be ready to give him full access. But we rejoice that he responds to even the slightest invitation of faith.
We are offered the invitation to leave our own homes behind in favor of the house of God.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD."
He allows us to forget our lack of worth and shameful pasts by rejoicing in his word and in his presence. Maybe we can't let him come to us. Let us go to him, leaving behind all that hinders us!
“Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
That he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths.”
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