Saturday, June 27, 2015

27 June 2015 - under my roof


"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." 
He said to him, "I will come and cure him."

The LORD wants to visit us. Let us not make light of his coming. Let us not underestimate what he can do and indeed wants to do in us.

So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?" The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

Nothing is too hard for him. We need to trust his promises for us. Even those promises which seem unlikely because they are thus far unfilled and because we have lived life so long without them are not too great for him. If he says he will come and do it we must take him at his word.

He said to him, "I will come and cure him."

We need to respond to his promise in the way the centurion does. We need to believe that what he wills he can do, even for us, even in our own lives. Jesus wants us to believe in his authority and power.

Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man subject to authority, 
with soldiers subject to me.

It is true, of course, that we are not worthy to receive him. But he chooses to come to us anyway. He chooses to enter under our roofs. He wills to heal our servants, our mother-in-laws, those possessed by demons, and all the sick.

He took away our infirmities 
and bore our diseases.

In this we see the promise fulfilled:

“For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.”

The invitation this morning is to stop doubting his power no matter what circumstances look like. We are called to believe that his authority is not limited by time or place or other human condition. And we are invited to welcome him into our hearts. We pray:

Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;

But he does enter, if we let him.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me (cf. Rev. 3:20).

Let us trust his power! Let us open to him!

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy


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