It Will Be Done

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

IT WILL BE DONE

 

Matt 8:5-13

5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering." 7 Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."  8 The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." 10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.

NIV

Jesus is talking about gentiles coming from the East and the West and we will believe in Jesus just as this centurion, a Roman soldier, a gentile who understands the authority that Jesus holds over creation. Jesus also mentions the Jews as those who are the subjects of the kingdom and because of their refusal to believe, they will not be saved but thrown out into the darkness. However, this is not just about believing in Jesus, for this is about believing Jesus has the power to heal, just by saying so. So often we hear people say or pray that Jesus will lay his hands on someone, or touch someone, or even pray that the Spirit will. We might pray that Jesus would touch our back, or shoulder, to heal the pain. The reality is Jesus does not need to touch us, but merely say the words, just as he said to that centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” That is the key, right there, just as you believed it would. That is not to say that Jesus isn’t the key to everything, but if we expect, and maybe that is what believing is all about, expecting Jesus to heal us because he can and we have to believe that if we come and ask, he is going to say, “I will heal you”. We have to believe Jesus is always willing to heal us, but we must believe, we must expect Him to heal us. We pray, but maybe we do not pray with that kind of expectation that centurion had. When we read this narrative, we know everything was done, the servant was healed the very hour Jesus said he was, not partial, but the servant was healed completely, restored. This was not a process of getting better each day and eventually overcoming his illness. This was an instant healing, one moment he was sick, the next moment he was well. We think, maybe we tell Jesus how He should heal us, such as through the hands of a doctor, a surgeon, or through a bunch of medications. That is not to say Jesus couldn’t or perhaps wouldn’t use someone to heal us, through some method of medicine, but maybe we should not look first to the medical profession as the hand of Jesus at work. Maybe we should simply look to Jesus first, and then, and only then, when we hear the voice of God, tell us something different, such as go see a doctor, I will use him this time. Sometimes we just must ponder. Why shouldn’t we expect Jesus to heal us, right now, just because he says so? When we pray the Lord’s prayer, we pray that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We know from reading, and experience that the will of the Father includes healing. Jesus said, “It will be done”.