Faith and Unbelief

The Lord Jesus, knowing everything and everyone, was not easily amazed. However, there are two things that amazed Him while He was on earth: the faith and the unbelief of men. The faith of those who should not have had it, and the unbelief of those who should have believed.

Once, a Roman soldier of a certain rank -a centurion- came to Jesus and brought him a concern he had: his servant was bedridden, seriously ill. The Lord immediately reassured him, saying: "I will come and heal him". Then the centurion replied: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof; only say the word, and my servant will be healed". And then he added an explanation, which surprised Jesus the most: "For I also am a man under authority, and I have soldiers under me; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it". Jesus then said to those who followed him: "Truly I tell you, not even in Israel have I found so much faith" (Matt. 8:5-10).

On the spiritual plane, the centurion attributed to Jesus the highest authority, because his command would be enough to make the disease recede. When at the top of the command, an order is irrevocable, and all must obey. Jesus is Lord. Therefore, although this soldier's house could be opened to receive a great man (perhaps the emperor himself), he did not feel worthy to receive into it the Lord of the whole earth. Blessed are those who believe (Heb. 11:6).

Let us now look at the other reason for the Lord's astonishment. In his unfathomable sovereignty, God chose the city of Nazareth for Jesus to spend his childhood and youth there. Nazareth was, in this sense, a privileged city. However, its attitude towards him was unfortunate. Having him there, they despised him, and even more, they wanted to kill him.

They were scandalized by the man they had seen growing up in their streets, playing with the other children. They said: "Whence has this man these things? and what wisdom is this that is given him, and these miracles that are done by his hands? is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him" (Mark 6:2-3). They recognized that he was an extraordinary man, because his wisdom and his wondrous deeds were irrefutable; however, they stumbled in that he was too familiar to them, since they knew his origin and his family. And because of their unbelief, Jesus could do no miracle there, except that he healed a few sick people, laying his hands on them. Jesus was astonished at their unbelief (Mark 6:6).

Faith and unbelief: two extreme attitudes; two opposite ways of life; two fates with different destinies. Both caused Jesus' astonishment; but one for good, the other for evil. In which of the extremes do you place yourself? There are, as you see, no intermediate positions.

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