Today’s Reading: Matthew 8
It is truly a privilege and honor to become part of a tremendous community. I have read and prayed through this bible journal for the last 52 weeks and I have truly been blessed by the words and commitment of the authors. 2016 was a year of growth, change and reflection for my family and myself and this group was a truly influential and integral part of our journey. My name is Lynden McGriff and my wife is Jillian, we have three children, which are the main part of the essence of my life. The passage that I have been give to reflect on this week is one that is summed up in one word: Miracles.
Matthew Chapter 8 in several of my resources has the heading “Jesus performs many Miracles”. The direct participants and recipients of these miracles are: a leper, a centurion, a mother-in-law, a host of people, and two demon-possessed men.
The leper is a person that has been casted out of not only the city and his church, but has become a cast away from all of humanity. This is a person who has actually disappeared in the presence of their love ones.
The Centurion is a person of high prestige and stature. The title and name of centurion states he is in charge of at least 100 men. These men will do and follow all of the commands of this solider. The Roman government and the Jewish people were at odds because of the oppression that had been imposed by the Roman government. This man has resources, physicians, and other people at his command but his faith lead him to Jesus.
This passage also raised an important thought; Peter was married and still was in contact with this extended family. Jesus came to Peter’s Mother-in-law’s house and healed her and many others. This is awesome, can you imagine your best friend coming over to your in-laws and then having a mall group prayer session there? And to top it off your Mother-in-law is sick with the flu. I have a great mother-in-law and I know that she would be up for the challenge, but this just an interesting situation all together.
Then the final scene is where Jesus is walking through a specific region and then these men come up to Jesus and they are demon-possessed. The demons immediately acknowledge who Jesus is
“ What do you want with us Son of God”? Matthew 8:29
This is the most incredible phrase in this passage to me. No matter what we are going through, Jesus has and always has the authority and power over everything, even the demons have to obey his command. In all of the other healings that he performed in this passage this was the first time that it showed the awesome power that is witnessed by others.
So with these examples, I am reminded of the sermon series of “Miracles in the margins”, it does not matter who you are, what has happened to you, what you are going through Jesus is able to work miracles in our daily life, we have to be the one ready and have the faith to allow the miracles to happen. I leave you with one of my favorite mantras, saying or prayers “ God can not protect you from what he will perfect you through”. Have a blessed week.