It’s such a privilege to walk by faith with you this week, to believe in things that we cannot see, including a God who loves us so very much. We continue our trip through the holy land together. Today we’re making our third stop in Capernaum. Jesus did many miracles in this village. He cast out a demon here. He brought a little girl who was dead back to life. He healed the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and a man who was paralyzed. And the story that you and I get to study today in Luke chapter seven happened in Capernaum as well.
So what do you say? Let’s dive in together!
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Transcription:
Well, hi! I’m Erica today on the Bible for Busy People, what do you say we talk about something we can’t see, that’s more real than the things we can see? What does the writer of Hebrews say about faith? Well, in chapter 11 verse one, he writes,
Faith shows the reality of what we hope for. It is the evidence of things we cannot see.
It’s such a privilege to walk by faith with you this week, to believe in things that we cannot see, including a God who loves us so very much. We continue our trip through the holy land together. Today we’re making our third stop in Capernaum. I’ve looked up how to say this fishing village several times. Sometimes you hear Capernum, other times Capernaum. I actually like the one with the fourth syllable. So we’re going to go with Capernaum. Jesus did many miracles in this village. He cast out a demon here. He brought a little girl who was dead back to life. He healed the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and a man who was paralyzed.
And the story that you and I get to study today in Luke chapter seven happened in Capernaum as well. So what do you say? We dive in now for context before we get to verse one here. Jesus had been previously teaching the people about not judging others about how you’ll know a tree and a person by their fruit and about building your life on a solid foundation. So some really good teaching happened in Luke chapter six, but we move on now to Luke seven, verse one.
When Jesus Had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. At that time, the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. If anyone deserves your help, he does, they said, for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us. So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, go. And they go, or come and they come. And if I say to my slaves, do this, they do it. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him. He said, I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel. And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.
What a powerful story. I want to amaze Jesus with my faith. I want him to look at me and just kind of shake his head and smile and wink at me and say, that’s my girl. You’re trusting me. I see you. I can look into your heart and see that I have your faith and trust. The reason we’re doing a study, why we’re going on a little tour of Israel and all of the work that God did there over these many centuries and even thousands of years, is because my little girl, I know she’s 24, but she’s still my little girl, is in Israel right now as I’m speaking with you. It’s hard for me to believe that soon she’s going to be walking in Capernaum in a place where Jesus did miracles. And it reminds me today as I think of this Roman officer who trusted Jesus. He didn’t need Jesus to walk into his house to do the miracle. He had so much faith. He knew that Jesus could just give the command and it would be done. That his servant would be healed. He was a Roman officer and that was the level of faith that he was experiencing in his own life. It amazed Jesus. So this is what I’ve got to do. I’m a mom, and you know how much I would just love to get a text from my daughter every day, Hey, I’m still safe. Hey, I swam in the Dead Sea today. Hey mom, I tried the deep fried hummus. It’s as good as you and I predicted. I would love to get a text like that every day, but instead, I don’t know what’s going to happen yet. We’re connected on WhatsApp, but you know how technology can be, and my daughter might be too busy having the experience of a lifetime to remember to check in. And it’s okay if she doesn’t because this is an exercise for me to trust God, to know that he is with her even though I can’t see that. To know that he’s got angels surrounding her and her team as they travel across the promised land. It’s my cue to believe the promises of God that he will never leave or forsake my daughter or me or you or that person you love who’s on your heart today.
So I’m going to keep walking by faith. I don’t need the text to come in. I simply need to learn how to trust my Lord. And as that trust builds, so does faith, knowing that everything is going to be okay, ultimately no matter what happens. My daughter’s life, my life, your life, were all in his hands and that’s a very good place to be. If you’ve listened for any amount of time to this podcast, I love the Chronicles of Narnia and I highly recommend them. CS Lewis of course wrote about Aslan the great lion. He was the Christ-like figure in the story. And I love this one line from the last battle, the last Chronicle from Narnia,
But courage child, we are all between the pause of the true Aslan.
And that’s where I’m picturing my daughter today, the love that held the hands of Christ to the cross, because it wasn’t nails, is the same love that is taking care of my daughter when I can’t be there. And it’s the same love that is caring for you and the people who are close to your heart. It’s something you can put your trust in. It’s something you can have faith in. God’s love. It’s very real. Until next time, you and I are really loved.
Thank you so much for listening to the Bible for Busy People. If you need prayer or you’re ready to go a little deeper in your faith, we’ve posted some resources for you in our show notes. We’d love for you to share this podcast with a friend and leave us a review. It helps us reach even more people with the hope of Jesus. This podcast is part of Purposely, a podcast network designed with practical podcasts to help you find and live in God’s purpose for your life.
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