A centurion came to Jesus and told Him, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” Have you felt paralyzed at home lately? You have decisions to make, but feel too frozen to move? You have things to do, but can’t get going? You are tormented by things nagging in your mind, but can’t find the energy or will to do them? It’s like a sickness in you that you can’t heal.
Why bother making New Year’s resolutions when the old ones all fell flat? You were too weak or paralyzed to do anything then, too. Your will wasn’t strong enough to carry you very far. Nothing came of it then and you feel powerless now to make changes to your life.
Hear Jesus’ answer to the centurion: “I will come and heal him.” Jesus was willing to come right into the home. He is the good physician who makes house calls. He had in earlier chapters shown His healing proficiency after He returned from the wilderness temptation, “healing all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of diseases among the people” (Matthew 4:23b).
The centurion came to a man with a known track record. We can take whatever prevents us from moving in a new direction to this Person who has proven to make a difference in people’s lives. His purpose was to the house of Israel, but that did not prevent Him from helping a Gentile. Nothing prevents Him from reaching out to us, either; His is not just a white man’s religion, but He is the Savior of the world. “God so loved the world,” not just Israel. You are included in His sphere of attention. He who worked on other people’s problems is willing to work on yours.
The centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes” (Matthew 8:8-9a).
The centurion knows that Jesus doesn’t need to come to the house, for just as the centurion can command his soldiers to move, even so Jesus need only command the sickness to depart with a word. We need to look around to see how life works. We need to see that others don’t share our paralysis. They are making decisions for their lives and doing things as a matter of course that seem impossible to us right now. Just as it is possible with them to walk in freedom, so it is with us. Perhaps Jesus touched their lives; perhaps not. But our past is no reason to restrict the work of Jesus in the present.
Jesus saw great things with this man’s attitude: “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you” (Matthew 8:13). The man expressed hope that there would be change, and he expected that change from Jesus. Jesus blessed his hope and his home. Whatever paralyzes you, set your hope on Jesus, not on yourself. While you are weighing New Year’s resolutions, put Jesus and His perfect track record of saved lives into the scale. He with His power working in a surrendered life is more than enough to accomplish His goals through us.
