Let all that has been Concealed
Be Revealed.
Father, We Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem,
According To Your Will and Promise.
We Pray That You Will Forgive The Sins
of Our Own Nation,
and Lead us all to Godly Repentance.
Create in Us Clean Hearts, Oh LORD,
and Renew a Right Spirit Within Us.
This we Pray Together,
As We Await Your Messiah,
Blessed Be He,
To Set Up His Kingdom,
And Make All Things Right.
God Bless America.
ML/LTOS
A friend of mine called me with concern. A famous TV Preacher, in a Veterans' Day sermon, had cited the story of the healing of the Centurion's Servant in the Gospel of Matthew. The preacher referred to the servant as a "Military Aide" and was somehow connecting the story to our own Military on Veterans' Day. My friend didn't think that was correct, but knew I liked to do Greek Word Studies, so he asked me to check it out.
So the first thing I did was look up the Greek word for "servant" that was used in the Text. The word was "pais", which could mean a young boy servant, a teenage slave, or even a "boyfriend". It was that unfortunate third meaning that caused a link to some very UNbiblical sites that were very upsetting! So I went to the same story in the Gospel of Luke to see what Greek word was used there. In Luke, The word was "doulos", which just means a lowly slave. That got rid of the "boyfriend" argument and the "Military Aide" argument with one Greek word. I called my friend back with my findings, and he was somewhat upset that the TV Preacher had made such an assumption.
From reading today's story about the Bereans, we can infer that God does not want us to just accept everything that is preached to us, even by people we admire. We are blessed to have wonderful study tools, translations, concordances, and dictionaries both online and in book form. From this Passage we can be confident that, if we hear a message that is puzzling to us, we can search the Scriptures to see if it's true. And that's "Noble" thing!
Here are The Scriptures for comparison:
Matthew 8:5–13 (TNIV)
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly." Jesus said to him, "Shall I come and heal him?" The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word. 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." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 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. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.
Luke 7:1–10 (TNIV)
When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 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." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
Amen to your Beautiful, Powerful Prayer, Dear Servant of Jesus Christ.
Joining you in Thanksgiving, Prayer, and Praise.
Amen.