When Jesus had finished saying all this, he went back to Capernaum. Now the highly-valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death.  When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish leaders to ask him to come and heal his slave.  So they earnestly begged Jesus to come with them and help the man. If anyone deserves your help, it is he," they said, “for he loves the Jews and even built a synagogue for us."

So Jesus went with them. But just fore 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 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 or that’, they do it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd, he said, “I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all the of Israel!”  And when the captain’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed. (Luke 7:1-10 NLT)

“No Disconnect Between Faith and Marketplace”

  • What’s the officer’s job –in general and in this story?
  • Who are the stakeholders who influence his job, success, compensation?
  • What makes this guy tick? What seems to motivate him?
  • How would he fit in Simcoe County?
  • Why does Jesus connect with him so well?
  • How do we connect with him?
 

A Prayer for Today

Son of God, we believe you exist.
Father God, we believe you exist.
Spirit of God, we believe you exist.

By faith, we understand that the entire universe
was formed at your command.
By faith, we understand that what we now see
did not come from us but from you, O God.

We want to please you, O God, with our faith. 
We desire the ultimate reward you offer
to those who seek you sincerely.

As we go to our places of responsibility
we go, knowing you go with us, and
that your Spirit guides us to produce
a harvest of right living and peace.
We engage the marketplace
with the faith that is a gift from you our gracious God.

We’d like to amaze you with our faith at work.
For Jesus’ sake we pray,  Amen