Matthew 8:1-17

Matthew 8:1-17 (The Message)

Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, "Master, if you want to, you can heal my body." 
Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, "I want to. Be clean." Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, "Don't talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done." 
As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, "Master, my servant is sick. He can't walk. He's in terrible pain." 
Jesus said, "I'll come and heal him." 
"Oh, no," said the captain. "I don't want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I'm a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, 'Go,' and he goes; to another, 'Come,' and he comes; to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." 
Taken aback, Jesus said, "I've yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God's kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up 'in the faith' but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened." 
Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, "Go. What you believed could happen has happened." At that moment his servant became well. 
By this time they were in front of Peter's house. On entering, Jesus found Peter's mother-in-law sick in bed, burning up with fever. He touched her hand and thefever was gone. No sooner was she up on her feet than she was fixing dinner for him. 
That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill. He fulfilled Isaiah's well-known sermon: 

   He took our illnesses, 
   He carried our diseases. 

Devotional (by Emily Gray)

And I thought I have had busy days!  I’m astonished when I look at all the things Jesus did in one day: healed a leper, healed a servant without ever seeing him, healed Peter’s mother-in-law, and cured those who were brought to Him in the evening.  I find it interesting that Jesus never healed the same way twice.  I also noticed that in many cases it was the faith of the person being healed that evoked Jesus to heal them.  
The Roman officer, for example, understood that Jesus had authority, just as he had authority over his troops.  He understood that Jesus was “under the command” of His Father, and could also give orders to the world around Him.  It was this understanding and this trust that moved Jesus to heal.  Jesus was even taken back, amazed!  Here was a Roman, an “outsider” to the faith, yet he had an amazing level of faith.  Jesus makes it clear that it’s not your social status that makes thedifference, it’s your faith.  It can be tough to have faith at times.  But Jesus is trustworthy, and when we put our faith in Him, He’ll always come through for us.

Prayer:
Jesus, thank You for who You are.  Thank you that I can trust You and put my faith in You.  I know You won’t let me down, won’t desert me, and have my best interest at heart.  Help me have more and more faith today.  Amen.