29. What filled Jesus with admiration?

WHY IS JESUS SO ASTONISHED?

Imagine, Capernaum; a pretty little town with houses with terraced roofs, on the edge of a lake, the Lake of Galilee. There are fishermen, shepherds, peasants but also soldiers. The country is occupied by Roman armies. The Jews have been under the domination of the Emperor of Rome for years. They would like to regain their freedom and see all these soldiers go home. There are often conflicts, dirty tricks, abuses. The relationships are sometimes complicated. These soldiers have other habits, different ways of living; they worship other gods, statues, idols. Jews do not enter the house of Romans. One of these Roman officers has a servant, whom he loves very much, who is seriously ill. He has heard of all the miracles that Jesus does and he believes in him: – He has just arrived in our city with his disciples! Someone tells him. Immediately, he summons some Jewish leaders: – Go see Jesus, he says to them, and ask him for me, to come to me to heal my servant. So they go to find Jesus: – We are coming on the Roman officer’s behalf they say. He asks you to be kind enough as to come and heal his servant who is about to die. We do beg you to come to him; he deserves to be granted this favor. He loves our people; he has even helped building our synagogue with his own money. Come with us. – I will go and heal him, Jesus answers them. They set off. They are not far from home when a group of men meets them. They are friends of the officer; they have a message for Jesus. – The officer sends us to tell you: Don’t bother coming to my place because I don’t deserve you to come into my house. That‘s the reason why I have not dared to come and find you myself. But just say one word, and my servant will be healed. Because me, I am subject to my superiors and I have soldiers under my command, and when I say to one “Go”, I know he will. When I command another “Come”, he comes. When I ask my servant “Do this”, he does it. Jesus, you don’t have to come to me, say only one word and my servant will be healed. Hearing these words, Jesus is filled with admiration for this officer. He can’t hide it He turns to the crowd that is there and says to them: – Truly, I assure you, nowhere in Israel have I found such great faith. I tell you, people will come in crowds from all countries, they will believe in me and they will be saved, they will go to heaven. And those who will not have faith, they will not enter. Then Jesus said to the officer’s friends: – You can go back to the officer .What he asked with all his faith, his servant will grant. When they got home, they found the servant in perfect health, as Jesus had said.

1, 2 3, 4 AND YOU AND ME! Do you remember our question: what filled Jesus with admiration? Yes! It’s the officer’s faith. This man believes in the power and authority of Jesus to heal his servant. What he said is what he truly thinks, what’s in his heart. You too can tell Jesus what is in your heart. You can tell Him that you believe in him. And if you find that your faith is small, well, rest assured, it will grow. How? Simply, as you get to know Jesus better and you will find it easier to trust him, to believe in him. Read the Gospel and listen to our programs “1,2,3 STORY TIME”, because we will continue to talk to you from him and your faith will grow.

4, 3, 2, 1 AND WE PARENTS! When you say you, he something to your child, why does he believe you? Because you are his parents, he knows you are telling him the truth, he trusts you. When you make a promise to him, he believes you will be able to keep it and will make it happen. A child is naturally trusting, he does not doubt your word and his trust makes you happy Just as naturally, he is willing to believe in Jesus. For this, he needs to get to know better and better; who he is, what he says, what he does, what he promises. Our objective in making the programs “1,2,3 STORY TIME” is precisely to bring you an additional tool to nurture the faith of your children.