Matthew 8:13 … Done according to Faith (05/30/17)
“Go; let it be done for you according to your Faith.”
~ Jesus (Matthew 8:13)
While most readers (and almost all theologians) focus on the last word of this verse, the most important word therein is actually its first – “Go.” For Jesus did not say that all would be done according to the centurion’s mere mental “faith” (or his intellectual beliefs, or even his verbal exclamations) in this scene from the Gospel of Matthew, but rather that he must “Go” and thereby manifest the same – that he must act in order to be truly Faith-full – that he must (as the Quakers are so fond of saying) “pray with moving feet.”
Indeed, there can be no doubt that “Go” is a command that requires action; and when we look closely & humbly upon the teachings & the ministry of Jesus Christ, there can be no doubt that both “Faith” & “Belief” for Jesus were active verbs much more than they were passive states of being … Indeed (in deed!), when we look to the many “healings” & “miracles” that Jesus performed throughout the Gospels, we can see a pattern steadily developing – a pattern that had him proclaiming over & over & over again that mere mental “faith” was not enough; that action was required in order to bring real Faith to life (and bring any subsequent healings to bear – see Matthew 8:10-13, Matthew 9:2, Matthew 9:22, Matthew 9:28-30, Matthew 13:58, Matthew 14:31, Matthew 15:28, Matthew 17:20, Mathew 21:21, Mark 2:5, Mark 5:34, Mark 9:23, Mark 10:52, Mark 11:22, Luke 5:20, Luke 7:9, Luke 7:50, Luke 8:48, Luke 17:6, Luke 17:18-19, & Luke 18:42 et al) and that “Belief” for Jesus was an act as well (see John 14:12 & John 14:23-26 in direct conjunction Mark 10:18, John 5:41, Matthew 18:3-4, John 3:36, John 3:18, John 6:29, John 7:38, Mark 16:16 & John 13:15-17 et al).
And when we apply this Truth to this particular verse, several extremely important implications come to light – namely the following:
A) That Jesus did not heal or save anyone – that we are all capable of healing ourselves by actively & humbly bringing Peace &/or Joy to others (see Matthew 20:28 + John 13:15-17 et al) …
B) That we all carry God & Heaven both within us, and as such are the source of our own salvation (see John 14:20 & Luke 17:20-21 et al) …
C) That we can all Love just as purely as Jesus did (see Matthew 22:37-40 & John 14:12 et al) … and
D) That Loving perfectly (i.e. Loving the shunned, Loving the downtrodden, Loving the stranger, and Loving the enemy — all as though they were members of one’s own Family) heals completely & manifests fully.
Amen … Let it be so.
BONUS Note: Due to Emperor Augustus’ ban on heterosexual marriage for his centurions (a ban that lasted until 197 A.D.), it was probably not at all uncommon for homosexual partnerships to develop among Roman soldiers. And indeed, in this very passage (Matthew 8:5-13, and also in Luke 7:1-10), we see Jesus actually being openly & non-judgmentally Kind to a Roman centurion while co-healing his “pais,” a Greek term (see Strong’s #3816) commonly understood in Jesus’ day to mean not “servant” but rather “younger, same-sex lover.” Indeed, the “servant” in question must have been more than the mere attendant that many conservative &/or homophobic Christians believe him to be, otherwise the far more prevalent Greek terms for that status (diakoneo, diakonos or doulos – Strong’s #1401 … a la Matthew 8:9) would have been used to describe him herein … And it was just this type of Faith-full Kindness that Jesus was preaching throughout his three year ministry – a Kindness that was more done than said, a Kindness that was done openly & courageously, and a Kindness that was bold enough to challenge even the unjust religious conventions (in this case the staunch anti-homosexual Old Testament laws) of the day in order to Love anyway.
;