Learning that the Rabbi had come to Capernaum, he desperately reached out to his Jewish friends. Perhaps he could persuade them to speak to the Rabbi about coming to heal his dying servant. It was worth a try, after all, he had built a synagogue for the Jews and they knew him well.[i]
[i] Luke 7:1-10
After hearing from the Roman centurion, the Jewish elders immediately went to the Rabbi, begging Him to come and heal the centurion’s servant. As the Rabbi started toward the centurion’s home, the elders excitedly reported to the anxiously waiting centurion. “He’s coming now!” “He’s almost here.”
Relieved and humbled, the centurion sent a most unexpected message for the Rabbi,” “Lord, he said, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof.Therefore, I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”[i]
[i] Matthew 8:8
Amazed, the Teacher turned to the crowd following Him and said, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”[i] When the elders returned to the centurion’s home they found the servant no longer dying, but healed and well.
[i] Matthew, 8:10
SPEAKING AUTHORITY
The Roman centurion hit the mark. Jesus’ words held ultimate authority. “Rise up young man,” He commanded the widow’s son and the dead man sat up, very much alive. “Be healed,” He spoke to the unclean leper, and the leper was instantly healed. There was nothing that Jesus’ words could not accomplish. The accounts of Jesus’ life leave no doubt about the power and authority of His word. He spoke and storms stopped, disease left, food multiplied, demons fled. The apostle John declared that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”[i] Jesus was the living Word who brought the Word of God to life.
[i] John 1
SPEAKING POWER
Jesus spoke the Word of God to defeat the tempter in the wilderness, Knowing that after fasting for forty days, Jesus would be hungry, the devil tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread. Jesus refused, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” No arguing, no reasoning, just the Word of God.
Mike Johnson, the newly elected Speaker of the House, perfectly mirrors what Jesus had in mind. Asked by the media, “…What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’ Johnson said, “…well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview. That’s what I believe and so I make no apologies for it.”[i]
[i] Pengelly, M.. (October 27, 2023). Go pick up a Bible: Speaker Mike Johnson defends anti-LGBTQ+views, The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/27/mike-johnson-christian-bible-lgbtq-abortion-rights, Accessed 10.29.2023.
Two more times, in the wilderness, the devil appealed to Jesus to violate His relationship with the Father and, two more times, He quoted from the scriptures, never offering up arguments or reasoning, but simply the Word of God.
SPEAKING ABIDING
Early in John’s gospel, Jesus admonishes those who wanted to be His disciples to abide in His words.[i] Repeating this admonishment during the Last Supper, He instructed His disciples, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”[ii]
[i] John 8: 31
[ii] John 15: 7
There is no way around it, Jesus’ words carry utmost importance, including not only what He spoke in the gospels, but the writings of the Old Testament, the Epistles and Revelation. He is the Word from Genesis to Revelation.
SPEAKING ACTION
Actions also speak. As much as the spoken words of Jesus speak to us, His actions also reveal Him to us.
WHO IS THIS MAN? READ HIS LIFE
He constantly showed compassion, giving dignity to those who had none. He attended, not just to the large crowds, but to individuals. He displayed a willingness to be interrupted, change His agenda. He freely associated with known sinners, despised tax collectors and disdained prostitutes. He generously forgave personal offenses. He spent His time tirelessly serving when He was the One who should have been served. He cooked breakfast on the beach for five men who had deserted Him when He was being arrested, washed their dirty feet, and filled their boats with overflowing catches of fish. He walked hundreds of miles to tell others of the kingdom, preaching in their synagogues, on mountaintops and beach shores. He healed multitudes of their diseases and tormenting spirits. He prayed countless prayers. He ministered to a dying man when He Himself was dying. He spoke the truth even when it diminished His popularity. He defended a woman anointing Him with costly perfume while others reproached her. He stopped to raise a widow’s son from the dead, changing the direction of her life. He saved a wedding couple from embarrassment over a wine supply that had run out. He set His face like flint toward Jerusalem knowing He was to die. He called children to His side when His disciples wanted to dismiss them. He looked after His mother even as He hung on the cross in agony. He searched for a man thrown out of the synagogue for defending Him. He touched a leper before healing him. He fed thousands on several occasions. He engaged a sinful woman in conversation revealing Himself as the Messiah. He gave place to Samaritans whom Jews held in contempt. He only allowed His Father, not the crowds or His disciples, to set His agenda, Finally, He voluntarily laid down His life for His disciples, the crowds that followed Him, His enemies and every human created in the image of God—that is to say, all of us.
This composite of Jesus’ actions amplifies His spoken words. When we hear Him proclaim, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest,” His life verifies the truth of these words.[i] Or as we consider His words to Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came at night, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved,” we realize that His actions speak to the truth of this claim.[ii] Drawing Jesus’ spoken words together with His lived life deepens our understanding of their meaning and strengthens our belief in their truth.
[i] Matthew 11:28
[ii] John 3: 17
THE PAINTING
He grabbed his seed bag and began to scatter handfuls of seeds, knowing that not all the seeds would fall on fertile ground. He saw some fall by the wayside where they were sure to be trampled, others falling on rocky ground where they would receive none of the moisture needed to nurture them, and others fell among the thorns where they would be choked out. But he also saw many seeds fall on good ground where he knew they would produce a crop of at least hundredfold.
The twenty-one seeds in the painting are all good seeds, but they will not all fall into fortuitous circumstances. They have the potential to flourish and produce but their future will be determined by the character of the ground onto which they land.
This, of course, refers to Jesus’ parable of the sower with the seeds as the Word of God and the ground as the reception of those who receive the Word-seeds. Some, as the parable describes, never really receive the Word before it is trampled; some delightedly receive the word but fail to nourish it; others receive the Word but let life choke it out before it can produce fruit; while others receive the Word, nourish it and go onto produce bumper crops.
Jesus, let us not permit Your Word to be choked out of our lives by life itself. Let it not wither because we fail to nurture it. Let us know the experience of having Your Word work in our lives. It’s all about time. This will mean committing slow time to Your word—time to dwell on both what You said and did.
When will we take the needed time to grow in Your word? We’ll take that time when we recognize that a meaningful, productive life in You can’t be lived apart from Your words. When we find out how much more productive our prayer life can be supported by Your word; When we learn how much stronger our faith can be if it is grounded in Your words. When we recognize how much wiser our choices can be if they are informed by Your word.
Let us also take the time to read Your life. Help us connect your actions and words as one and the same. You were never one to say one thing and do another. Bring Your word and actions together for us, each amplifying the other, serving as a model for our words and actions.
GOOD GROUND
Your Word, My Word.
Your healing, My healing.
Your power, My power.
Your joy, My joy.
Your patience, My patience.
Your love, My love.
Your peace, My peace.
Your ________, My ________[i]
[i] Fill in the blank.
I first heard the phrase, “Your Word, my Word,” from Pastor Tim Sheets of Oasis Church, Middletown, Ohio. He employed the phrase to verbally affirm agreement and, importantly, identification with God’s Word at work in our lives. Expanding the phrase with other terms, I find stating these phrases becomes an affirmation of God’s power at work in our lives, an identification and oneness with God and an overt attack on our continuing problems.
Sydney Walker, November 3, 2023
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