Day 2 of Advent, 12/4/23: Just Say the Word (Matthew 8:8)

Dear friends, 

This is the first time I will attempt to reflect daily during the 4 weeks of Advent following Bishop Barron's gospel reflections: https://www.wordonfire.org/reflections/ 

Would you care to share your Advent Reflections?

A Roman centurion asked Jesus to heal his sick dying servant by saying, "But just say the word, and my servant will be healed" (Mt 8:8; Lk 7:7). He didn't think it necessary for Jesus to come and heal him in person by placing his hands on him, but to simply "say the word," because he understood authority as a centurion in charge of 100 Roman soldiers whom he knows will do whatever he says. He is the only person Jesus commended for having "such great faith" (Mt 8:10; Lk 7:9). [Watch Season 3 of The Chosen.] 

For the first 2 decades of my Christian life, my pastor gave me this verse as my key verse to help me to learn to live out my Christian faith practically. But I really didn't like the verse because I was trained to be a rational logical physician and scientist who makes decisions based on facts and reality, while faith seemed subjective, mushy, even unreasonable, unrealistic, or illogical. Thus, my faith in Christ was often weak, feeble and sometimes even seems to be non-existent. Yet when I lived by faith by trusting God rather than myself (Prov 3:5) and by attempting to put God first (Mt 6:33), God has guided and led my life step by step for the last 40+ years with countless blessings in every way. Though I am currently in a surreal unpleasant predicament, trusting God with faith that God is good (Rom 8:28; Gen 50:20), is virtually the only way forward for me.