Jesus Said

By Ray Martinez

There is very much written about what Jesus said throughout the New Testament. So I captured some of the key verses and expounded my personal thoughts and experiences on the ones that concerned me and have an impact on my life. One of the most valuable verses is Psalms 138:8 that reads, The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands (NKJ).

Gods confi dence will not go away as long as we remain confi dent in him. The amount of good that we have in our lives comes from God working his will in us. In due time, he will cause our transformation to grow through his supernatural favor. My intention is to stimulate our thought process to help us recognize Gods presence in every aspect of our life, even when we are asleep.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 30, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453577905

Book preview

STORY 1

The Centurion Walks the Talk

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.

Lord, he said, my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.

Jesus said to him, I will go and heal him.

The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it."

When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour. (Matt. 8:5-13, NIV)

Pictured in this story is a centurion who is in charge of one hundred men in the military and who understands authority, leadership, command presents, and the power of words. Regardless of his influence, the one thing that paints a vivid picture of him is the centurion’s compassion for his servant who was not a soldier. This was a person that worked with this commander at every level of personal service so he, as a leader, could carry on with his daily duties.

When I was mayor of Fort Collins, Colorado, Sarah was a personal assistant administrator to the Mayor’s Office. Until you are in such a position, it is hard to imagine how much you rely on your assistant administrator. Everything from calendar entries to arranging meetings and helping write speeches was a matter of daily details that she took care of for me. My office would have been a wreck without her knowledge, intuitiveness, and her ability to predict my daily habits and routine. The times Sarah was off for the day, many things were placed on hold or were corrected when she returned back to work.

I understand why this captain wanted his assistant healed. It became evident to me that the captain’s assistant was likened to a family member whom he felt obligated to support in any way possible. He also knew that while his assistant was ill, he couldn’t easily run the captain’s office, regardless of the captain’s authority and sphere of influence. Like a good leader, he learned of a person that was much talked about and heard of his ability to heal people in miraculous ways. Smart leaders seek out those who are smarter than themselves. A successful CEO, president, or director will always surround themselves with people that have more knowledge and expertise. Those who cannot will always be very controlling and paranoid of who is outwitting them and consequently feel like their position is threatened. CEOs that feel threatened will eventually fall to the wayside because they will only promote those who are perceived less intelligent than themselves—you see, it is all about them being self-centered.

Notice what steps this captain took to accomplish his goal. First, he sought out the right person for the job, and when he heard of this person, he went directly to him. The captain didn’t send out an advertisement or job posting. And when he found the right person for the job, he asked him for his help directly. One of the people in our weekly Wednesday morning Bible study took note that this captain could have commanded Jesus to do this healing, but instead he asked. Without hesitation, Jesus volunteered to go to the centurion’s home.

What follows next is absolutely amazing. I can just imagine Jesus stating, I will go and heal him as he turns to walk with the centurion. Instead, he stops Jesus in his tracks and says, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed. He was willing to take Jesus at his word, his pledge, or promise. More importantly, with such great mercy, he willed it on behalf of his servant—he stood in his place! Additionally, he recognized Jesus’s authority to heal from the spiritual realm. This captain was discerning of who this person, Jesus, was and knew all about his capabilities. And he also knew that Jesus was a compassionate person toward those who were sick.

This smart leader explained to Jesus why he trusted his word when he said, For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it. He didn’t have to explain to Jesus, who knew why the centurion said what he said, but instead Jesus recognized that the centurion was offering his convictions of his faith, belief, and understanding of the authority in front of everyone. Our captain in this story didn’t care who knew that he believed in Jesus.

We read that Jesus was astonished at the centurion’s response. Jesus wasn’t shocked, but the true meaning of this word astonished is better said that Jesus admired (Strong’s Greek Dictionary) the centurion’s response. Then Jesus announced to everyone that he had not seen such great faith in all of Israel! It is almost as if Jesus is telling everyone, Look and listen to what this captain has just said! This is the greatest example of faith I have seen—use this as a model of how faith works. Jesus recognized the power of persuasion of this man’s convictions, which gave a lot of credence to the centurion’s spiritual life as well as his job in this world today. Jesus was quick to point out that you don’t have to be from Israel to have this kind of faith.

When Jesus finished with his statement of example and teaching, he told the centurion to go and that his servant would be healed just as he has spoken and believed; and he was healed in the very same hour of their conversation. What an excellent dialogue between Jesus and the centurion along with a captivating audience—he approached, he asked, he said, Jesus said, he said, and Jesus said, then finally, Jesus commanded him to go. Their exchange was a healing and teachable moment that will last us a lifetime. Our channel of communication with Christ should be the same.

There was nothing in this biblical story that tells us that the sick servant was a believer or not. Jesus didn’t question the centurion about his servant’s spiritual life—he just healed him with no questions asked. The centurion asked, Jesus said yes, and the healing commenced while they were talking.

On a couple of notations from the men in our weekly Bible study:

This is real health care that works.

Al Habenicht recognized that even though Jesus was of God at the time of his walk, he still was human and had human reactions to the centurion’s astonishing statements and response.

STORY 2

Matthew’s Calling

On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matt. 9:12, NIV)

This is a great scripture about Matthew’s calling by Jesus to follow him. This terminology of follow me is much deeper than a group of ducklings following the mama duck around. This phrase is implicit to walk in the life or way of Jesus’s life, and to learn while walking this path of righteousness. Jesus wants Matthew to watch and learn so that he can do the same as Jesus is doing such as praying, healing, fasting, leading people to learn of Jesus, and many other tasks.

It appears like Matthew didn’t hesitate for a moment to get up and walk with Jesus. Nothing in the scripture indicates that Matthew had a second thought, deliberated, asked questions first, or ignored Jesus. He was very spontaneous and got up and left whatever he was doing in the tax-collection booth. I can’t help but think that this caught the eyes of spectators, including the Pharisees. My guess is that what followers that were loyal to Jesus were a little stunned by the fact that Jesus asked a tax collector to follow him. After all, tax collectors didn’t have a good reputation for their honesty and their sinister way of treating people in that era.

When Jesus and his disciples were invited to eat at Matthew’s home, many other tax collectors joined them. The spying Pharisees saw this and saw an opportunity to judge Jesus for his partaking in dinner with ruthless tax collectors and other sinners that they considered callous people. Without missing a beat, the Pharisees started throwing jabs at the disciples by asking them, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?

I like Jesus’s style of managing this criticism by the Pharisees to the disciples. Jesus spoke up on behalf of his disciples. He clearly demonstrates his leadership style and answers the question himself. After all it was Jesus who made the decision to eat with Matthew and his crowd of friends, not the disciples; he held himself accountable, and he didn’t rely on someone else to speak for him and sidestep the political issue with a lot of ambiguous politically correct jargon. Setting aside the potential gobbledygook lingo, Jesus reasoned with the finger-pointing critics by responding with a rhetorical statement: It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Then he told them to leave and learn something from this incident and discover what it is to have mercy on people and not what people need to forfeit. In Jesus’s own words, he uses the word go, compelling them to do something about it instead of ridiculing, or more specifically, he is telling them to experience (peira, Strong’s Biblical Dictionary) what they have seen; if you stand around glaring with a defiant attitude, you can’t undergo what they have just witnessed.

Jesus expresses his desire by saying, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. He really wants us to be just like him—having a desire to be merciful. The best way I understand mercy in the layman’s terminology is to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. The keyword in his phrase, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, is desire. We can say we have mercy on someone or we understand their plight, but do we have a desire to do something about it, to cause a change for them and ourselves? This is why I think Jesus was very specific when he asks us to have a desire to do these things. Desire comes from the word thelo (Strong’s Biblical Dictionary) that means to delight, have an impulse, choose or prefer, consider, to wish, or be inclined to do. Jesus is denoting that his first preference is to first consider the person’s rearing. Sacrifices for the gospel of Jesus Christ can and will come later, but let’s first get this person onboard with his or her faith with compassion, which comes from your heart, not your head.

I like what Greg Harmon told me, and I will paraphrase his comment: When Jesus pointed out the differences between being merciful and not sacrificial, it was evident he was distinguishing between feelings or spiritually versus making a physical sacrifice, which was done in the old testament with animals, etc. (1) In Psalms 40:8, we read, I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your law is written on my heart (NLT). In another translation, this same verse reads, I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart (NIV). Mercy comes from within our hearts.

Finally, Jesus clarifies his role with the analogy of how healthy people don’t need a doctor, but