When Jesus entered Capernaum, an army captain approached him to ask his help, «Sir, my servant lies sick at home. He is paralyzed and suffers terribly». Jesus said to him, «I will come and heal him». The captain answered, «I am not worthy to have you under my roof. Just give an order and my boy will be healed. For I myself, a junior officer, give orders to my soldiers. And if I say to one: ‘Go’, he goes, and if I say to another: ‘Come’, he comes, and to my servant: ‘Do this’, he does it». When Jesus heard this he was astonished and said to those who were following him, «I tell you, I have not found such faith in Israel. I say to you, many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven; but the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness; there they will wail and grind their teeth». Then Jesus said to the captain, «Go home now. As you believed, so let it be». And at that moment his servant was healed.
Jesus went to Peter's house and found Peter's mother-in-law in bed with fever. He took her by the hand and the fever left her; she got up and began to wait on him. Towards evening they brought to Jesus many possessed by evil spirits, and with a word he drove out the spirits. He also healed all who were sick. In doing this he fulfilled what was said by the prophet Isaiah: He bore our infirmities and took on himself our diseases.
Source: http://evangeli.net/gospel/
Analysis
Before we start today's passage, it has been a month since I first started this project of analysis. While we have found incriminating passages that may gave doubt for the truth of the Gospel, we will still continue this project. After all, the truth does not rely on any books to stand, if the Gospel too is found to be unworthy, it shall be discarded and thrown into hell fire. Regardless, we shall examine today's passage. Today's passage contains further proof that Jesus is again, human, and He does not possess all the knowledge of the world. As usual, we will summarize the contents of this passage.
Jesus was in Capernaum when He met an army captain that said his servant is sick, gravely. So, the captain asked Jesus to heal the servant, and Jesus agreed to come, the captain however, with remarkable humility, stopped Jesus and said that he is unworthy to be in one roof with Christ, and said that if Jesus orders it, his servant surely would be healed. Jesus was astonished with this, and remarks that He has never seen faith as strong as that man, exceeding even the Israelites. So He did, and the servant was healed, Jesus then came to Peter's house and healed his sick mother in law. Then in the evening Jesus drove out spirits and healed people, as Matthew wrote it, "fulfilled what was said by the prophet Isaiah."
There is one thing that is incredibly significant to this passage. The significant thing here is the fact that Jesus was astonished by the captain's faith. Why is this so important to me? As the fact that Jesus was astonished means one thing, He may have deep understanding of the nature of God or what will happen to Him, but it seems that He is only human in the end. An incredibly astounding human that may or may not have sacrificed Himself for all humanity, but is not the ultimate identity of God, regardless of His awesome miracles. If Jesus truly possess omniscient knowledge, His astonishment should not exist, after all He knows that it's going to happen. As such, we too must critically examine Jesus, and give Him no special treatment, for He too is a man like all of us.
The matter of the captain is quite straightforward. He has knowledge of Jesus, and his humility towards Jesus is something to be respected. After all, the Jews were technically below the Romans at that time, as the Romans were invading the Jews. While there may be other meanings behind this act, there is not much that I can see, other than proof of Jesus' fallibility. Anyway, I may either continue this project or stop, as the passage today has convinced me that the truth is independent of anything, even the one we call "Christ". I may continue, however, I would not delve too deep into each passage.
What of Jesus' love for others in His act of healing? I'd actually take that more of proof that we are indeed the rulers of this world, as Jesus, a man, managed to heal people instantly more or less. This is proof that we too should have the ability to manipulate the material world in the most basic levels. However, is it true that Jesus truly love others as shown in the passage? Most likely yes, though I see nothing significant with that truth. It is His duty after all. Regardless, that is all I can say for today, have a nice day and see you tomorrow.
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