MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/10/2026
9:48 AM
My
Worship Time Focus: Intro to “The Man Who Amazed Jesus”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
7:1-10
Message of the verses: “7 When He had completed all His
discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum. 2 And
a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to
die. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish
elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. 4 When
they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You
to grant this to him; 5 for he loves our nation and it was
he who built us our synagogue.” 6 Now Jesus started on
His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent
friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not
worthy for You to come under my roof; 7 for this reason I
did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say
the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I also
am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one,
‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do
this!’ and he does it.” 9 Now when Jesus heard this, He
marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following
Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great
faith.” 10 When those who had been sent returned to the
house, they found the slave in good health.”
“There is no doubt that Jesus Christ is the most
amazing person who ever lived. The
gospels repeatedly record that people were astounded, astonished, even
traumatized by the words He spoke and miracles He performed. His divine knowledge and supernatural power
exceeded all comprehension.
“After hearing the Sermon on the
Mount, ‘the crowds were amazed at His teaching’ (Matt. 7:28). In the next chapter of Matthew’s gospel,
Jesus calmed a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee that was so intense that the
disciples feared for their lives (Matt. 8:25).
But afterward the realization that God incarnate was in the boat with
them terrified them even more than the storm outside the boat had. Verse 27 records that they ‘were amazed and
said, ‘What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Himn?’ After He cas a demon out of a mute man’ ‘the
crowds were amazed, and were saying, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in
Israel’’’(Matt. 9:33; cf. Mark 7:37).
When Jesus taught in the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth, ‘they
were astonished, and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these
miraculous powers?’’ (Matt. 13:54; cf. Luke 4:22). Those who heard Him teach in the synagogue in
Capernaum (Mark 1:22) and in the temple (John 7:14-15) had similar reactions.
“The huge crowds that flocked to
Jesus along the shore of the Sea of Galilee ‘marveled as they saw the mute
speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing;
and they glorified the God of Israel’ (Matt. 15:31). After the rich young ruler rejected Him, the
Lord told His disciples, ‘Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 19:23).
Since in Jewish culture the wealthy were thought to have the inside track
to heaven, ‘when the disciples heard this they were very astonished and said, ‘Then
who can be saved?’ (v. 25). ‘Seeing a
long fig tree by the road, [Jesus] came to it and found nothing on it except
leaves only; and He said to it, ‘No longer shall there ever be any fruit from
you.’ And at once the fig tree withered’
(Matt. 21:19). Despite all the miracles
they had witnessed during their time with Jesus, ‘the disciples were amazed and
asked, ‘How did the fig tree wither all at once?’’(v. 20).
“The Jewish religious leaders’ futile
attempts to trap Jesus failed, leaving both them (Matt. 22:22) and the crowds
(v. 33; cf. Mark 11:18) STUNNED BY His answers.
Unlike those who were astonished by what Jesus said, Pilate was
astonished by what He did not say. The
governor was accustomed to hearing the accused prisoners brought before him
either vehemently protest their innocence or desperately plead for
clemency. Therefore he was ‘quote amazed’
when Jesus maintained a majestic calm and remained silent (Matt. 27:14). The disciples understandably were amazed when
they saw the resurrected Christ (Luke 23:12, 41).
“But while Jesus frequently amazed
people, there are only two times in the gospels when He is said to have been
amazed. As noted above, the people in
Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth were first astonished, then angered by Jesus’
teaching. In response, as Mark records,
Jesus ‘wondered at their unbelief’ (Mark 6:6).
The only other time Jesus was amazed was because of the faith of a Roman
soldier. This passage is the story of
Jesus’ encounter with that man, who was not a Jew, but a Gentile
centurion. Luke’s account presents first
the context, and then the content of his faith that amazed Jesus.”
Spiritual meaning for my life
today: Thinking about Jesus being
amazed by this man’s faith makes me thankful that this man had the kind of
faith to make Jesus amazed.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To have the kind of faith to amaze my Savior
is something that I surely strive for.
8/10/2026
10:18 AM
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