Read the text – Matthew 8:1-17

Jesus is confounding. Reading through the Gospel of Matthew, we see Jesus do some extraordinary things and the result is that some follow and some turn their backs on him. That is not so different from today. We often expect the extraordinary before we allow ourselves to believe something. As such we settle for the normal and mundane, all the while wishing for the extraordinary. Jesus came into the normal and mundane, but he did that which was extraordinary. He does what we hope by doing what we find hard to believe! How confounding.

In this Bible Talk, Dave Swan looks at the unparalleled authority which Jesus demonstrated – his ability to heal a man with leprosy, the servant of the a Roman centurion, Peter’s mother-in-law, those who were demon possessed – all people who suffered because of their circumstance, but also because of there status as outcasts under Jewish law. He heals, and in doing so he fulfils what the prophet Isaiah said the Messiah would do.

This should encourage us to examine our faith in Jesus, by looking at how an encounter with Jesus shaped the belief of others.