Scripture reference: Matthew 8:5-13

My name is Marcus Giaus Marcellus. I was born in the city of Tyre, and was raised in the city of Ceasarea. I am the only son of a guard of the Summer Palace of King Herod. My mother is a weaver of fine linen used in the king's palace. My father died of a fever when I was twelve years old. At that time my mother turned me over to the captain of the palace guard to train me in the ways of a man and a soldier. I lived with him for the next four years.

I enjoyed my life among the men of the guard. I got pleasure from the games and activities we participated in. My master had one of the men under him teach me to read and write Greek. I also received instruction in math, science, growing crops, the names and cycles of the stars and planets, riding a horse, and sailing a boat. I grew strong in body and mind, and brought honor to my guardian and his company.

My experiences with the guard unit taught me about authority and discipline. The ways of a group with a common cause are guided by respect and concern for for one another, as well as respect for the leader of the group. It became clear to me that having authority involves respect, responsibility, and humility. These characteristics are important in the leader as well as those who are led.

When I turned sixteen, the age of majority, I became a member of the guard. I worked hard and proved myself in every task I was given. As a result I was promoted, and finally became a centurion. That means I was put in charge of my own company of one hundred men. I was assigned to the city of Capernaum as a base from which to patrol the roads and villages. My duty was to protect the citizens from the bandits and rebels which greatly troubled the region.

Shortly after arriving in Capernaum, a woman came to see me. She was recently widowed with a twelve year old son. She asked me to take the boy into my household as my servant so that he would have the company and training of men. I could not help but remember how I had felt when I was in his situation. As I found the boy pleasing and healthy, I took him as my personal servant. I planned to give him the same opportunities I had been given, and help him to become the man I had become.

As the months past, I became very fond of the boy, and found him to be not only of great service, but a joy to have in my house. Therefore I was filled with great sorrow and fear for the boy's life when he developed a fever which caused great suffering to the point he could not even stand. He was so important to my life that I was willing to do whatever would be required of me to save his life.

Having heard from the local residents of Capernaum of a man who could heal the sick, I made up mind to go to see him to implore him to command that my servant be healed. I cannot clearly explain why, but I was completely certain that this man some where calling the Christ could heal my beloved servant. Therefore it was with complete confidence that I set out early in the morning to find the man Jesus.

When I came upon Jesus as he entered the city, I went down on one knee before him and said, "My Lord, my beloved servant lies at home paralysed with a fever and in great suffering."

Jesus said he would go with me to my home immediately. But I said unto him, "My 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 the comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he soes it."

Jesus then spoke to the crowd around him and said, "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 kingdome 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 me, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would."

As I rose to thank him and take my leave, I noted the hour of the sun. When I returned to my house, I found my servant out of bed, and at his regular household tasks. He was completely healed. When I asked my house manager when the boy had gotten up, the time he told me was exactly the same as when Jesus had granted my request.

From that day forward I and my entire household worshiped the God of Jesus the Christ. And I used my own monies to build a place of worship in Capernaum where I and others who believe in Jesus gather to praise his name, and study his teachings. And I am very proud to say that my boy has become of leader of our group, and is no longer my servant, but a servant of our Lord Jesus.

May the grace of God, the love of Jesus Christ, and the peace of the Holy Spirit be with you. Amen.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 6:2

The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to share my faith with teenage boys from time to time. I always enjoy the excitement and imagination of those in early puberty. Their mind and emotions, being tossed in a wild sea of sudden growth and change, always present challenging ideas and questions. One troubling questions that arises as a result of the evil age we live in is this. Why should I honor and respect my father or my mother when he/she is an alcoholic, a drug addict, adulterous, abusive, or in prison? Am I really commanded by God to respect and honor someone sitting in prison for the crime of raping a child or killing a man in a bar fight? Surely the behavior of my parent exempts me from this command.

The answer to this question, as with all difficult questions of real life, can be found in the scriptures. If we read and study the Bible carefully we can find instructions for every situation we face in life today. And this one is no different. What we need to do is break it down to its basic spiritual elements. Those are: faithful obedience in God, trusting in His wisdom; receiving the power of His unconditional love and grace by allowing it to flow through us to others; forgiving others as He forgives us; leading others to repentance with exhortations and teachings as God leads us. Once we examine this question in the light of these basic principles of Christianity, the answer becomes clear.

In 1 Samuel 15:9-23 the Lord instructs us on just how strongly He values obedience to Him above all else, especially our ideas of what is proper. God does not accept our reasons for behaving in a manner which is not in compliance with his commands. He sees failure to obey Him as rebellion against His will. And in 1 Samuel 15:23 we are told by God through His prophet, Samuel, that "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." (KJV) Therefore, to disobey the Lord's command to honor your father and your mother, regardless of what you may think are acceptable reasons, is seen by God as rebellion against Him, and is the same as the sin of idolatry. Why is it idolatry? Because you are putting man's ideas and values before God. You are saying that you will follow man's ways rather than God's. And to put anything before God is idolatry. For you truly worship that which is most important to you. And if you say that man's ideas in the matter of a sinful parent are more important to you than God's commandment, then you are committing idolatry.

Jesus gives us instructions on forgiveness in his example of how we should pray. We are told in Matthew 6:12 that we should ask God to "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." This is Jesus' way of telling us that if we expect God to forgive us the debt we owe Him in payment for our sins, we must, likewise, forgive the debt owed by others who have harmed us. "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15 KJV) Jesus makes it clear that their is a direct connection between our willingness not to consider the offenses of others, and God's willingness to forget our offenses.

We are also instructed that we should "judge not, that ye be not judged." (Matthew 7:1 KJV) This is reflected in the statement made by Paul when he said, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23 KJV) None of us is pure and without blemish. We are all equally stained with sin the eyes of God. Therefore, failure to obey God's commandment to "honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee," (Genesis 20:12 KJV) is a sin no different from any other sin in the eyes of God. In this we must remember what God has told us by saying, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." (Isaiah 55:8 KJV)

Something that is necessary for all of us to remember is what Jesus told his disciples when he sent them out on their own. "Freely ye have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8 KJV) In this way Jesus implores us to freely give to others the same grace and love we have freely received from God. And it is important to notice that Jesus does not put any conditions on this instruction. We are to freely give grace to all without exception. For this is precisely what God does. He gives His grace to all without regard for how stained with stain any might be. And we are to follow His example, if we truly live in Christ.

Finally, we need to remember that we instruct others about the teachings of Jesus and the grace of God by how we live. When we obey God's commands, and show to others the same love He shows us, we proclaim boldly that Jesus is real, and God is faithful and true. Your public life and the way you treat others could be the only Bible a lost father or mother will read. By trusting God's wisdom rather than man's, you become the conduit through which the Holy Spirit can reach out to the lost sheep your Father wants to find. Through your obedience, even when it is hard and does not make sense to men, you receive the power of God to change men's hearts. In this way, we can change the world; just as Paul changed the world with his witness.

The command to honor your mother and father really has nothing to do with them and their behavior. It is a matter of your relationship with God. The question is not about the worthiness of your father and mother, but of your willingness to obey your heavenly Father. Ultimately it is He who you honor with the honor and respect you give to whom men consider the least worthy of honor and respect. By doing that you will be greatly blessed by God for the honor and glory you give to Him.

May the grace of God, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the peace of the Holy Spirit be with you. Amen.

Scripture reference: 2 Kings 4:8-37

In my many years as a woman of Shunem I have served my people with the talents and wisdom such as God has given to me. For that reason I have some standing and reputation for greatness among them, but it is of God and not of me. Even still, I never conceived. Therefore, my husband and I were without child, and were great in years.

Now there came a day when a man would regularly pass by my home, and I perceived that he was a great man of God. I invited him to come into my home and let me feed him. This he did every time he passed my way. So I compelled my husband to build a small room onto our home, and furnished it with a bed, a stool, and a candlestick. Then when the man of God next passed by I invited him to stay the night with us. This he did, and whenever he came to Shunem.

One day when this man of God was staying in my home, he sent his man servant to summon me to him. When I stood in the door to his room, he said that since I had been nice to him, he wanted to know if I wanted something of the King or the Captain of the guard. I told him that the people I live among take care of me just fine. His man servant then spoke with him in their tongue. So I returned to my chores.

A short time later the man servant compelled me again to go to the man of God. As I stood in the door to his room, he told me that a year later I would be with child, and have a son. I scolded him for saying such a thing to an old woman with an old husband, for he was a man of God and should not lie. He insisted that as a man of God he did not lie.

A year later I did conceive and bring forth a son, just as the man of God had said. I was very happy, and my husband also. We raised up the boy and taught him all that a boy should know, including how to work in the field with his father. It was on one such day when he was with his father in the field that he complained of a head ache. A servant brought him to the house, and I held him on my lap. There he died.

I took the body of my son and placed it on the bed of the man of God in the room my husband had made for him. By way of a messenger I compelled my husband to send a young man and a donkey to me. When my husband asked where I was going, I simply told him not to worry, all would be well. So I set off and traveled to see the man of God as he was on Mount Carmel. There I feel at his feet and reminded him that he said he did not lie when he said I should have a son. Perceiving what I meant, he and his servant went back to my home with me.

Upon arriving at my house the man of God first laid his staff on the face of my son, and then laid his body upon the boy. Placing his mouth on the boy's mouth, and his eyes on the boy's eyes, and pressing his body to that of the boy, the man of God lay there with my son. Then the boy's body became warm with life, and he sneezed seven times.

I knelt down at the man of God's feet, bowed my face to the ground, and thanked him and his God. I then took my son in my arms and left the room with great joy. And the man of God and his servant went their way, for they serve God.

May the God who gives life to the dead be praised and glorified forever. Amen.