He Deserves Your Help, Jesus!

"...a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them."  Luke 7:1-6

I love this story because the centurion was a Roman soldier and I always rejoice that he heard of Jesus and went to him for help. His heart was surely open to God since he realized the Jewish religion was superior to his own and had even helped build a church.

It is also interesting how the elders of the church came to Jesus and said, "This man deserves to have you do this..."  Jesus never seemed to consider if anyone deserved his help - he just helped people.

My sister is homeless and living in her van. She has met a lot of homeless people who live in their cars. One man she met told her he was hungry one day. He saw a church group gathering in a park for a picnic. He went up to a woman and asked her for a sandwich. She asked, "Do you smoke?" He answered honestly that he did. She then said she wouldn't give him a sandwich because if he could afford cigarettes then he could afford food.

In other words, he didn't deserve to eat because he was wasting money. Well, I can see the logic in that, but logic doesn't always lead us to love. I think with God it is our great need that matters, not what we are doing or what we have done. And unless you have ever smoked (I do) then you don't know how addicting it is and yes, I would buy cigarettes before food too. That's just the way it is.

The Roman Centurion understood this. The Bible says, "Jesus was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you." verses 6,7  

This man knew he had done nothing to deserve Jesus' help but he asked for it anyway. We cannot earn God's love or attention; we just have to ope the door and let him into our life. He is already there knocking.  "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." Revelation 3:20