Marvel

It is no small matter when the son of God marvels.  There are many instances in the New Testament when the people marveled because of what Jesus did or said.  There are much fewer that actually state that Jesus marveled because of what another person did. We will look at two instances of Jesus marveling, particularly looking at their contrast to one another.  

The first is written of in Mark 6:5-6.  In this passage it talks about Jesus visiting his “hometown” where he grew up.  Obviously he was familiar to the citizens of the area and he was very familiar with his surroundings.  He had played in the fields, lived among his neighbors and even worked with his father as a carpenter for the local customers.  

But Jesus was not visiting this time as the local kid who done good.  He was simply passing through while following the leading of His Father in heaven.  No doubt he saw family friends and even his own mother, brothers and sisters. He even had the opportunity to speak in the local synagogue.  This is where things went downhill. Instead of listening to Jesus' words and taking them for the value they possessed, the people who knew Jesus and his family searched their memory of Jesus and viewed his words from their own position?  

Who is this guy and who does he think he is?  We know him. His family lives right down the road.  The Bible states that they “took offense at him.” Now it seems a little crazy to hear of such a reaction.  Why not be happy that a local boy could get some learning and expound on the goodness of God? But, they would have none of it.  

This is where we get to Jesus marveling.  He knew what was going on in their heads. He knew they resented him.  Mark testifies in his gospel that “he could do no miracles there.” Unbelievable, here was the son of God.  The man who walks on water, stops storms and raises people from the dead could not give a miracle to anyone in his hometown.  A few sick people got healed when Jesus laid hands on them (these must of been out of town guests).

Then the scripture says “He marveled because of their unbelief.”  Jesus, the son of God, was amazed at the people in his hometown because they had such a lack of faith.  WHAT?! The people actually amazed the son of God by having such a high quality of unbelief. If that is not an ignominious achievement, I am not sure what would be.  

Now, before giving up all hope, let’s move on to the second instance of marvel in Jesus’ life on earth.  This one is talked about in Matthew 8:5-10. Described in these verses is a centurion, Roman soldier, who visited Jesus while he was in Capernaum.  This city was also a familiar area to Jesus. In fact, several of his chosen disciples hailed from Capernaum and he himself had visited there on several occasions.  It also appears that the centurion described in the gospel was familiar with who Jesus was but it is unlikely that his knowledge of Jesus was anything more than rumors of miracles and testimonies from people who saw and heard Jesus.  After all, he was a Roman and Jesus was a Jew.

As Matthew tells the story he explains that the centurion came to Jesus because of his servant being paralyzed and “suffering terribly.”  We are not told how the servant became paralyzed. But we can extrapolate that this servant was important to the centurion. This Roman was definitely stepping out of his comfort zone to talk with Jesus and even ask for help!  Jesus asks the centurion if he would like Jesus to go with him to the servant and heal him. To which the centurion makes a remarkable reply “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But simply say the word and my servant will be healed.”  WHAT?!

That was basically Jesus’ response as well.  The Bible says that Jesus heard it and “He marveled.”  WHAT?!  This Roman soldier, sent to Israel to lord over the Jews, representing everything that the Jewish people hated, amazed the son of God, sent to save the whole world - starting with the Jews.  This centurion made Jesus marvel. Jesus even said that he had not found the level of faith portrayed in this man’s response in all his travels around Israel. Now that is a statement.

So what do we take from these two accounts?  How do we marvel God? Are we like the hometown crowd that has seen Jesus and knows who He is, so we have no use of His miracles?  Is our knowledge of Jesus so thorough that we have no faith in Him? Is our position greater than even the position of the Son of God?  Or are we like the Roman Centurion who does not care about his position or the wedge that should be driven between him and Jesus, who is willing to go, to ask and to have faith that what Jesus can do He will do?  Which marvel are we to God?