AMAZE:
1) to wonder, wonder at, marvel
2) to be wondered at, to be had in admiration to wonder; by implication, to admire:-admire, have in
admiration, marvel, wonder.
What was Jesus amazed by? How does one move the heart of the King of angels? There are only two instances in which the gospels tell me that Jesus was amazed by someone’s actions.
And no, His amazement did not come over the depth of the person’s depravity, neediness, selfishness, or hatred.Jesus did not stand in awe of the baseness of the human heart. He knew men’s thoughts and motives. They did not shock Him.
And no, He was not amazed over the show of a person’s kindness or the size of his or her monetary gift or help to the poor.
No, Jesus did not stand in wonder or admire human beings for what I stand in wonder and admire in others.
What did amaze Him, what caused Christ to have admiration for one that He created, was a person’s display of faith.
Luke 7 tells the story of a Gentile centurion who recognized Jesus’ power to heal his sick servant:
When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. There 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.
He 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. But 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 he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
You and I have the opportunity to amaze Christ today with our level of trust in Him. He stands in wonder when we praise Him for the difficult situation we find ourselves in. He is amazed when we trust His character even when our circumstances give us an excuse to doubt His goodness. He admires our deliberate act of the will to still our soul like a weaned child with her mother before Him when our lives our complete chaos. When we act out of the power of the Holy Spirit to believe that He has not abandoned us, He is amazed by that.
But He also stands in wonder at how we fail to trust. How we forget so easily how much He loves us. How we do not see that the trial we are facing is going to be used by Him to make us more like Himself. He is amazed at our lack of faith in His ability to rescue us, to walk with us through the fire, and to provide streams for us in the desert.
Mark 6:3-6 shows me the danger of amazing Jesus by my lack of faith:
Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.
My lack of faith reduces Christ to a mere man. It discounts His diety. It denies me the peace that is mine and the healing that comes to my soul when I walk by faith and not by sight.
How am I going to amaze Him today?
