I was reading the Gospel of Matthew over again yesterday and found something new that I had never thought of. I wanted to share with you my thoughts. Here are the passages that I found interesting:

Matthew 8: 5 And (7) when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6 and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying (8) paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented." 7 Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 But the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 "For I also am a man under (9) authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it." 10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.

Matthew 9: 2 (2) And they brought to Him a (3) paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, "(4) Take courage, son; (5) your sins are forgiven."

Matthew 9: 18 (21) While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and (22) bowed down before Him, and said, "My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live."

Matthew 15: 22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, (18) Son of David; my daughter is cruelly (19) demon-possessed." 23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, "Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us." 24 But He answered and said, "I was sent only to (20) the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25 But she came and (21) began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" 26 And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 27 But she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." 28 Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, (22) your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once.

Matthew 17: 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a (14) lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

Now, I noticed 2 things about these particular passages.

1) The power of intercessory prayer is awesome!

2) The Lord healed the people NOT based on the faith of the one being healed, but on the faith of the person interceding.

This has a profound significance when applied to infant baptism! If it be true that our Lord would heal someone on account of their intercessor’s (or representative) faith, then why is it so crazy to believe that Jesus would except an infant into the Body of Christ on account of the parent’s and Godparent’s faith?

It just makes so much sense! What do you guys think?

In Christ.

-- Jake Huether (jake_huether@yahoo.com), November 05, 2002

Answers

bump

-- Jake Huether (jake_huether@yahoo.com), November 05, 2002.

Very good insights, Jake! :-)

It's also a reminder that the grace of salvation is a free gift from God, and not something that we "earn" by reaching a certain age - something you'd think the Protestants would appreciate! ;-)

-- Christine L. (chris_tinelehman@hotmail.com), November 05, 2002.

I'm amazed at this insight. It is encouraging to know our prayers for each other hold so much power. The Lord is so good as to let us be involved in each other's healings and to express our love for each other by intercession. I believe He would have us spend more time carrying each other to Him, then even ourselves. The more we would carry each other's burdens, the more He'll carry us. And yes, I suppose that's what happens at infant baptism. The whole Church carries that baby to the Lord. This is no small thing. What power there is behind her. We all benefit. Glory to God. Theresa

-- Theresa Huether (Rodntee4Jesus@aol.com), November 07, 2002.

Thanks to all of you. Reading your comments just made me feel very happy (and privileged to be Catholic too). [Very glad you came back, Christine.]
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), November 08, 2002.