Did you know that there are two verses in the New Testament where we see that Jesus is amazed and that both of these verses have to do with faith. Let’s look at each of these verses and see how our faith can amaze Jesus.
(Matthew 8:10)
“When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.’”
In this familiar passage of Scripture, we see the great faith of a centurion demonstrated on behalf of his paralyzed suffering servant. When Jesus asks the centurion if He should come and heal him, he tells Jesus that he is not worthy to have Jesus come under his roof. Instead, he says: “…But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” (Matthew 8:8).
This centurion believed so strongly in the power of Jesus to heal that he felt it not even necessary for Jesus to be physically present to perform the healing. When Jesus heard how the centurion understood the power of authority combined with his great faith in the authority of Jesus, Jesus stood amazed! For you see great faith always amazes our Savior. Trusting and believing in Jesus will always activate the power of Jesus on our behalf. Great faith always pleases and amazes Christ.
(Mark 6:6)
“He was amazed at their lack of faith.”
The scene here is Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth and He is found teaching in the synagogue. We see that the people were amazed with the wisdom and miracles that they saw Him possess and perform. Yet they took offense at Jesus’ postering Himself as some great teacher because of His humble background, limited formal education, and the fact that He had no religious credentials. Jesus was truly amazed at the fact that though they heard His unique teaching and saw His miracles, which should have generated faith in them, instead garnered unbelief. The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus despite knowing and seeing what they witnessed in Him. Thus, in this homecoming, a great lack of faith amazed Jesus and teaches us that miracles belong to those who are ready to believe.
In both of these examples we see the following: Great faith in the person of Jesus activates the power and compassion of the Savior. However, despite the impressive array of evidence we possess today on who Jesus is, many demonstrate no faith; not so much because of a lack of evidence but they suppress the truth because of their sin.