Interesting question. Westside has been walking through Matthew 8-9 this month, learning about God's purpose to restore all things... and we see Jesus' authority as the means and power that can bring restoration to all things. BUT... do we recognize his authority?
Matthew 1st includes LORD in this gospel in chap. 8 from a marginalized leper, then from a non-Jewish roman soldier... then the disciple's call him Lord when they're freaked over a raging storm they're caught in. Though Jesus commends the soldier for his GREAT faith, he rebukes the disciples for their LITTLE faith.
He's in the boat/storm, present, and they're scared. Do they really KNOW who's in the boat with them. When they get to the other side of the lake, they learn what LORD means. By 2 demon possessed men who controlled by evil, run to Jesus, and ask him to spare their ultimate destruction. Get this, the demons call him SON OF MAN - the son of man who has power and dominion and authority (Daniel 7:13-14). THEY KNOW WHAT LORD MEANS. Of course they know the inside scoop. Jesus just showed up on the earthly scene, but he's been SON OF MAN for eternity. He's the image of the invisible God, the 1st over all creation (Colossians 1), the Everlasting Father (Isaiah). The disciples are still learning, so we can't judge them. But it makes me wonder...
...what does it mean for you and I to call Jesus LORD?
Keep this in mind: the disciples feared his absence in the storm and wanted him close - the demons feared his presence and wanted him far; he calmed the storm around the disciples - he sent the storm from within the 2 men running.
He's one powerful SON OF MAN.
Faith, in Christian terms, means believing precisely that the living God has entrusted his authority to Jesus himself, who is now exercising it for the salvation of the world.
N.T. Wright (commentary on Matthew)
It's the authority and power of LORD Jesus who causes the restoration of all things, including restoring people back to wholeness.
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