Worship

From there, Jesus went along Lake Galilee. Then he climbed a hill and sat down. Large crowds came and brought many people who were crippled or blind or lame or unable to talk. They placed them, and many others, in front of Jesus, and he healed them all. Everyone was amazed at what they saw and heard. People who had never spoken could now speak. The lame were healed, the crippled could walk, and the blind were able to see. Everyone was praising the God of Israel.          Matthew 15:29-31 (CEV)

This isn’t the day that Jesus fed five thousand. On this day, he fed four thousand. He is in a Gentile region on this day. Jesus didn’t teach like He did the day He fed five thousand. But He was only with the five thousand for one afternoon while He stayed with these people for three days.

For three days, Jesus did an unbelievable things…He healed. It seems like Matthew could have been a bit more descriptive; told us a bit more about what happened in those three days when all those people were healed.

Imagine what your reaction would be if you broke your hip and it just healed on its own without surgery and pins and you were never able to walk again? And then Jesus touched you and you were able to run and jump!

What if you were born blind? Jesus spoke to you and His was the first face you saw!

I can’t imagine if I was deaf all my life and then because I spent some time with Jesus, I heard my child say, “Mama”.

Matthew says that people were “ amazed at what they saw and heard”. I somehow do not think the word ‘amazed’ begins to cover it! Four thousand people were amazed and sharing their stories – their testimonies. They were so amazing because they were the truth about Jesus.

And the people were so amazed that they praised God. I wonder how they did that? Matthew doesn’t tell us but I can’t make a few guesses. I bet they didn’t sit down and write out a creed or doctrinal statement about how they should praise. They didn’t sit in neat little rows inside a building they built. And they didn’t wait until the Sabbath to do it, did they? They just did it. They praised God. And Jesus’ heart was so touched that He wanted to feed them. He wanted to break bread with them.

Worship is ‘thank you’ without any filter. It’s straight from my heart to God’s. It’s realizing I have been given more than I can give back. It’s knowing that I was limping along when God touched me and now I can leap. Worship cannot be silenced any more than God’s love and peace can be marketed or given a price tag.

It’s gratitude to my Savior from my saved heart. It is offering worship to my Healer by my healed heart. So let’s worship now.