In the spring of Stephanie’s junior year in high school when she was a villager in “Brigadoon”, a few senior football players were also villagers. They didn’t have lines to speak, but they sang and danced.

One day Stephanie told me that back stage, before the “villagers” went on, she heard Brad, a senior varsity player, say, “If I had known how much fun this is, I’d have done this instead of playing football.”

I asked if he was joking and she replied, “Not at all! He meant it!” I marveled and continue to marvel at that tiny incident with such a big window of possible implications.

Jesus “marveled only twice in the New Testament; once in Nazareth when neighbors he knew and loved didn’t recognize him as holy,( Mark 6:6) and once in Capernaum when a Roman centurion did. (Matthew 8:10).

I was surprised to read that Jesus, who “did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.” (John 2:25) was himself surprised at the Centurion who recognized God in His son: The Centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just 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 and said to those following him, ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith!’ (Matthew 8:8-10)

I was surprised that the centurion’s schooling in obedience was the vehicle by which he recognized God’s son. I was surprised that the centurion so easily identified with Jesus, and I envied him for being able to surprise Jesus.

I believe that if Jesus has given himself to us as fully as we know he has, even this tiny thing, being able to surprise him, has not been withheld. For him to find an opening in our spirits today that wasn’t there yesterday, for him to hear us say, “If I had known how it would be with him before, I would have come sooner,” could surprise him even today.

The fruit of that surprise for Brad was a great time in his senior year before graduation, and for the centurion, an eagerly sought healing for his servant.

Love in Him,

Prue