Bankruptcy and the Bible

I am a lawyer and I often feel I should apologize for thinking like a lawyer. This is mainly because thinking like a lawyer leads me to speak like a lawyer and that can be a real problem. However, every once in a while there is a benefit to thinking and speaking like a lawyer. Today, it was a benefit. I was reading my Bible and thinking about bankruptcy. Doesn’t everyone? I wasn’t thinking about a personal bankruptcy but about bankruptcy in general. Mainly, I was contemplating that connection between the Bible and bankruptcy because I read Colossians 2: 13-14: “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” That, for those of us who think about bankruptcy, our own or others, is amazing good news.

If you are not familiar with the process of a bankruptcy, the short explanation is that it is a statutory creation (meaning conceived by a legislature) by which an individual or an organization can repay or diminish all or some of the debt of that person or organization under the protection of the bankruptcy court. Essentially, the court looks at all the debt, all the assets, recognizes that the individual or the organization is overwhelmed by debt and then figures out an equitable (to the creditors) and manageable (to the debtor) way for the individual or the organization to be relieved of the debt; in some cases, the court will “forgive” the debt entirely. For simplicity sake, let’s just refer to individuals in bankruptcy only.

Statistics compiled by the Bankruptcy Institute show that in the first quarter of the year 2012, 355,000 people have filed bankruptcy, which was down about 12 percent from the same period of time in 2011.  For the year 2011, 1.37 million people filed bankruptcy, which was less than the 1.55 million people who filed bankruptcy in 2010. http://www.bcsalliance.com/bankruptcy_statestats.html. In 2015, the number was approximately 819,240 bankruptcies filed nationally. Thus, the trend is slowing down. Nonetheless, that is a lot of bankruptcies.

Many people have a friend or family member whose unbearable financial stress has been relieved through use of the bankruptcy code. And certainly, it is a legal, legitimate means of getting out of debt. What’s the catch? Why wouldn’t everyone under financial strain take that route? One reason is that the person who declares bankruptcy carries that bankruptcy on their credit report for the next seven years making it difficult to get new credit, get a loan, buy a house or a car. Thus, even though the law gives a pass, it is a pass with a price. The debtor still “pays” for seven years after filing for bankruptcy. No new credit-essentially, creditors don’t trust the debtor until the price (the seven years) has been paid.

And yet, as we see from the statistics above, a lot of people and organizations elect bankruptcy as a good option, or as the only option.

Interestingly, there are people who, while being legally relieved of the debt, feel a moral obligation to repay creditors even after being declared bankrupt. Thus, even though the law gives them the individual a pass on repayment, something in the heart of the individual drives them to want to pay the debt back since it was most often a debt rightly incurred. This is not a legal obligation. The drive, or sense that the obligation should be repaid, is actually borne out of moral compunction. i.e. “I bought it. I could not pay for it. I have what I bought and I should pay for it even if not on the terms that I originally agreed to, and even though the law says I no longer owe that money.”  In other words, the legal debt is relieved but the moral debt, the need to “do the right thing” is not relieved. That points to something deeper inside us than what a statute or a law can fix.

We do not all struggle with overwhelming financial debt. But, we all have a moral debt. We have all screwed up. The Bible calls that sin. And like financial debt or credit cards, the time to pay eventually comes. For those who have sin (all of us) the payment comes as death, temporally and eternally. So what can we do when we recognize our own desperate situation morally and/or spiritually? Is there a bankruptcy code that relieves us of our debt, of the sense of condemnation, of the guilt and the shame, let alone the seven years bad credit record? Who really wants to have the past brought up again and again, a constant reminder of our screw ups? Not many.

The good news is that there is a way out of our spiritual indebtedness. That way is not a way conceived by a legislature nor implemented by a court. In fact, the way to relief of personal moral indebtedness is counter intuitive; it is through someone else being publicly shamed and someone else paying for all our debts. The way out is through the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. That payment completely takes away our indebtedness and removes the legal obligation. That is better than bankruptcy. The blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is far better than a spiritual bankruptcy code (which some would call the law). The difference between a spiritual bankruptcy code (the law) and having a debt paid off, is that the former may cover the debt superficially, but does not forgive the debt morally or take away the shame or guilt. Someone else paying the debt completely, as Christ did, leaves us not only legally free but morally free from attempts at or compunction to repay. What is incredible to me is that the indebtedness is completely paid. That means no calls, no seven year credit ding, no guilt, no shame, no looking over your shoulder wondering how you can pay back the debt. It isn’t just that someone found a way to pay the debt back in part, or over time, or at the creditor’s loss. The debt is paid in full now, completely.

When I read this verse, I thought about it immediately in terms of what I would say to a client: “You are not going to believe this: someone actually paid your immense debt at no cost to you but at tremendous cost to himself. You owe nothing to your creditors but everything to the one who paid the debt. The case against you is closed. The debt is paid in full.” What client would not jump at that opportunity? What client would not want to know who the beneficent person was? What client would not immediately feel relief, gratitude and perhaps delirious joy at such news?

Likewise, when confronted with my spiritual bankruptcy, why would I not jump with joy at the good news that my debt has been paid in full, immediately freeing me from the debt, the guilt, the shame and the seven years of it constantly being thrown into their face. Such is the good news we know and share, lawyers and non-lawyers alike.

How Was Your Day Today?

            At the end of any given day, when my husband walks through the door, I ask “How was your day today?” What follows is usually a conversation about meetings, conversations, phone calls and projects. He then normally returns the favor. Then, we have a discussion about bonbons, soap operas, luncheons with friends and other things I might have liked to do that day but instead, I relate how I worked, cleaned the house and did a load of laundry.

            Imagine, for a moment, if the legacy of your day was this: Your name here went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 

            What if it was the legacy of your life? That would be quite an epitaph.

            In Matthew 9:18-34 there is a short section in which is described four different, back to back miracles that Jesus did. It reads somewhat like a day in the life of Jesus. 

¹⁸ While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.

²⁰ Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. ²¹ She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

²² Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

²³ When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, ²⁴ he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. ²⁵ After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. ²⁶ News of this spread through all that region.

²⁷ As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

²⁸ When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

“Yes, Lord,” they replied.

²⁹ Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; ³⁰ and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” ³¹ But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

³² While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. ³³ And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

            Picture the disciples trotting along behind Jesus as he walked through a village. It isn’t clear what village or town it as, but it was big enough to have plenty of sick and needy people. On that day, there were at least four people in need as recounted in Matthew’s Gospel.

Request number one. Jesus was called upon by a synagogue leader (named Jairus in other Gospels) to raise his dead daughter to life. Jairus is an important man with some clout, after all he is a synagogue leader. Nonetheless, he does not command Jesus to come to his house and raise his daughter from the dead; kneeling before Jesus, Jairus says “if you put your hand on her, she will live.” That is not an ordinary, run of the mill request. As a disciple, watching this, I think “whoa, that’s a big request.”  But, they all trot off to Jairus’ house to see what Jesus is going to do.

As they are walking to Jairus’ house, along comes request number two: the woman with the issue of blood. We aren’t talking about a cold or a virus for a couple of days. This woman had suffered for twelve years at the hands of many doctors. No one could figure it out, so most likely, she was just seen as a woman under a curse who should be shunned and not touched-she was unclean. Imagine, not being touched for twelve years, no hugs, no hand upon the shoulder, no embrace, no kiss. Just abject aloneness and loneliness. This woman crawled along the ground, moving with the crowd, trying hard not to stand out, with one objective, one simple, insignificant, but forbidden objective- to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. As soon as she does, power goes out from Jesus, and she is healed. He says, pausing just long enough to turn around and look her in the  eye, “your faith has healed you.”  No rebuke, no castigation, no “ew, yuck” from Jesus- just commendation and healing.

Back to request number one. Jesus and Jairus finally get to Jairus house and the mourners are already gathering, doing what mourners do, mourning the dead daughter. Jesus tells them to go away and lifts her by her hand, giving her back to Jairus. The Bible, in classic understated phrases says “news of this spread through all that region.” No doubt.  For the disciples, the day was getting curiouser and curiouser. 

Request number 3:  As soon as Jesus leaves Jairus’ house, along come two blind men who do not ask to be given sight; instead they ask for mercy. Maybe the request is implied. Maybe they don’t know what to ask. Perhaps the two blind men are afraid to ask. Nonetheless, Jesus, the two blind men and presumably, the disciples, who are still obediently following along, go inside. Judging from the response Jesus got at Jairus’ house and what he said to the blind men after he gave them sight-“See that no one hears about this.”-he didn’t want everyone in the village watching. Jesus asks the blind men a simple question “do you believe that I can do this?” Only the Messiah could give sight to the blind and make the lame walk. Jesus was not asking whether they thought he had power to do it, he was asking whether the blind men believed he was the Messiah with authority to heal them. It was a much bigger question.  They say yes, and boom, Jesus tells them “your faith has healed you.”

Request number 4: while they were going out, a man who was demon possessed was brought to Jesus. Jesus drives out the demon that had caused the man to be mute and the formerly possessed man speaks. People said “whoa, nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” 

One day, four miracles, five people healed, Pharisees ticked off-all in one day. That was one day in the life of Jesus. 

It might have been even more amazing except that it wasn’t just one day. It was every day. That is the way the life of Jesus was described, not just one day. 

As a disciple of Jesus, I read these things and think, this is amazing. If I were Peter, James, John or Judas, I might have watched and thought: "This is cool. Look at Jesus doing all those God things." Until the day that Jesus, seeing a crowd of people, all coming wanting something (and the disciples are still obediently and happily trotting along beside him or after him), coming for healing, deliverance, food. Jesus does not send them away. Instead, he feels compassion for the crowd. Jesus says to the disciples, “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

To do what Jesus? To do these God things? To do what you are doing? Heal? Teach? Deliver? Raise the dead? Are you kidding? “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name. so that the Son might bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”  (John 14:12-14)

Amazing, impossible, unfathomable and outrageous as the invitation was, the disciples must have responded yes to the invitation-not only the invitation to pray for laborers, but to be laborers. Matthew 10:1 says “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness… and sent them out with instructions.” In Matthew 20:7, Jesus says to a group of people, "You also go and work in my vineyard."

How was your day today?

May I Borrow Your House

          Jesus did not have a lot of possessions; probably because of the life he lived. He didn’t have a way to get around, so he walked everywhere. When it came time to enter Jerusalem, to celebrate His last Passover on this earth, he had to borrow a colt for His triumphant entry. If he wanted to cross the Sea of Galilee, he had to borrow Peter’s boat. In fact, he didn’t even have a permanent home. When he lived with Mary and Joseph, he lived in Nazareth. Once he started his ministry, he didn’t have a place to put his pillow. When he wanted to stay in Bethany, he stayed at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. If he was visiting with Peter, he hung his robe there. Of course, as we know, he was laid to rest in a borrowed tomb. One time, when he was in Capernaum for a while, he stayed with me.

          I was delighted that he wanted to stay with me. When he taught, people came from all over. They flocked to hear him, including the teachers of the law. So many people came to my home that day, there was standing room only.  I was so proud that Jesus had come to my house. I was delighted that He had chosen my house to not only stay, but from which to teach. There, he even taught the teachers of the law.

          Then it happened. It started while he was teaching. First, it was just the sounds from the roof. That was bad enough. I didn’t want anything to distract people from Jesus’ teaching. But the sounds above were unmistakable. Scratching at first, and then clawing. Second, the dust and the dirt started to fall all around us as we sat and stood inside the room. I was really hoping Jesus would not notice. I would have to check it later. Frankly I was so embarrassed that there was something wrong with my roof. I didn’t want Jesus to think I had not taken care of everything for him to stay with me. Then the volume of the sound increased, the unmistakable sound of someone digging through my roof. People were starting to not only get distracted from what Jesus was teaching, they were looking up, dirt falling on their heads. I looked apologetically at Jesus, mortified that my home was no longer the perfect setting for his words of wisdom and truth. He kept right on teaching, as if not noticing that the roof was falling in on him. Paralyzed from the sheer embarrassment, and the inability of knowing quite what to do, I just kept pretending to listen, trying to focus, but every few moments I found myself inadvertently glancing upward.

          It did become a little difficult to ignore when through the roof came a mat, with a man lying on it. By this time, all eyes were on the man on the mat. People had cleared a space for the man on the mat to rest on the floor, followed by four more men who had apparently lowered him into my house. I am not sure which of us was more befuddled, the man on the mat or myself. He didn’t get up. Apparently, he couldn’t get up and walk. It was now too great a disturbance and too much of an intrusion to the teaching of Jesus to ignore. Jesus had stopped teaching. Now, everyone’s eyes were on Jesus. That was fortunate. I didn’t want them looking at me. Jesus was not looking at me either. That was also good because I didn’t want him to be upset with me that my house was now a full blown mess, totally unfit for Jesus, and totally unsuitable for a rabbi. It was as if everyone in the room stopped breathing for just a moment. I know it was only a moment because Jesus immediately assessed the entire situation: hole in my roof, mess on the floor, paralyzed man and four friends staring at Him. He “said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” I thought, Jesus was probably as annoyed with the man on the mat as I was, interrupting Jesus’ teaching, let alone destroying my house. Ah, I was so relieved. He wasn’t angry with me for my roof falling in. Jesus saw the obvious error of the man on the mat’s sin of barging into my home and interrupting his teaching. So I thought.

          Those teachers of the law who had also come to hear Jesus-they were not happy with what had just happened. They weren’t saying it out loud. But their annoyance with Jesus was as obvious as my relief that he wasn’t mad at me.

          “Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

          Jesus eventually stopped teaching and people went home.  Later that day, as Jesus and I cleaned up the mess from the hole in my roof, we talked about that hole and the mess in my house. We laughed about it and I had to admit to him, that had he told me about the mess to come when he asked to stay with me, I am not so sure I would have said yes. Sure, I loved having Jesus stay with me in my house. I really loved when he was teaching and people would come and hear him. But that mess.

          On that day, he did something more than teach and preach in my house. He stopped the clucking tongues and accusations of the teachers of the law. He healed a man.  He answered the prayers of four men whose friend lived his life on a mat. It required a hole in my roof. It required a temporary mess in my house.

          That night, as we sat down to eat a simple meal, I thanked him for coming to stay with me, and together, we blessed the mess.

Division Problems with Jesus

Years ago when I still homeschooled my children, one of my sons had just mastered double digit addition. His sister, older by four years, was working her way through long division. My son, looking through his sister’s math problems, was at first puzzled and then frustrated in not being able to understand long division.  After all, he had mastered adding double digit numbers, no small feat at 6. Yet, though he recognized the numbers; he saw no familiar “+” symbol. He could not figure out the meaning of the funny symbols  “/” and “÷.”  The numbers looked the same, but in the context, those same numbers no longer made sense. My oldest just said reassuringly, “Mama will show you when you get to third grade.”  Long division can be quite challenging and frustrating, both in the teaching and the learning.

Last time I wrote about taking Jesus at his word and the blessing of doing so. I, of course, l, like many others, think taking Jesus at His word is alternately easy and difficult. If God is very clear, specific and unequivocal about what He has said to do, as He often is (i.e. Ezekiel 4:4-8: lie on your left side for 390 days, then lie on your right side for 40 days), it is easy in that it is specific. It is difficult in that I, personally, would find this an odd and embarrassing command to obey. But it is specific. And if Jesus is clear and specific in His command to me, I am, frankly, without excuse. 

This time, let’s think about a situation when Jesus is not so clear in his command to a certain disciple. Philip had been following Jesus for a time and had been witness to the miracles Jesus was performing. Unfortunately, so had a great crowd of people who were also following Jesus from place to place. “When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward Him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” (John 6:1-21)

Poor Philip. He had only been with Jesus for less than three years. He is the one Jesus had sought out in Galilee to call Philip to follow him. And, Philip in turn called Nathaniel, saying “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. He knew something about this one he was following around Israel- enough to invite Nathaniel to come and follow Jesus too. 

            Flash forward to a hillside crowded with thousands of people who had been listening to Jesus teach for hours. Being the good host, Jesus wanted to feed them and invited Philip to problem solve with him. “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”  Jesus asked “where.” The answer to a “where” question is “Walmart” or “Kroger.” He was asking for a location…maybe. Philip’s response was to “how.” Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” The obvious implied tag is “and we do not have enough in our collective purses to put together half a year’s wages.”

When Jesus asked Philip the where question, the writer John states “He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.” Jesus asked a “where” question but he already knew the “how.” He knew He was the answer to the “where” and the “how.” Philip just had to get to the same place of understanding how the problem could be solved and who could solve the problem. Philip was not alone in his thinking. Andrew, as well, privy to the conversation and the conundrum of feeding five thousand unexpected guests spoke up, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” 

Let’s see, problem solving: 5 small loaves divided by 5000 (give or take an extra 2000 women and children) and 2 divided by give or take 7000 = … not enough. A problem without a solution.

However, Jesus understood the human problem of hunger and set the problem before Philip.  It was more than Philip or Andrew could figure out. But Jesus already had in his mind what he was going to do. He himself would be and provide the answer.  “Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.” No division, subdivision, no divide by 7000, borrow the one. None of that. He gave thanks, distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. The hungry were fed and there were leftovers...12 baskets full. Philip and Andrew saw that Jesus himself was the answer to the “where” and the “how.” Moreover, they saw that when He invited them into solving the problem, He had a pretty good idea of how to solve it.

Sometimes, Jesus invites me to problem solve with Him. I am at times faced with a small problem and the answer is as simple and profound as praying with someone. Sometimes I see an overwhelming need, in my life or the life of someone I love, sometimes it is in the life of someone I do not know at all. Even recently, with the earthquake in Nepal, the sheer numbers of deaths, homeless and sick staggered and overwhelmed my small mind, my helpless ability, my thousands of miles distance from the situational problem…which is a human problem. I pray and I bring my ten dollar contribution to feed the hungry or a hundred dollar contribution for 2000+ people groups without the Gospel in their own language. I pray for those who struggle without shelter. I bring 72 bagged lunches to the homeless shelter. And, yes, I also ask as Andrew did: “how far will they go among so many?” Apparently, far enough. I just need to entrust what I have to give to the Lord of 12 baskets leftover. 

Maybe you are like me and still don’t get the division, but a heavenly Father will show us how He does it and somehow, miraculously enough, we get promoted to the fourth grade.

Taking Jesus At His Word

     "My word is my bond." I have been trying to find the origin of that well-known statement for use in this blog spot. The origin is pretty much unknown other than that someone in cyber world traced it back to a book of proverbs from the 1600's in which is found  'An honest man's word is as good as his bond' from J Ray's English Proverbs published in 1670. This information is from Everyman Dictionary of Quotations and Proverbs, Chancellor Press, first published 1951." [And in the interest of full disclosure, that was found on the internet at http://www.emule.com/2poetry/phorum/read.php?7,151872.]

     As an attorney I find the sentence fascinating if only because everything I do is in triplicate, with  original signatures, certified, notarized and pulverized with proof of veracity, and identity in three forms. I do not know of many people who seal a deal or enter into a contract with a handshake or at someone's word anymore. "I give you my word" used to have some meaning, but nowadays, not so much. After all, the very definitions of words seem to be changing daily by common use, legislative intervention and judicial fiat.  When someone says my word is my bond, what do they mean by word? By bond? By is? It was not that many years ago that the meaning of the simple word "is" was questioned by a Yale law school graduate in a position of incredible power.

     Thus, it was interesting to me that a royal official, in desperate straits took Jesus at His word, and witnessed a miracle.

     John 4:46-54 relates the narrative of a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. The son was close to death. The official either marched or took his chariot 16 miles from Capernaum to Cana, where he heard Jesus was, to beg Jesus to go with him to Capernaum and heal his son. A royal official begged an itinerant preacher of a subjected, conquered people to go with him. That's curious. Why beg? The official could have easily forced Jesus to accompany him. He was a man in authority and could have sent a someone to bring Jesus to Capernaum. Instead, he himself went and begged.

     Jesus was seemingly not too interested in healing the son. His response seems almost unkind: "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe." Jesus was after the royal official's heart and soul. And, He was prepared to work a miracle for that to happen. Unmoved by Jesus' response, and not too concerned about the his own spirit when his son's flesh was dying, the official persisted: "Sir, come down before my child dies." This time, Jesus answered the request directly with a simple instruction: "You may go. Your son will live."

     "The man took Jesus at His word and departed." The official was an unbeliever but he took Jesus at his word. Thereafter, on his way back to Capernaum, the official was met by his servants with wonderful news: his son was alive. "Then the father realized that this was the exact time Jesus had said "Your son will live."  So he and all his household believed."

      The royal official had an audacious request, especially considering he did not believe in Jesus as the Son of God, able to do mighty and miraculous things. Jesus gave him a simple instruction: go, coupled with a promise: your son will live." The royal official had a choice: he had just walked or charioteered 16 miles one way to get Jesus to come. Jesus said go. If the royal official left and returned to Capernaum, as Jesus told him to, his son would either be dead and the man would have lost the opportunity to force Jesus to do whatever Jesus did to heal people. Or, he could obey and take Jesus at his word, and find his son healed. If the royal official chose to stay, he could bribe, force, whine, beg some more, until Jesus went with him, but even then, his son could still be dead when he got there. He chose to take Jesus at his word. In taking Jesus at his word, the royal official not only found his son alive, he found the Messiah, he found life and salvation for him, his son, and his whole household.

     I make ridiculous, audacious requests of Jesus often (but probably not often enough). When He gives me an answer, I have the exact same choice the Roman official had. I can take Him at his word or I can argue, whine and resist (which admittedly seems so much more productive in the moment). Or, I can believe that there is still One whose word is His bond, sealed with His blood, take Jesus at his word and watch for the miracle.