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Luke 7:1-10
The Faith of the Centurion
When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 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.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
I like this story a lot. That might be true in part because Jesus praises the faith of a gentile, and I tend to pull for gentiles in the Bible, being one myself. But I also like the way the centurion in the story expresses his faith in Jesus in plain and simple terms. He doesn’t use a bunch of theological jargon. He doesn’t claim to have kept all the rules and rituals. He doesn’t claim to be following Moses or Abraham. The centurion just plainly states his belief that Jesus can save his servant.
As the commander of a unit of about 100 men, the centurion would be a career soldier. He would have risen to a position of real authority in the greatest army in the world of its time. There were bigger armies, but none more disciplined and professional. Men became centurions in the Roman army because their superiors considered them tougher, smarter and more disciplined than the others around them.
As Luke tells this story, this particular centurion wasn’t just tough and smart – he was also a man of faith. He would have been called a “God-fearer” – that was the phrase used to describe a gentile who worshiped the God of Israel and tried to follow the Law of Moses, but who had not formally converted by undergoing circumcision.
In addition to his personal faith, this army officer was regarded as a friend to the Hebrew congregation in the town of Capernaum, where Jesus lived as an adult. Luke says he was praised by the local Jewish leaders as helping the covenant people, and that he had even built the local synagogue. So since Jesus lived in the town, it’s possible that he and the centurion might have met before.
In any case, the centurion has a valued servant who is gravely ill. And at the centurion’s request, some of the local Jewish elders approach Jesus on his behalf. (Think about that for a minute – lots of the local leaders were hostile to Jesus, but they’re willing to approach him and ask for help on a Roman patron’s behalf.) The elders ask Jesus to come and heal the servant, and he agrees. But while he’s on route, the centurion sends some friends to tell Jesus he doesn’t need to bother himself to come to the house. “Say the word,” the centurion says, “and my servant will be healed.”
There are a couple of details here that seem significant to me. The first is that the centurion sends this second message with some of his friends. The first ones to approach Jesus on behalf of the centurion were local Jewish leaders. So as much as they might appreciate the centurion, their relationship with him was on an official basis. But then the centurion sends friends – people whose relationship with him is personal. That’s why I say it seems significant – sending the friends adds an extra urgency to the matter.
And apparently that the centurion has instructed his friends to address Jesus as “Lord.” We tend to take that for granted because we sort of routinely call Jesus “the Lord.” But this is one of the first times in Luke that anyone addresses him using that title of respect and honor. And what’s more, in the Roman Empire, people routinely said, “Caesar is Lord.” So for a Roman army officer to tell his friends to address Jesus that way points to the great respect he had for him.
The message the officer sends to Jesus confesses his own unworthiness even to come into the presence of Jesus or have him come into the house. For an officer in an occupying army with the power of life and death over the local Jews, that’s a startling degree of humility. The centurion is not making demands or even expressing an attitude of entitlement. He’s begging for help.
And finally, the centurion says he understands that Jesus has authority over the forces of life and death. The officer says he understands what it means to have authority – he has it himself. The centurion can command soldiers to do things, and they do them. And the centurion states his belief that Jesus has the same kind of power over the forces of nature that he himself has over his soldiers.
Jesus expresses amazement at the soldier’s faith. In fact, he says it’s greater than any faith he’s seen among the Israelites. That’s the real bottom line of this story, it seems to me. This Roman officer is a forerunner of the billions of gentiles who would come to follow Jesus. And he’s a model of real faith. Faith that acknowledges the Lordship of Jesus. Faith that confesses our unworthiness to be in his presence. And faith that believes that Jesus has the power to heal us and that he cares enough to make it happen.
So that’s why I like this story so much. The great faith the centurion had – along with his humility and his insight – I’m glad Jesus went out of his way to perform the miraculous healing the man begged for.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for the example of this faithful Roman officer. Let him inspire us to boldly declare the lordship of Jesus, to acknowledge our own unworthiness as disciples, to believe in his power, and to embrace his love for us. Amen.
Blessings,
Henry
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