A Roman Centurion’s Great Faith Series

A Roman Centurion’s Great Faith

Introduction: The last half of Luke chapter 6 has the text of what some call “The Sermon on the Plateau” or the level place. There are a number of things similar, and different, than the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 but that’s not the point of this message. By now, Jesus has returned to Capernaum—just in time to minister to a Roman centurion, a man in charge of 100 soldiers!

How would Jesus react to a request from a foreigner?

1 The request from the centurion

Text: Luke 7:1-3, KJV: 1 Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. 2 And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. 3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.

Israel had been under Roman rule for a number of years before Jesus was born. Historians like Josephus give details in their writings (example, “Antiquities of the Jews”, book XIV, chapter 4, online at www.ccel.org) . Phillip Schaff, in his “Encyclopedia”, wrote that the Roman emperor Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 BC (https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc05/Page_165.html). Along with Roman rule, Israel saw a fairly large number of Roman soldiers and officers. To give one example, maybe 20-30 years after this story, Paul received an escort of nearly 500 Roman troops from Jerusalem to Caesarea (Acts 23:23)!

It goes without saying that some of these soldiers and officers had varying opinions of the Jews. Here in this story, there’s a record of one who loved Israel and apparently was very humane in his treatment of the people he was there to, more or less, supervise. The people, at least near Capernaum, knew of him, maybe even knew him personally, and would later give a totally unexpected voice of support.

That support would come in very welcome, indeed, once news reached Jesus about a problem in this centurion’s household. Something to keep in mind is that slavery was legal and practiced in those days and this centurion had at least one such servant. The word translated “servant” in the King James Version is actually “doulos” which is the usual word for “slave (as noted online at https://biblehub.com/greek/1401.htm)

This particular slave or servant was “sick, and ready to die” as Luke records. The servant was also paralyzed or “sick of the palsy” and “grievously tormented” as Matthew wrote in his account (Matt. 8:6). We’re never told how this servant came down with this disease, but he had it, and was about to die from it.

I can’t help but wonder if the centurion had, maybe, heard of another man, a paralytic, whom Jesus had healed (see the accounts in Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, and Luke 5:17-26). This man, the centurion’s servant, was “grievously tormented”, unlike the other paralytic; it’s likely he was in even worse shape than the first man. No matter: the centurion somehow knew that Jesus, and only Jesus, could heal his servant.

The problem was, how to get a Jewish teacher (remember, Jesus was called, variously, “Teacher”, “Master (same as ‘teacher’ except for a few instanced)”, “Rabbi’, and even “Lord” by some. The word “Lord” in Greek had a double meaning: as some Bible teachers observed, “Lord” could simply mean “sir”, as well as the Divine meaning such as when Thomas would later say “My Lord and my God” in John 20.

2 The response by Jesus

Text, Luke 7:4-6a, KJV: 4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: 5 For heloveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue. 6a Then Jesus went with them.

These verses contain some interesting nuggets. First, the elders of the Jews actually begged Jesus to heal the centurion’s servant. Partly, this was because the centurion loved the nation and built a particular synagogue. After all, Rome sent soldiers of several different ranks to most of their Empire and one reason why was to keep the peace. This man, this centurion, seemed to have learned that lesson easily. Note there is no hint (openly, at least) of any mistreatment or ill will towards anyone, Jew or Gentile, in that area.

Second, we’re not sure how much a centurion received as salary. It goes without saying that increases in rank (he wasn’t just an ordinary soldier) usually meant increases in pay as well as increased responsibility. This centurion, as mentioned, had learned to love the nation of Israel and had built them a synagogue. That probably means he financed the construction; it would likely take one man quite a length of time to build a synagogue with only his own two hands!