Faith Like A Centurion

I want to begin our message this morning with a sermon illustration: “It is said that Napoleon [Bonaparte], while looking at some papers, let slip the bridle of his horse, which reared [back] so that the emperor was in danger. A corporal . . . leaped forward and caught the bridle, bringing the horse under control. Napoleon saluted the corporal and said, ‘Thank you, Captain.’ ‘Of what company [am I a Captain], Sire?’ asked the corporal. ‘Of my guards,’ replied Napoleon. [And so], the young corporal picked up his musket, hurled it aside and walked across the field toward the emperor’s staff, tearing off his corporal’s stripes as he went. When he took his place among the officers, they asked him what he was doing. He replied that he was a Captain of the guards. ‘By whose order?’ queried one of them. ‘The emperor’s orders,’ he replied.”(1)

“[This] incident may have never taken place, but the truth involved is supreme. God is ready to do a great deal for you [and I], if [we] are ready to take Him at His word. A man of less faith might have picked up his musket, stepped back into the ranks and boasted for the rest of his life that Napoleon had called him ‘Captain.’ This describes the difference between the Christian of ‘little faith’ who has a head knowledge of the position and titles by which the Lord . . . has given each believer in Christ; and the Christian of ‘applied faith,’ who takes God at His word and enters into the blessing.”(2) This morning, we are going to look at another soldier; one who had enough faith to take Jesus at His word and receive an answer to His request.

It Takes Faith to Receive God’s Help (vv. 5-9)

5 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” 7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Beginning in verse 5, we are introduced to a centurion who approached Jesus asking for His help. “The centurions were the backbone of the Roman army. In a Roman legion there were 6,000 men. The legion was divided into sixty centuries, each containing 100 men, and in command of each century there was a centurion.”(3) Easton’s Bible Dictionary says, “The centurions were chosen by merit, and so were men remarkable not so much for their daring courage as for their deliberation, constancy, and strength of mind.”(4) I need to pause for a moment and point out that, like the centurion, Jesus wants us to be constant and unwavering in our faith. We read in Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

Polybius was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period, born around 198 B.C. He described what a centurion should be: “Men who can command, steady in action, and reliable. They ought not to be over-anxious to rush into the fight, but when hard-pressed, they must be ready to hold their ground, and die at their posts.”(5) In James 1:6-7, we read about the man lacking faith, how he is double-minded and unstable; to which James said we need to allowance patience to have its perfect work in our life (James 1:2-5). The word that he used for “patience” (hypomone) was a military term, referring to a detail of the finest troops who would hold their position and not surrender any ground.(6) The centurions were the finest men in the Roman army, and they provide us an example of the tenacity of faith that we should have as Christian soldiers.

The help that the centurion requested was for his servant to be healed of paralysis. The word used for servant (pais) here (v. 6) refers to a child acting as an attendant; such as an assistant to a king. Or, in this case, an assistant to the centurion. The word refers to both male and female servants.(7) What we pick up on, is that this child was very dear to him. “The centurion [in this passage] did not act as many masters do when their servants are afflicted. [Many would] have [had] them immediately removed to an infirmary, [or] to a workhouse; or sent home to friends or relatives, who probably either care[d] nothing for them, or [were] unable to afford them any of the comforts of life.”(8)