Faith That Marvels

Faith That Marvels

Luk 7:1-10

Read: Luke 7:1-10

Practically all Bibles today are divided up by chapter and verse, but many are also by divided by chapter or sectional topics. For example, Matthew chapter 5 might have a heading at the beginning of the chapter that says “Sermon on the Mount” to let people know at a glance what this chapter or section of verses is about. Luke chapter 6, beginning at verse 17 might have a heading that says, “Sermon on the Plain.” Many Bibles are divided up like this and any heading you might see could contain just a couple of verses or whole chapters.

One of my Bibles that I use a lot, at the beginning of our story today in chapter 7 of Luke, has the heading “Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant.” But you what? I think that maybe “A Centurion’s Faith” might be more appropriate. Yes, Jesus did heal the servant, but I think that it’s the Centurion’s faith that carries the story, because his faith caused the Lord to “marvel” and to “turn around.” In other words, He was stopped in His tracks. Now, the Greek word for marvel means to wonder, or have admiration for, and this Greek word is found in only two places in Marks gospel. Here, where Jesus marvels at the Centurion’s faith, and then again when Jesus marveled at the unbelief He experienced in His hometown of Nazareth.

If you think about it though, you might think that it’s a marvel that Jesus would marvel at anything at all. I mean, the Bible tells us that He holds the preeminence over all things, that He’s the firstborn of all creation, and that He is the One by whom all things that exist were brought into existence. So, Jesus has quite literally “seen it all.” What could He possibly encounter in this world and this life that would make a big impression on Him? You wouldn’t think that there would be anything left that would cause Him to marvel, would you?

But it appears that there was one thing that would catch His attention, and that was the exceptional manner in which someone had faith in Him. As a matter of fact, in the Scriptures, only twice do we read where He commended someone for having “great faith,” and that was the Syrophoenician (or Canaanite) woman who came pleading with Him in a very insistent way to heal her daughter, and then in our story today of the Centurion who wanted Him to heal his servant. A woman and a man, both of them Gentiles, which might give explanation why He would say, Luk 7:9 …not even in Israel have I found such great faith.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? You would expect to find great faith everywhere in Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem. The Jews were God’s people. They had the promises of Abraham, Isaac, and Moses. They have had intimate dealings with the Lord throughout their history. So, one might expect to find exceptional faith all over the place. But what do you find instead? You find that He rebukes His people for their “little” faith.

Several times in the NT we find where He’s scolding the religious leaders about their lack of faith. There were even several times when He scolded His own disciples for the same thing. Peter stepped out of the boat, walked on water and then began to sink. Jesus reached out and saved him, saying to him Mat 14:31 …"You of little faith, why did you doubt?" To the disciples in the boat who feared for their lives in a raging storm, He asked Mat 8:26 …"Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?" After He told His disciples to watch out for the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees, the disciples wondered among themselves if He was talking about them not having brought any bread, when He told them Mat 16:8 …"You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? There are other places I could mention, but I don’t have the time.

This Centurion in our story today is a model for us of Christian service. He is a man with authority over 100 soldiers, but he became a servant to his own servant when he called upon Jesus to heal him. He reached out to someone in need, who was lowly and despised by Roman society, and he became the channel through which Christ’s healing power flowed to the dying slave.

Friends, this is a pretty remarkable incident. The Roman army wasn’t known for its piety, yet this Centurion had great faith. Knowing what we know about Roman occupation and their rule over foreign lands, it’s surprising that in the Bible whenever a Centurion is spoken of, they are presented to us in a favorable light. So, that ought to tell you that it doesn't matter what your job is, there is nothing, except yourself, that can keep you from living a godly life in the midst of an evil and unbelieving world. He did it back then, and we can do it today.