It’s usually on Saturday afternoons. You know the infomercial. It’s the one that promises to give you a jaw-dropping physique for only 48 monthly payments of $9.95. It’s hard not to pick up the phone and order that rowing machine, the stair-stepper, or whatever it is they’re selling that week because the models using the equipment do have jaw-dropping physiques. Who wouldn’t want to look like they do? But before your fingers can dial the number, reality sinks in. Even if I order this equipment, you think, even if I use it everyday, there’s still no way I would end up with such a physique so why bother?
I wonder if we don’t feel the same way when it comes to having great faith. We resign ourselves to thinking that only the well-known believers in the Bible could attain such faith. The rest of us “common” Christians will just have to be content with a mediocre faith – a dependable Toyota-Celica-faith that will get us to heaven, but not a Dodge-Viper-faith that will dazzle along the way.
That’s perhaps what a certain Roman centurion thought 2,000 years ago. And yet it was he, an unnamed non-Jewish layperson and not one of Jesus’ disciples, who exhibited a faith which made Jesus’ jaw drop. What made the centurion’s faith jaw-dropping? It’s quite simple: a God-given view of self, and a God-given view of Christ. Let’s find out what this means.
After Jesus finished delivering his famous Sermon on the Mount he went into the town of Capernaum, which served as his home base in the northern region of Galilee. On his way home a group of Jewish elders from the local synagogue pleaded with Jesus to come and heal the slave of a Roman centurion. It was actually the centurion who had sent the elders to Jesus telling us that he was not your average Roman commander. Although he was a man of wealth and power and would not have had any trouble replacing his slave should he die, he showed great concern and compassion for his slave’s well-being. The elders explained that this centurion was deserving of Jesus’ help because unlike most dreaded Romans, this one loved the Jewish people and had even built the synagogue in Capernaum.
Jesus agreed to follow the elders to the centurion’s house but before he arrived, the centurion sent some friends asking that Jesus not come to his home. Why not? Listen to the centurion explain in his own words: “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” (Luke 7:6b, 7a). “I am not worthy…”? What was the centurion thinking about? Had he recalled some teenage indiscretion of his? Was he reflecting on how he had treated his troops that week? Was he reviewing his less-than holy motive for building the synagogue for which the elders had praised him? Sure, others could think he was deserving of Jesus’ attention and help but the centurion knew better. He had a God-given, honest view of himself. He knew that he was a sinner. This is the first thing that made the centurion’s faith so great.
But what’s the big deal about that? Didn’t we confess this morning to being sinners? We did, didn’t we? That’s the point of today’s text. Having a jaw-dropping faith isn’t difficult; it’s a gift from God. A gift that begins with God helping us see ourselves as we really are. We need God’s help in this because others may say of us: “There goes a good husband, a hard worker, a cheerful mother, a neat kid, a wise grandparent…” After a while it’s easy to believe the hype, like the Hollywood star who thinks she really is better than everyone else because that’s what her publicist keeps telling her. In the same way it’s easy for me to think that I’m a fine pastor from the encouragement I receive from you. But if I want to have a faith God considers great, I need to compare my actions and motives with the kind of pastor God says I should be. And what I will see is that I fall short. I should be more bold in preaching the law. I should be more compassionate. I should spend more time knocking on doors. I should rejoice in my trials, not complain about them or feel sorry for myself. And if I’m still having a hard time believing that I fall short of the kind of person God wants me to be, I only need to compare myself to the Roman centurion. If he, who had built a synagogue, didn’t consider himself worthy of God’s help, then certainly I, who have done far less, shouldn’t deserve God’s help or attention either!
If the centurion was not deserving of Jesus’ help, why did Jesus go to him? Did he not know about the centurion’s sins? Of course he did. Jesus knows all things. So why did he agree to help the centurion? Well why did Jesus agree to come into this world in the first place? He came because he is gracious. It’s grace that moved Jesus to help even those about whom no one else would dare say: “He is worthy!” like the thief on the cross, or the woman caught in the act of adultery. Neither are we worthy of Jesus’ help but he didn’t come because we are worthy; he came to make us worthy. Jesus did that through his perfect life and death. Like the headwaiter who gives the poorly dressed diner a coat and tie to wear so he can eat at the fancy restaurant, Jesus gives us credit for his righteousness. Covered in his blood we now are worthy, or ready to stand in God’s presence. Because of Jesus, God the Father sees me as the pastor, the husband, the father, the Christian I ought to be.
The centurion understood this aspect of God’s grace. That’s why he boldly asked for Jesus’ help even though he knew he was unworthy to make such a request. But note also how the centurion trusted that Jesus didn’t actually have to be locally present to heal his slave. He said in a message to Jesus: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof… But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 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”” (Luke 7:6b, 7b, 8a). This centurion believed that if he, a middle ranking officer, could make things happen simply by speaking a command, then certainly Jesus, who was true God and under no one’s authority, could make anything happen, even heal from a distance just by speaking the appropriate word.
Jesus was amazed at the centurion’s faith and exclaimed that he had not found any faith like it in all of Israel. Indeed, not even Jesus’ good friends Mary and Martha would display such faith. When their brother Lazarus became sick, they sent word for Jesus to come quickly, as if Jesus couldn’t heal Lazarus from where he was (John 11).
So what makes for jaw-dropping faith? Not just a God-given view of self, what’s also needed is a God-given view of Christ. Only thanks to the Holy Spirit was the centurion able to see Jesus as he really was – the sinless Son of God who could do anything. Only the Holy Spirit can open our eyes to trust Jesus to do what he says he will do for us. And how does the Holy Spirit open our eyes? He does so through God’s Word. He directs our eyes to the Word so that we magnify the Lord and in the process minimize the problem before us. Unfortunately we often have that reversed. We minimize the Lord and end up magnifying the problem. We’re like the man who wanted to cross a frozen river but was unsure whether the ice would hold his weight. So he got down on all fours and cautiously crept across the river. When he was about halfway across, he heard a loud clatter behind him. Was the ice breaking!? No. It was a team of horses pulling a wagon filled with coal. The driver of the wagon whistled a merry tune as his team of horses pulled the wagon safely to the other side of the river. How foolish the man on all fours felt. That’s how we must look when we creep upon God’s promises when there’s no need to (adapted from Herman Gockel). God will do what he says. He will provide for your daily needs. He will look after your family. He has forgiven your sins. You will see your loved one in heaven. Boldly trust him!
We may never end up with a jaw-dropping physique, but a jaw-dropping faith is not beyond our reach because such a faith is God-given. It comes from a God-given view of ourselves and of Christ. So keep listening to God’s Word and don’t believe the hype from others that we’re good people. We might be good compared to other people but we’re not good compared to God. As a result we don’t deserve God’s attention or help. But don’t despair because the Word also teaches that Jesus paid for our sins and now lives to give us help. With Jesus on the job our problems are now trivial, because our Lord is great. Amen.
