A Centurion’s Faith
Second In The Series “Conversations With Christ
Matthew 8:5-13
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.
6 "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."
7 Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."
8 The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9 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."
10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.
Jesus had a bad habit of talking to people who were considered by the religious Jews of His time bad company.
This is one of the things I like about Him the most!
He was frequently caught talking to Roman soldiers, small children, shady ladies, people of other religions and people of other colors.
Jesus frequently modeled a kingdom lifestyle that was impervious to prejudice of any kind.
Jesus did not see people in the categories we place them.
To Him, there was and there is no color.
You heard the story bout the two apples hanging in a tree looking down on all the fighting, hating, robbing and rioting in the world?
The first apple say; “Look at all those people destroying each other…no one seems to be willing to get along with his fellow-man. Someday, we apples will be the only ones left…then we’ll rule the world”
The second apple said; “Which of us – the reds or the greens?”
When will we as people who live in His kingdom understand:
To Him there is no race or culture.
To Him there is no net worth economically.
To Him there is no age.
To Him there is no gender.
To Him there is no scar, stain or sin…that conditions or affects in anyway His desire and ability to give those who come to Him…
His complete and undivided attention.
His love, acceptance and forgiveness.
This outlander , obviously an Italian…certainly not a Jew.
This stranger who comes publicly imploring Jesus to heal his servant.
This human-being dressed in a uniform, un-Kosher in every meaning of the word…desperately asking for help.
Dody Gadient, a school-teacher for thirteen years, decided to travel across America and see the sights she had been teaching about. Traveling alone in a pick-up with a travel trailer in tow she launched out on her great adventure.
One afternoon rounding a curve on I-5 near Sacramento, California in rush-hour traffic, her water pump blew on her truck. She was tired, exasperated, scared and alone. In spite of the traffic jam she caused, no one seemed interested in helping.
After waiting awhile, a huge Harley drove up driven by an enormous man sporting long, black hair, a beard, and tattooed arms. With an incredible air of confidence, he jumped off and without even glancing at Dody, went to work on the truck.
Within five minutes, he flagged down a larger truck, attached a tow chain to the frame of Dody’s disabled truck and whisked the whole rig off the freeway onto a side street where he calmly continued to work on the water pump.
The intimidated, middle-aged school teacher was too dumbfounded to talk. Especially when she read the paralyzing words on the back of his leather jacket – “Hell’s Angels – California”.
As he finished the task, she finally got up the courage to say; “Thanks so much,” and carry on a brief conversation. Noticing her surprise with the whole ordeal, he looked her straight in the eye and said; “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover…you may not know who you’re talking to.” With that, he smiled, closed the hood of the truck. Straddled his Harley. With a wave, he was gone as fast as he had appeared.
When I read that story, I am again reminded that…given half a chance, people often crawl out of the boxes into which we have relegated them because of our prejudices.
Jesus gave people a chance.
Jesus gave people the time of day.
Jesus had conversations with types of people who we probably would not.
Are’nt you glad Jesus had time to talk to you?
Are’nt you glad that Jesus did not possess the blind fears and selfish preferences that limited His view when it came to your need?
Back to the text…
What does this text tell us about the Centurion”
He was unqualified by religious law for any kind of help from God.
He was a compassionate man…He was interceding for his servant.
He “knew his place”
He understood Jesus’ restrictions. (His house)
He understood Jesus’ authority (His occupation)
Look at Jesus’ assessment of this man in verse ten:
“When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”
Jesus sensed and saw something in the most unsuspecting of petitioners that He called “GREAT FAITH.”
I suppose there are times when we would hope to possess this quality that Jesus called “GREAT FAITH.”
I mean, after all that would be quite a complement coming from Jesus Christ.
And look at verse thirteen…
“Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.”
We all certainly like those kinds of results!
WHAT IS “GREAT FAITH” ?
On another occasion in Matthew 17:20 Jesus was responding to the disappointment of His disciples not getting their prayers answered and He explained;
"Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Wow, if we just had more faith, sounds like we could do anything we wanted!
Well, I don’t think it’s quite that simple.
WELL, WHAT…THEN… IS GREAT FAITH?
If Jesus said that Centurion had it, then I suspect the answer to our question is found in what He said to Jesus in verses 8 and 9:
“The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just 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. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
What do you see here in the heart of this Roman soldier?
Jesus called it “GREAT FAITH.”
He understood Jesus’ restrictions.
· Let’s call this reverence. There was no presumption in this man’s request…no demands. There is an obvious humility here.
· I have always like Ecclesiastes 5:2 when talking about the danger of confusing faith and presumption.
“Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”
The Centurion knew his place.
He evidenced faith by acknowledging he deserved nothing.
I don’t think the prayer of faith is about reminding God of how much faith we have and what we have a right to as His children.
But there is more…
The Centurion understood Jesus’ authority.
A scripture that sounds on the face of it quite unlike the one I read in Ecclesiastes is Hebrews 4:16;
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Here it sound like “GREAT FAITH” is very confident and aggressive.
Here the Bible seems to be saying that we should throw out weight around a little bit when we are praying.
In my opinion, one of the secrets of great faith is submission to authority.
In other words, I believe
…that God knows what He is doing and
…that He possesses the power to do as He wishes and
…this is O.K. with me
…because I trust Him.
Faith is trusting the voice of God when He speaks.
Let me put it like this;
The captain of the ship looked into the dark and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message. “Alter your course ten degrees south.”
Promptly a message was received: “Alter your course ten degrees north.”
The captain was angered; his command had been ignored.
So he sent a second message; “Alter your course ten degrees south – I am the captain!”
Soon another message was received; “Alter your course ten degrees north – I am seaman third class Jones.”
Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the intimidation it would evoke from the seaman; “Alter your course ten degrees south – I am a Battleship.
Then the reply came; “Alter your course ten degrees north – I am a lighthouse!
There are a lot of voices out there in the dark telling us what to do… most of them cannot be trusted.
“GREAT FAITH” will navigate you through life’s greatest problems if we can just get two things right…
Understand the Lord’s restrictions and Understand the Lord’s authority.
His restrictions you say?
Yes, He is restricted by His nature and His Word.
His authority you say?
Yes, He can do anything, but you will have to trust Him.
FAITH: The coming together of Trust and Reverence.
· “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
· “Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ…”
· “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…”
