Matthew 8:5-13, Luke 7:1-10
“And without faith it is impossible to please God.” Hebrews 11:6a
When I was in school, my daddy would try to help me with some of my math problems. He could work the problems and get the correct answers, but he didn’t do the problems the way my math teacher had done them so I rejected Daddy’s help. He did the right thing, but not in what I thought was the right way.
Have you ever asked God to do something specific for you and then told Him how to do it? Have you said, “No, God, You’re not doing it right?” How rigid we can be in our ideas and expectations! Other people may do things the wrong way, but surely we can trust God to do the right thing the right way! Our faith in God is very pleasing to Him and our lack of faith in Him is a great disappointment to Him.
A centurion had a servant who was very sick. In fact, he was about to die. Centurions were officers in the Roman army, usually commanders of around 100 men. This centurion highly valued his servant and sent for help for him. The Roman soldier was a member of an occupying army sending for help to a Jewish rabbi, one of the subject people. This was most unusual. The Romans were not known for humility and ordinarily would definitely not have displayed humility before their Jewish subjects. But this centurion must have really loved his servant. He showed him compassion--one person’s pain in another person’s heart.
Luke gave this version of the story. The centurion sent some elders of the Jews to Jesus to ask Him if He would come heal the centurion’s servant. When they came to Jesus they pled the centurion’s case, saying, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” Luke 7:4-5.
Jesus went with the elders to the home of the centurion. As He drew close to the house, He was met by friends of the centurion who came with this message to Jesus, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You.” Luke 7:6-7. The centurion was being thoughtful toward Jesus. Strict Jews would not enter a Gentile house. The centurion wanted to spare Jesus the embarrassment of being put on the spot. What an amazing person this centurion was--a man of great humility, compassion for his servants, kindness to the Jews, and thoughtfulness toward Jesus. And we have yet to see another of his admirable traits.
The centurion told Jesus just to say the word, and his servant would be healed. The centurion was a man both under authority and with authority over the soldiers under him. His soldiers obeyed his commands. He believed Jesus had the authority to heal with a word.
Jesus was amazed at the faith of this centurion. He told the crowd that was following Him, “I tell you I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”
The centurion is an example for us in humility, compassion, kindness, thoughtfulness, and faith. He simply trusted Jesus to heal the servant, and the servant was healed. Do we lay our needs before Him and simply trust Him to take care of them in His own time and His own way?
Have you ever asked God to do something specific for you and then told Him how to do it? Have you said, “No, God, You’re not doing it right?” How rigid we can be in our ideas and expectations! Other people may do things the wrong way, but surely we can trust God to do the right thing the right way! Our faith in God is very pleasing to Him and our lack of faith in Him is a great disappointment to Him.
A centurion had a servant who was very sick. In fact, he was about to die. Centurions were officers in the Roman army, usually commanders of around 100 men. This centurion highly valued his servant and sent for help for him. The Roman soldier was a member of an occupying army sending for help to a Jewish rabbi, one of the subject people. This was most unusual. The Romans were not known for humility and ordinarily would definitely not have displayed humility before their Jewish subjects. But this centurion must have really loved his servant. He showed him compassion--one person’s pain in another person’s heart.
Luke gave this version of the story. The centurion sent some elders of the Jews to Jesus to ask Him if He would come heal the centurion’s servant. When they came to Jesus they pled the centurion’s case, saying, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” Luke 7:4-5.
Jesus went with the elders to the home of the centurion. As He drew close to the house, He was met by friends of the centurion who came with this message to Jesus, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You.” Luke 7:6-7. The centurion was being thoughtful toward Jesus. Strict Jews would not enter a Gentile house. The centurion wanted to spare Jesus the embarrassment of being put on the spot. What an amazing person this centurion was--a man of great humility, compassion for his servants, kindness to the Jews, and thoughtfulness toward Jesus. And we have yet to see another of his admirable traits.
The centurion told Jesus just to say the word, and his servant would be healed. The centurion was a man both under authority and with authority over the soldiers under him. His soldiers obeyed his commands. He believed Jesus had the authority to heal with a word.
Jesus was amazed at the faith of this centurion. He told the crowd that was following Him, “I tell you I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”
The centurion is an example for us in humility, compassion, kindness, thoughtfulness, and faith. He simply trusted Jesus to heal the servant, and the servant was healed. Do we lay our needs before Him and simply trust Him to take care of them in His own time and His own way?
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