What does it mean to build your house on the rock? What does it mean to have faith that is grounded in the word of God? It means that when the storms come you stand on the rock with a concrete and humble faith.
Today we have an example of that faith in action. the storm is a deadly sickness of a loved servant, and the concrete faith is shown in the absolute humble trust that this man has in Jesus’ word and authority.
If the last chapter was all about Jesus and his critics, this chapter is all about Jesus and his friends. And the friends are as surprising to us as the critics. The critics are the religious leaders, and the friends seem to be the outsider – a gentile, widow, a preacher in the desert, and a sinful woman.
After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.
He is all done with the sermon, and he goes to the town of Capernaum – his main preaching headquarters. A town of about 1500 was home to the light of the world. The worlds power centered in Rome was about to confess the power of God located in Jesus. We have a foretaste of the gospel going to all nations.
Faith reaches out to trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior in our need.
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Need!
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Worthy?
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Authority?!
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Faith.
Need!
Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. A centurion was a man over 100 soldiers. They were generally well off. Here is a man with power. He can command things to happen. He is used to being obeyed and getting his way. But there is one thing that he does not control and that is power over life and death. To heal and to restore. And he is as helpless as baby. , and verse 9 makes clear that he was not Jewish.
And his beloved servant is holding on by a thread. The relatives were being called to come say their last goodbyes. Anyone that has stood by the bed of a loved one through a terrible disease knows what this man is feeling. Helpless.
Money, power, and fame are useless then.
It does not matter how successful you are, or how much power you have, or followers you can boast it. In the light of death all of us are helpless. In the light of sickness we are confronted with our own frailty and need.
We would do anything for the ones we love, but we can’t do anything. What happens when we get to that point? We pray.
What is your need today? Maybe you are caught in a cycle of sin. Maybe you are stuck in the despair of loneliness. Or you see no hope in a relationship shattered by sin. Before Jesus enters the scene, sin has brought us all to the point of death. Our need is desperate, and it is real.
But this is not about the centurions need, is it? But about the need of his loved ones – a servant. He brings someone else to the attention of Jesus. This is beautiful. We can bring people – loved ones – to Christ that may not be able to go themselves. This is what we do in prayer. In our prayer calendars, in our public worship when we pray for individuals. It is a glorious thing to do know who Jesus is! Let’s do this in our private prayers.
When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant.
Knowing his need, he hears about someone that might meet that need. Have you heard about this prophet? Have you heard about Jesus? You can hear the news spread across the countryside. Here is a man with real authority even over sickness.
Have you spoken about Jesus lately? What he has done. The wonders he has wrought. The miracles that he has worked in your life and the lives of those around you. There are people in your life that feel as helpless as this centurion. Have they heard there is one who is willing and able to restore those who come to him by faith.
Need forces us to do a few things. It allows us to see our own frailty and powerlessness, and it forces us to look outside of ourselves for help. Real need is the first step to seeking. And seeking leads to finding.
He truly believes that Jesus has the power to heal, otherwise he would not have requested the presence of Jesus, yet at the same time he also realizes he is unworthy of Jesus help, so he send his request through the elders.
Worthy?
He knows that in the presence of Christ he is unworthy. Therefore, he sends some of the elders of the Jews to ask Jesus.
So, the elders of the Jews lobby for their gentile friend, trying to talk about all that he is and has done. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, Here are people who had evidently not accepted the Jesus, but wanted to please their gentile friend, for all he had done for them. Yet they were blind what God was doing for them. They were willing to connect a gentile to Christ but were not willing to go themselves.
Yet the way that the Jew and gentile work together is also a sign of what is to come in the book of Acts. The Jews bringing the gentiles to Jesus Christ. This would happen in acts again, when Peter, a Jew would bring the gospel of the risen Christ into one of the first gentile believers – also a centurion in Acts 10.
They tell Jesus “He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” 6
Tey call him worthy. Why? For two reasons, “he loves our nation, and he is one who built us our synagogue.” Do this because he is worthy. Do you hear the way they are thinking? Jesus, you owe him this one. Because he is such a good person he doesn’t deserve this. He is worthy.
Little did they know they were standing in the presence of one who was truly infinitely worthy. He would love the nation by laying down his life. He would love the nation not by building synagogues, but the everlasting temple not built with hands. They didn’t see this. And they didn’t see it is not what a person does but who a person is that makes him worthy, and this gentile was a sinner born in adams raise. Worthy of judgement not grace.
Nevertheless, we read, And Jesus went with them. But the centurion must have heard that he was coming, or seen them from a distance, because he tells his friends to run out and stop them.
“When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you.
Don’t worry about coming Jesus! I am unworthy to have you even come into my house, that is why I did not come to you. It is ironic that the elder considered him worthy, but he considered himself unworthy. This is true faith. This is an understanding of grace that the elders of the Jews did not understand. He does not come to Jesus and say, “you owe me Jesus. I have spent a few million on your religion, and your people. I have loved the Jews and done a lot for them.
He sees himself as he is, not based on what people say. Before God.
Sometimes we might hear people say, ‘He doesn’t deserve that.” Or asking the question, “What did I do to deserve that.” Behind the question lies a sense of worthiness. A sense that you are worthy to be blessed by Jesus. A sense of entitlement to being healthy, and wealthy, and happy. And when God doesn’t give it, you go to him, and say, but God I don’t deserve this.
But that is not the gospel. No Jesus come to the unworthy – the one that knows he is not worthy of the presence of Jesus Christ, but reaches out anyways, because he knows that is his only hope. This is a humble faith. But it is also a confident faith. Knowing that what we ask in faith he will do.
Authority
The centurion approaches Jesus with humility and reverence, knowing that the power of God resides within him.
This is why he says, But say the word, and let my servant be healed. Jesus is a picture of power, and a man in authority – authority that the centurion understands and describes. But say the word and my servant will be healed. A word is all it will take. It means that even though he is absent and not in the house, Jesu can show his presence effectively. That is what he does today in baptism!
This is an amazing insight for the first readers and for us today. Do you believe that although physically absent the word of God can still be effective. That his word to you today, can heal you, can change you, can truly help you. That it is powerful and effective. That you don’t need some sign, or wonder – but all you need is the word. Do we believe in our prayers that he is present although not physically? The centurion illustrates this power …
For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” We have seen this before. It is the way of arguing from the lesser to the greater, He says, “I too am a man under authority.” In other words, I serve under the authority of Caesar. And it is the authority of Caesar that invests me that gives my word power. I say go and come and they listen. I say do this and they listen. Why because he has the power of an imperial Roman empire.
Notice the words “I too” that means he assumes Jesus is also serving a king. He is assuming that Jesus is invested with the very power of God!
The centurion was saying more than he probably knew. But we know it. Heaven and heart were at his command. By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth (Psalm 33:6). He says surely if I member of the armed forces of roman is obeyed, so also must the spiritual forces obey one who is invested with the authority of the kingdom of God!
Here is the centurion, who is in need, who recognizes his own unworthiness, but has absolute confidence in Jesus power to heal simply by the word of his mouth. Now we are beginning to make sense of what faith is.
Faith
When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him! Jesus was amazed. He marveled! He was stunned! And trust me there is not a lot that amazes Jesus. It was not like he was walking around surprised all the time. This word is only used on two occasions in Jesus life. Once here, with astounding faith, and the other time of astounding unbelieve in mark 6:6. Faith like this amazes Jesus. O that we would have a faith like this today. This is the faith that trust and knows the reality of God with us! Even if all looks against us!
and turning to the crowd that followed him, Luke adds a vivid detail here, “he turned”. You can see Jesus get amazed and then turn around to address the crowd. This is a teaching moment. For the crowd and for us here in Bellville. He is about to make an important point, and he wants the crowd to hear it. I want you to hear it.
“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” Sometimes it takes the shocking faith of new believers to stir up the covenant community. To stir up the faith of those that have believed for many years but have lost the absolute need for Jesus. Who has lost sight of their own unworthiness. And have lost trust the authority and power of Jesus word.
Our Lord is Able!. I don’t care who you are or where you are from. His word reaches and extends to the ends of the earth.
One would hope Jesus would find faith like that in Israel among Gods covenant people. But he didn’t. He saw it in an outsider. A pagan. A gentile. One of the delightful surprises of Gods grace is that we sometimes see faith where we least expect to find it. This faith of the centurion a sign of what is to come when the gospel goes to the gentiles in Acts it is also a centurion that reaches to Peter according to the word of the Lord.
But say the word… And his word is effective.
And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.
This word does not focus so much on healing but on newfound health. He is healthy. The effect of the curse is undone with a word. Here we have one with authority that extends over space, distance and disease. Jesus undoes the effect. But to do that he takes it upon himself. He carries our infirmities. He carries our sorrow. So that we might find healing in his stripes. He knew taking this sickness away taking this part of the curse away would cost him. He was willing. He was able.
My sorrow and sickness laid stripes on His back,
My sins caused the blood that was shed;
My faults and my failures have woven a crown
Of thorns, that He wore on His head.
Chorus
Unworthy, unworthy, a beggar;
In bondage and alone;
But He made me worthy and now by His grace,
His mercy has made me His own.
See your needs. Feel your unworthiness. Trust his power and believe in Jesus!
Amen