Jesus, the centurion and faith

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.”He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”And Jesus said to the centurion, “You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.” And at that very hour [his] servant was healed." 

Matthew 8: 5-13 

"When he had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, “He deserves to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.”And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health." 

Luke 7: 1-10

there is much that we can learn about God and faith from the centurion. 

who was the centurion? he was a foreigner, and an agent of conqueror Rome. he was a soldier, sent to Israel to enforce Roman law--pay taxes and give allegiance to conqueror Rome and crush any who might challenge Rome's authority. (from Luke's account we know that the centurion was a builder--"...he built the synagogue for us..."--analogous to an officer in our army corps of engineers.)

the centurion was also a lover. he loved his servant, who was paralyzed and suffering dreadfully. the centurion recognized the goodness in Jesus, and he believed. he had faith that Jesus would cure his servant. the centurion was humble. he didn't abuse his authority by commanding Jesus to heal his servant. 

let us pray.

God, we love you. 
we pray that we will always love You like the centurion loved You. 
we pray that we will always believe in You like the centurion believed in You. 
we pray that we will always love others like the centurion loved his servant. 
we humbly pray in your holy name, Lord Jesus Christ. 
Amen.

image by Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gospel_of_Luke_Chapter_7-3_(Bible_Illustrations_by_Sweet_Media).jpg

         faith 

                      hope 

                                    love