The last time I posted (which seems like forever ago) I wrote about the
authority of Jesus. He has been given “all
authority in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28:18 NKJV) Jesus Himself also told
us in John 16:33 that “I have overcome the world.” And in John 5:27 we can see that Christ was
given “authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.”
It is so sad that
most of the Jews did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Many of them never believed He was the
Christ, the Son of God. He was right
there with them performing miracles among them and they could not see it. That is why the end of Matthew 7 tells us
they were so astonished at His teaching.
In Matthew 8:5-13 we are
told of a different kind of man. He was
not Jewish. He may or may not have known
about the prophecies of a Savior to come.
He may or not have understood about the Law of Moses and the Jewish
belief in one God.
He was a Roman centurion, but he did recognize the
power and authority of Jesus. Did he
know that this authority came from God?
Did he have any idea that Jesus was God’s son? We will probably never know just exactly what
the centurion knew and believed.
There are, however, a few things we do know about him. We know the Jewish people lived under
subjection to the Roman government. The
soldiers enforced Roman law. Centurions
were given the command of 100 other Roman soldiers. They probably wielded a great deal of power
within the small Jewish villages.
Although he was in a position of power himself, we
can see the humility in this man. Though
it seemed Christ was quite willing to do so, he did not feel worthy enough for Jesus
to come to his home. This Roman
recognized the power that Jesus had was given to Him by a much higher power
than the Roman government. He had an
awareness and understanding that Jesus was truly special. He understood that
Christ’s power was more far reaching than anything he had ever seen. That is why he felt unworthy that Jesus should
come to his home.
Another thing we know about the centurion is that
he cared for his servant. He did not
consider him to be something expendable, easily replaced by yet another
slave. He saw his servant as a fellow
man and cared for him. He cared about
his health and wanted him to be well again.
So much so, that he sought out Jesus and begged for His help.
Do we do that?
Do we care about our fellow Christians?
Are we close enough to them to know when they are struggling and in
pain? If we do know this, do we love
them enough to seek out Jesus on their behalf?
Do we pray for them and ask God to help them, to heal them, to let them
know they are not alone?
That is what the centurion did. He recognized that he didn’t have the power
to help his servant. But he knew someone
who did. So he went to Jesus and begged Him
to help. His servant was so sick he was
tormented by his illness and the centurion did not want him to suffer.
Do we beg
and plead to the Great Physician when we know our brothers and sisters might
need some spiritual healing? Oh how much
stronger the church would be if we could remember to do even this one thing! Often we go to Jesus and God when we have
troubles of our own; yet how often do we seek help on behalf of another
Christian? Oh, I know many of us
sincerely pray for others on a regular basis.
I also know that sometimes when I pray, I am in so much need of some
comfort myself that I forget to think of others. It is not something I do intentionally. But it is something I must work on. Sometimes after I pray, I feel so
selfish.
When we rush through our prayers and say “be with
the sick and afflicted,” do we even take the time to think specifically of
those on the prayer list in the bulletin?
When we ask “please be with those who have lost loved ones;” do the
faces of the widows in our congregation pop into our mind? Most of us know someone who is or was in the
military. So when we pray “please be with all our military who are serving in
foreign fields,” do we think of someone in particular? Perhaps we do. I hope we do. Back to the centurion –being a man in authority himself, he had a great respect for the authority of Jesus. He knew it came from a much higher power. Perhaps it was his military background – but he understood authority and power. He knew what it meant to give a command and to have it obeyed at that very moment. And he had heard or seen enough about Jesus to know that His commands were obeyed. He respected the authority of Christ.
Jesus was amazed at this man’s faith. The
centurion understood that Jesus had power over sickness. He knew Christ could make the blind to see, the
deaf to hear and the lame to walk with just one simple command. Because he understood authority and power,
the Roman believed in Him enough to know that all Jesus had to do was say the
word and the servant would be healed.
He never
doubted the power of Jesus to save his servant.
He had so much faith that he knew Jesus didn’t have to be actually at
the servant’s bedside to heal him. He
truly believed Christ’s power could go the distance.
Please don’t doubt the power and authority of Jesus. That is what the Pharisees did over and over
again. He was asked, “By what authority
do you do these things?” No man had ever
done the things Jesus was doing – at least not to the extent he was doing
them. Yet, the outsider – the Gentile –
a Roman soldier never once asked Him where His power came from or who gave Him
the authority to do the good He was doing.
The Pharisees didn’t have the courage to
understand this Jesus was God in the flesh. To
give Him that power meant they would lose their own power over the people. They could not see their way clear to do
that. They never understood the blessing
of a sweet surrender to Jesus. How very
sad that is!
We could learn a few lessons from the Roman
soldier in charge of 100 other men. We
could learn compassion – as he had for his servant. We could learn responsibility. If we are in a position of authority, we should
learn to care deeply for those who work under that authority – even caring
enough to go to Jesus for them. It is
our responsibility to see to the needs of those left in our care.
We could learn humility from the centurion. We should realize that none of us are worthy
of the company of Jesus. Yet through His
great love, He is quite willing to keep company with us. We should ever be thankful for that.
We could learn from the great faith the centurion
had in Christ. He had faith in not only His
power and authority, but also His mercy and compassion. He knew Christ was kind, compassionate and
merciful. He knew Christ not only had
the power to heal his servant; but would also have the love in His heart to do
it.
Finally, this story could teach us that faith is
rewarded. Jesus commended the centurion
for His faith. He knew the centurion
trusted Him completely to heal his servant, even from a distance. Christ rewarded the centurion for his great
faith and healed the servant, “that very same hour.”
Jesus loves us.
He died for us and because of that, God has given Him all authority in
heaven and earth. It is imperative that
we recognize His great power. He can
heal all our soul’s afflictions, if we are but willing to love and obey
Him. Even from His home in heaven, He
seeks to help and to heal. He will have
compassion on us if we have faith in Him.
Christ above all things,
Robin Whitley
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