Matthew 8:5-13 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” 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.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 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. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
This story of the Roman officer who had a beloved servant who was suffering terribly presents a beautiful account of love and redemption. We see Jesus who brought the Good News primarily to the Jews, paying attention to the needs of a Gentile: “Shall I come and heal him?” The centurion respects Jesus as someone in authority, so he calls him, “Lord.” He is not a believer in the Jewish religion, for Jesus says, 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. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The centurion believes Jesus can do mighty miracles, that He is a man of divinity sent from God or as a Roman steeped in mysticism, from one of the gods of heaven. Knowing that the gods have great power and should be revered and respected for their supernatural powers, he says, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. The Roman officer has so much faith in Jesus that he asks him to just say the words of healing and his servant will be made whole, his paralysis will go. Amazed at this man’s strong belief in his authority and power, Jesus exclaims that no one in the Jewish people that He ministers to daily has this kind of faith. They heard Jesus’ ministry, saw his miracles, but really did not know how much power Jesus possessed. Neither did they know the range of Jesus’ power. If they were near Jesus, they knew they might receive a healing or see a miracle, but away from Jesus’ presence, they could not expect a healing from Jesus. The blind, the leper, the lame had to yell out to Jesus as He passed. If He proceeded down the road without acknowledging and healing them, their faith in his power would quickly dissipate. As with all spiritual men, prophets of that day, nearness was very important, essential to the workings of God. But in the Gospel of John, we read, Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. (21:25) Jesus did many wonderful acts, either while he was present with people or as with the centurion’s servant, touching lives from afar. No wonder John could write what we would consider a hyperbolic remark describing the truth of Jesus’ three-year ministry. This story is not told as a story of great faith for healing; the story of Jesus is told because faith in him as Lord is needed to enter into the kingdom of God. What kind of faith? Faith that believes that Jesus shed his blood for our sins, rose again, and is now Lord of all. That kind of faith separates man from a finite existence into an existence with God forever, known as the kingdom of heaven. Jesus castigates the Jewish people for receiving him as a healer and miracle worker only and not as the Son of God sent to save sinners. The Son of God, with great consuming power can bring people into everlasting life with God, but if they fail to believe in his cleansing and redeeming power, they will experience eternal damnation: into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In this account, Jesus points out there is no difference when considering the occupancy of the eternal kingdom of God between those of the law, subjects of the kingdom, and of those outside of the law. The Jewish people had been given great insight into God’s nature of holiness through the law and its regulations. They were blessed. God considered them his own people: people He supernaturally delivered from slavery to the evil one. But Jesus says in today’s focus that God demands personal allegiance to him as “Lord” if they desire to enter the kingdom of heaven. Faith in Jesus’ power and authority is needed to have eternal life with God. Paul emphasizes this fact in his letter to the Romans. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (3:23-26) This centurion, as well as people everywhere, must place their complete faith in Jesus as the deliverer from all that is wrong in this world and the finiteness of life. To know Jesus and his power is to know salvation and eternal life. He alone makes us holy and right with God. When Jesus realized how much faith this man had in him, He tells the centurion that he has received what he came for, the healing of his servant: Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would. No other avenue was opened to the servant but supernatural intervention. Jesus gave that to him by healing him from afar. Faith was needed in that transaction from paralysis to wholeness. Whose faith? The centurion’s faith—beginning with his recognition that Jesus was LORD. That term to him had to mean more than an endearment, a greeting, a show of respect; he had to believe that Jesus was truly LORD for anything supernatural to occur. LORD was a statement of faith. Do we as Christians really believe Jesus is LORD of all: all that is close to us and all that is far from us? When we say daily prayers for others, do we really believe our words are heard, that God is directly involved in their lives because of our words of blessing? Is our faith as the centurion’s faith or are our prayers merely ritualistic, something good but not powerful? Are we like the Jewish people, subjects of the kingdom, but not believing that Jesus is Lord in all circumstances? If we really believed the latter, we would not get tired of praying for others every day. The centurion believed Jesus could heal his servant who was far away. Do we believe that Jesus can meet the needs of those who are far away from God or do we mention their names in a perfunctory way, not believing they will ever come to Jesus? Breakfast companions, do we really believe!
As the Children of Israel left Egypt, crossing the wilderness to the Promised Land, the Spirit of God hovered over them from the first in the procession to the last individual trailing behind. Of course with all flesh, some of them were old, some had problems walking, some had burdens such as little babies. We are sure some struggled and straggled behind the procession. People who were stronger probably were given the responsibility to help the weak, the infirm, the old. In our day, especially in the pandemic, some of us are falling behind; some us are experiencing the wear and tear, the anxieties of life. Some are looking to the left and right to see if there is a better way to live. Some are weak in their spirits, doubting their futures and the way to the Promised Land. They need the strong, the healthy in the Lord, to stand by them. They need a helping hand from those who are strong in the faith, a call, an email, a card of encouragement. They need to know that Jesus is in their midst, in their homes, by their beds at night. Some on the journey need food, rest, health, a secure home; they all need Jesus in their lives, the visible presence of God, the holy church of God. It is not just when Jesus is passing down the road that they need him; not just when they are in the fellowship of a church gathering when they need him. They need him when He seems to have disappeared over the hill or He is too distant down the road for them to see him. No matter what, they still need him especially in this time of the pandemic! Can we as servants of the Most High, people who have Jesus in their lives, be as sensitive to the people around us as this centurion in the above focus? We are people of authority, for we are in God’s kingdom. As people of authority, do we pray for people who God has placed in our lives, beseeching God to help them, heal them, save them. If we cannot be physically with them, are we reaching out on the internet to support them in their daily walk? When Jesus heard the centurion’s request, He was amazed. Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. Can He say that of the Christian church today or of us individually? Or is the church inactive, disputing about things that do not matter eternally. If someone looked at our most recent posts on Facebook, how many would be uplifting and how many would be contentious? Are our days spent without a time with the Lord, seeking his will in other people’s lives? Do we believe Jesus is concerned about others, not just us? Jesus said, Shall I come and heal him? The centurion asked, Jesus responded! He asked, believing Jesus was powerful enough to grant his request for his servant who was far away from the scene. The question for us and the church of the living God in this twenty-first century, do we have the centurion’s faith or are we just religious. Can people come to us and expect to find the active power of the Holy Spirit alive in us, ready to love them, to accept them and pray for them? Bless you today!
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