We pray that the Lord may grant us as well
the faith of this centurion—a faith that
even Jesus found astonishing.
“After Jesus had finished speaking all these words to the people who were listening, He entered Capernaum. A centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some elders of the Jews to Him, asking Him to come and save the life of his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with Him, ‘This man deserves to have You do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.’ So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to Him, ‘Lord, do not 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. 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 at him, and turning to the crowd following Him, He said, ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.’ Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well” (Luke 7:1–10).
As we meditate on this passage, I would like to receive the lessons it gives us:
(1) Today I would like to meditate on Luke 7:1–10 in connection with Matthew 8:5–13. In doing so, I have chosen the title of this meditation to be “The Faith of a Certain Centurion That Even Jesus Found Astonishing.”
(a) Here, “a certain centurion” (v. 2) refers to a low-ranking officer in the Roman army who commanded one hundred Roman soldiers. Because the servant whom he loved was sick and about to die (v. 2), and having heard reports about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to Jesus, asking Him to come and heal the servant (v. 3).
(i) When I think of this Roman centurion, I am reminded of the fifth of Jesus’ eight Beatitudes: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Mt. 5:7).
· When his beloved servant was sick and at the point of death (Lk. 7:2), this Roman centurion shared in his suffering. Though the servant was his subordinate—someone of lower status than himself—and although he could have simply ignored him and let him die, the centurion instead showed compassion to his servant. He treated his servant with kindness.
- Because he had mercy on his servant, the centurion not only sought out Jesus in order to save him from sickness and death, but he also earnestly pleaded with Jesus to heal him. If this is not mercy, then what is?
(b) The Jewish elders whom the centurion sent after hearing about Jesus came to Him and pleaded earnestly, saying, “He deserves for You to do this for him” (Lk. 7:4).
(i) The reason—indicated by the Greek word γὰρ (gar), which usually means “for,” “because,” “therefore,” or “that is,” and serves as a connective adverb providing explanation or justification, typically appearing in the second position of a sentence, though it is omitted in the Korean Revised Version (Internet)—was that, from their perspective, this centurion loved the Jewish nation and had built a synagogue for them (v. 5).
· At that time, Roman military officers were generally arrogant and oppressed the people, extorting wealth from them. However, this centurion not only showed favor toward the Jews but genuinely loved them. According to transmitted accounts, he loved the Jewish people, built a synagogue for them, and performed many good deeds for them. Therefore, the elders emphasized to Jesus that the centurion had sufficient qualification and worth to have his servant’s life saved (Hochma).
- When I think about this Roman centurion, what first strikes me as remarkable is the fact that he loved his servant. This is because that servant was certainly not a Roman but a Jew, and even if the servant had become sick and died, the centurion would have had no obligation whatsoever to care. Furthermore, the fact that this centurion—who loved even one such “little one”—also loved the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for them shows that he was a person of faith whose love transcended ethnic boundaries.
n We must transcend ethnicity. Those of us who believe in and love Jesus must not show favoritism toward other ethnic groups . We must embrace all peoples with the heart of Jesus. We must love them with the love of God. In particular, we must love people of other ethnicities who are suffering from physical or spiritual illness, not only praying that God’s healing power may be revealed to them, but also proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and earnestly asking God that a marvelous work of salvation may take place. Furthermore, our church must become one body in Jesus Christ, composed of many ethnicities, maintaining unity within diversity.
(c) So, when Jesus went with the Jewish elders whom the centurion had sent and came near the centurion’s house, the centurion sent his friends to Jesus, saying, “Lord, please do not trouble Yourself. I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. That is why I did not dare even to come out to meet You. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (vv. 6–8).
(i) Here the centurion said to Jesus, “I am not worthy to have You come under my roof” (v. 6). The meaning of this expression in Greek is “I am not fit” or “I am not worthy” (Friberg). In fact, in the first half of Luke 7:7, Luke records it this way: “That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You …” What does this mean? It means that the centurion regarded himself as unworthy even to speak of having Jesus come into his house.
· This word also appears in John 1:27: “He is the One who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” What does this mean? Is John the Baptist not saying that he himself is not worthy even to untie the straps of Jesus’ sandals?
- When I think about the words of this centurion, I am reminded of the third of Jesus’ Beatitudes: “Blessed are the meek …” (Mt. 5:5). In other words, the centurion who said to Jesus, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof” (Lk. 7:6), was a meek and humble man. That is, he was someone who knew who he himself was before the Lord. Therefore, he said that he was not worthy for Jesus to enter his house (Mt. 8:8). He regarded himself as one too lowly to dare to face Jesus personally (Lk. 7:7) (Park).
n Are we worthy? Are we worthy to have Jesus come into our house? Personally, I love the verse 2 Corinthians 3:5: “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God” (NASB). When I feel burdened in my heart, pondering why God made someone like me—who is not worthy and is so lacking—the head of a household and the pastor of a church, this verse from 2 Corinthians 3:5, “our adequacy is from God alone,” gives me renewed strength. The reason is that even though I lack worthiness and fall short in so many ways, the One who fills my inadequacy is God alone. Therefore, I pray that I may humbly rely only on the Lord as I carry out my ministry to my family and my ministry to the church.
(ii) The second thing the centurion said to Jesus here was that if Jesus would only speak the word, his servant would be healed (Lk. 7:7; Mt. 8:8b). Even though the centurion had clearly received Jesus’ response of answered prayer—“I will come and heal him” (Mt. 8:7)—he still felt unable to bear having Jesus enter his house. Moreover, he did not want Jesus to trouble Himself (Lk. 7:6). He believed that if Jesus would only speak the word, his servant would be healed from a disease unto death (v. 7).
· When Jesus heard the words of this centurion, He was amazed. Why was Jesus amazed? It was because of the centurion’s faith. Why was his faith so astonishing? Because he believed in the power of the Word of God. He believed that if Jesus merely spoke, his servant would be healed of his illness. This centurion acknowledged the authority of the Lord’s word and submitted himself under that authoritative word. That is why he said in Matthew 8:9: “For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
- What does this mean? Even a Roman centurion had a higher-ranking officer above him, such as a tribune, and yet he also had one hundred soldiers under his authority. When he merely gave commands, they obeyed him. Ultimately, the core point the centurion wanted to convey to Jesus was that he believed whatever Jesus commanded (spoke) would surely be accomplished (Park). This expressed his firm faith that if the Lord only spoke, his servant would be healed from his dying illness. And according to his confidence and faith, when the Lord said, “Go; let it be done to you as you have believed,” his servant was healed immediately (v. 13).
(2) When we look at Scripture, we see that Jesus spoke of His disciples’ faith in the following ways: “O you of little faith” (Mt. 6:30; 8:26; 16:8; Lk. 12:28), “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Mt. 14:31), “Because of your little faith” (17:20), “Where is your faith?” (Lk. 8:25), “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mk. 4:40), “He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their hardness of heart” (Mk. 16:14), “Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (Jn. 20:27). Jesus never once praised the faith of His disciples. Rather, He rebuked their faith.
(a) However, when Jesus saw the faith of the Roman centurion in today’s passage, Luke 7:1–10, He marveled and praised him, saying, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”
(i) The reason was that the centurion’s faith was a faith that believed whatever Jesus commanded (spoke) would surely be accomplished. That is, it was a faith that was fully confident that if the Lord only spoke, his servant would be healed from a dying illness. And according to his confidence and faith, when the Lord said, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed,” his servant was healed immediately (Mt. 8:13).
· We pray that the Lord may also grant us this faith of the centurion—a faith that even Jesus found astonishing.