Faith that Jesus was amazed
“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” (Luke 7:9).
Is our faith genuine or fake? Is our faith pure or mixed? Is our faith growing or backsliding?
When we look at Luke chapter 7:1-10, we meet a centurion (v.2) at whom Jesus was amazed (v.9). The reason Jesus was amazed at him was because of his faith (v.9). So Jesus told the crowd who were following him, saying “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel” (v.9). So I wonder what kind of faith the centurion had. I thought about it in three ways:
First, faith that Jesus was amazed was belief in the word of Jesus.
Look at Luke 7:7 – “for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed”. It seems to me that our faith is not solely based on the Word of God. In other words, I think our faith is the God’s Word plus evidence. We say we believe in His Word but at the same time we want to see some kind of sign to affirm our belief. This is not pure faith. It is mixed faith. When we look the Roman centurion in today’s passage, his faith is solely based on the word of Jesus. When Jesus said “I will go and heal him” (Mt. 8:8), the centurion believed that when Jesus “just say the word, and my servant will be healed” (v.8). Wow! What a faith! If I was him, when Jesus said “I will go and heal him”, I would ask Him to come to my house and lay His hand on my son who is very sick so that I can belief He can heal him. Wouldn’t you do the same? The centurion’s faith in His word shows that he believed in His word that is powerful enough to create the heaven and the earth. And his faith in Jesus’ word is “such great faith” (v.10) that whatever Jesus says it will be done no matter what (cf. v.9). Do we have such great faith?
Second, faith that Jesus was amazed was humble faith.
Look at Luke 7:6b-7a – “… for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You.” The Roman centurion knew that he was not worthy to Jesus to come to his house. That was why he did not even consider himself worth to go to Jesus. So he sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking Jesus to come and heal his servant (v.3) who was sick (v.2). What a humble man of God who knew that he was not worthy to even to go to Jesus. How could he be such humble man of faith? Wasn’t it because his faith was solely depended on His word? One of the main reasons why we can be so arrogant is because we are neglecting His Word. In other words, because we do not let the Word of God to confront us our hearts are being easily hardened so that we begin to be proud of ourselves and become stiff-necked people. Indeed, this is very dangerous. But the Roman centurion was a man of such great faith and such great humility because his faith was solely based on the word of Jesus. And he knew his unworthiness because of His Word. Knowing his unworthiness, he knew that only worthiness comes from Him who speaks the truth and who accomplish that truth. Do we have such humble faith?
Third, faith that Jesus was amazed was faith that loves neighbor.
Look at Luke 7:2, 5 – “There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. … because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” The Roman centurion obeyed Jesus’ commandment of love your neighbor as yourself. He valued his servant highly (v.2). I am sure he had not only 100 Roman soldiers under him but also many servants. And among many servants, his sick servant was one of them and he could neglect him, especially if the servant was Jews. But instead of doing so, the centurion did his best to save his life. And his best was seeking Jesus. Not only he sent some elders of the Jews to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him to heal his servant (vv.3-4). You see, he considered one soul very precious as God does. Moreover, the centurion loved the Israel nation and built the Jewish synagogue for the Jews (v.5). That’s why the elders of the Jews who came to Jesus and pleaded earnestly with him might volunteer themselves to do so because of the Roman centurion’s love for the Jews (MacArthur). An interesting thing was that these elders said to Jesus “He is worthy for You to grant this to him” (v.4). Although the Roman centurion did not consider himself worthy for Jesus to come under his roof (v.6) and did not even consider himself worthy to go to Jesus (v.7), the Jewish elders considered him worthy for Jesus to grant the healing to him (v.4). Why did the Jewish elders consider him like that? I think because they felt his love and they respected him very much. His humble love for the Jews and the servant (don’t you think the servant was a Jew?) made the Jewish elders to consider him worthy to receive his earnest request to Jesus. Do we have such great humble love for a soul?
Yesterday, I was reading Pastor Jonathan Edward’s “Jonathan Edwards on Knowing Christ.” As I was reading it, I could feel that he was really emphasizing the knowledge of Christ. This reminded me Philippians 3:8 – “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ”. And I thought about myself whether I am considering everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my lord. And at night before I went to sleep, I started to read Luke chapter 7. And my eyes stopped at verse 9. I thought to myself wondering what kind of faith that the centurion had that amazed Jesus. And I began to dream about having that faith that Jesus was amazed. May God grant us faith in His Word, humble faith and faith that loves neighbor.
A man who has little faith,
James Kim