When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralysed, suffering terribly”... 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. Matthew 8:5-13
Last time we thought about the story of the centurion’s servant, and the puzzle of why Matthew and Luke tell the same story but with significant differences. My suggestion was that we should relax, accept that that’s just the way it is, and not waste time trying to harmonise the two accounts - presumably God is more concerned that we should learn from the basic facts of the story than that we should succeed in dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s of precisely what happened.
So - what are the basic facts of the story? What lessons can we draw?
It revolves around one of the most attractive figures we meet in the Gospels. You sometimes hear it said of someone, “I can’t speak too highly of him/her” - and those words would fit the centurion perfectly. Let me simply share how he challenges me.
For one thing, he is genuinely humble.
Though not himself a Jew, he is perfectly ready to appeal to this upstart Jewish teacher, Jesus. I don’t know what his superiors in the Roman army might have thought of that! - but it clearly doesn’t bother him. He knows his need, and is not too proud to reach out to the one person who can meet that need. Isn’t humility a beautiful thing?
So... How humble am I?
Second, he has the sensitivity to gently decline Jesus’ offer to come to his home: “I do not deserve to have you come under my roof...” Perhaps he was aware that for many Jews it would be very difficult to enter the home of a gentile, so he is keen to spare Jesus that difficulty (not, of course, that Jesus would have minded).
So... How sensitive am I to the feelings and convictions of others?
Third, he is kind and compassionate. Though the desperately sick man is merely a servant, a person of no account in the Roman world (a “living tool”), the centurion is prepared to go to all this trouble on his behalf. Luke’s account spells it out; he “valued his servant highly”. No hard taskmaster, this!
So... How kind and compassionate am I?
Fourth, his compassion isn’t just talk. Even the Jewish delegation which approaches Jesus on his behalf speaks of him in glowing terms: “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue” (Luke 7:4-5).
This unknown soldier is not only friendly-disposed towards the Jews but has, it seems, actually financed the building of a synagogue! Of how many non-Jews could that be said, I wonder!
Talk is easy, isn’t it? Fine words are - well, just that, fine. But what matters is what we do (and, of course, that isn’t only about money). During a trip to Texas some years ago we picked up the scathing criticism of useless big-mouths who are “all hat and no cattle”. That criticism couldn’t be levelled at the centurion.
So... Do my actions match my words?
Fifth, and most striking of all, his faith is wonderfully strong and simple.
“Look, Jesus,” he says (in effect), “I’m a soldier. I know about authority structures. I know how to obey orders, and I know how to give them too. And when I give an order, I know it will be obeyed. A word is enough - if I say ‘Go’, that’s it, he goes. Well, your authority is infinitely greater than mine, and your word is infinitely more powerful. So... Say the word, and my servant will be healed...” (Luke 7:6-7).
Whereupon, Luke tells us, “When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd... he said, ‘I have not found such great faith even in Israel’” (Luke 7:9).
That word “was amazed” could equally well be translated “marvelled” or “wondered”. Often in the Gospels we read about Jesus causing people around him to marvel. But this is something else! For a moment, Jesus himself is startled, taken completely by surprise.
How feeble and shallow is my faith in comparison with that! Oh for a childlike simplicity of faith that stops even Jesus in his tracks!
So what happens? We are told with a minimum of fuss: “Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would’. And his servant was healed at that moment” (Matthew 8:13).
What can we say? All I can think of is this...
Thanks be to God for this lovely man, this anonymous centurion. And thanks be to God for Jesus, who met his need - and who will one day meet the needs of everyone who reaches out to him in simple, humble, childlike faith.
Lord God, grant me the kind of faith that makes even Jesus start with amazement. Amen.
Last time we thought about the story of the centurion’s servant, and the puzzle of why Matthew and Luke tell the same story but with significant differences. My suggestion was that we should relax, accept that that’s just the way it is, and not waste time trying to harmonise the two accounts - presumably God is more concerned that we should learn from the basic facts of the story than that we should succeed in dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s of precisely what happened.
So - what are the basic facts of the story? What lessons can we draw?
It revolves around one of the most attractive figures we meet in the Gospels. You sometimes hear it said of someone, “I can’t speak too highly of him/her” - and those words would fit the centurion perfectly. Let me simply share how he challenges me.
For one thing, he is genuinely humble.
Though not himself a Jew, he is perfectly ready to appeal to this upstart Jewish teacher, Jesus. I don’t know what his superiors in the Roman army might have thought of that! - but it clearly doesn’t bother him. He knows his need, and is not too proud to reach out to the one person who can meet that need. Isn’t humility a beautiful thing?
So... How humble am I?
Second, he has the sensitivity to gently decline Jesus’ offer to come to his home: “I do not deserve to have you come under my roof...” Perhaps he was aware that for many Jews it would be very difficult to enter the home of a gentile, so he is keen to spare Jesus that difficulty (not, of course, that Jesus would have minded).
So... How sensitive am I to the feelings and convictions of others?
Third, he is kind and compassionate. Though the desperately sick man is merely a servant, a person of no account in the Roman world (a “living tool”), the centurion is prepared to go to all this trouble on his behalf. Luke’s account spells it out; he “valued his servant highly”. No hard taskmaster, this!
So... How kind and compassionate am I?
Fourth, his compassion isn’t just talk. Even the Jewish delegation which approaches Jesus on his behalf speaks of him in glowing terms: “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue” (Luke 7:4-5).
This unknown soldier is not only friendly-disposed towards the Jews but has, it seems, actually financed the building of a synagogue! Of how many non-Jews could that be said, I wonder!
Talk is easy, isn’t it? Fine words are - well, just that, fine. But what matters is what we do (and, of course, that isn’t only about money). During a trip to Texas some years ago we picked up the scathing criticism of useless big-mouths who are “all hat and no cattle”. That criticism couldn’t be levelled at the centurion.
So... Do my actions match my words?
Fifth, and most striking of all, his faith is wonderfully strong and simple.
“Look, Jesus,” he says (in effect), “I’m a soldier. I know about authority structures. I know how to obey orders, and I know how to give them too. And when I give an order, I know it will be obeyed. A word is enough - if I say ‘Go’, that’s it, he goes. Well, your authority is infinitely greater than mine, and your word is infinitely more powerful. So... Say the word, and my servant will be healed...” (Luke 7:6-7).
Whereupon, Luke tells us, “When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd... he said, ‘I have not found such great faith even in Israel’” (Luke 7:9).
That word “was amazed” could equally well be translated “marvelled” or “wondered”. Often in the Gospels we read about Jesus causing people around him to marvel. But this is something else! For a moment, Jesus himself is startled, taken completely by surprise.
How feeble and shallow is my faith in comparison with that! Oh for a childlike simplicity of faith that stops even Jesus in his tracks!
So what happens? We are told with a minimum of fuss: “Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would’. And his servant was healed at that moment” (Matthew 8:13).
What can we say? All I can think of is this...
Thanks be to God for this lovely man, this anonymous centurion. And thanks be to God for Jesus, who met his need - and who will one day meet the needs of everyone who reaches out to him in simple, humble, childlike faith.
Lord God, grant me the kind of faith that makes even Jesus start with amazement. Amen.
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