This morning I was reading from Luke's Gospel. The seventh chapter has several significant stories., however I wanted to spend some time discussing the first story of the chapter, the cure of the centurion's servant. Here are the verses - Luke 7:1-10 NIV:
[1] "When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. [2] There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. [3] The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. [4] When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, [5] because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” [6] So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. [7] That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. [8] 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.”
[9] 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.” [10] Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well."
I like this story for several reasons and am encouraged today by reading it. First, the fact that Jesus was moved by the requests of others on the Centurion's behalf is significant. We often ask people to pray for us or for situations, and here we see that being demonstrated. The Centurion asks people to go and intercede for him with the Lord. He isn't Jewish, and in reality it probably didn't even matter that He was a good man, only that He asked for Jesus' help.
Second, Jesus does respond and starts walking towards his house. We should be encouraged by the fact that when the Lord gets engaged, it is as good as accomplished, because His movement never was frustrated by failure or refusal to act once He is on site. The Centurion had probably given instructions that if Jesus were to start coming to his house, that he should be notified immediately so that he could send the second message. He was clearly just waiting and hoping to see that Jesus responded at all to his earlier request. Again, once he knew Jesus had responded and started to his house, he knew that his servant would be healed.
Thirdly, he understood authority, and must have studied Jesus ministry and knew that He had authority over sickness, disease, demons and even death. Authority means the power and the ability to act, and the ability to enforce and enact one's will. That was what the Centurion depended on both for his livelihood, for the enforcement of Cesar's will was his job, and his ability to command his troops. He had been given authority over his men and over a region, and in both arenas he had complete authority. He had witnessed, or studied Jesus demonstrating His own authority in the realms of sickness, disease, spiritual oppression and death, and knew that He was always successful. There was no doubt in His mind that if Jesus decided to act His servant would be healed.
Finally, Jesus was moved by His faith, without even meeting him. We often times associate the Centurion's faith with the fact that his servant was healed, but Luke doesn't make that correlation. He just reports the facts, and Jesus commented on His faith, and then as far as we know, turned around went back home. He didn't say anything about the servant being healed, or that the reason He was healed was because of his faith. I go back to my second point, the fact that Jesus responded meant the servant was going to be healed, nothing else in the story really mattered. The fact that Jesus started in His direction meant that He had seen this was the Father's plan and started walking, and that signified His decision to heal.
As I was writing that last bit I was reminded of the story of Lazarus from John's Gospel. We see that Jesus knows the Father's will and does not respond to the summons, for to do so would have likely meant that He would have healed Lazarus, rather than raised him from the dead (see verses 4 & 6).
John 11:3-7 NIV:
[3] "So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
[4] When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.”
[5] Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. [6] So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, [7] and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
It is so interesting that John wrote in verse 5 that Jesus loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus, and the followed it with verse 6 - so he waited two more days before responding. We would normally associate the delay with a lack of concern or interest, but John said it was because He loved them that He waited two more days. I think that John was really focused on the fact that it was dangerous for Jesus to go back to Judea because of the recent death threats, but the way it reads is that it was because of His love, and the Father's and His glory that He delayed.
Lord, help us to be encouraged this day, that when You being to move, we know that Your will is to heal. Let us not be discouraged by any delay, for it is Your love and for Your and the Father's Glory that You delay.
Amen.
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