This morning I was reading through Luke's Gospel and came had an interesting thought as I read about Jesus healing 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."
This is a well known story of faith, and often discussed as a great example of faith in the Lord, and understanding of authority. I have reflected on those in the past, but what caught my attention this morning was the Lord's nonchalance towards the actual healing, and the understated way it was recorded. Jesus never is mentioned as praying, as asking the Father to heal him, nothing. He comments on the faith of the Centurion and that is all.
In other words, just the presence of faith in the Centurion was enough to release healing in His servant, no specific prayer needed to be said, nothing else happened. Sometimes we get so caught up in models of praying for people, or thinking that God only heals through prayer, and then we see something like this, and it causes us to stop and reconsider our thinking.
Two of my favorite ministers, Bill Johnson and Randy Clark, have learned that oftentimes in their services that people are healed without anyone praying for them or ministering to them in any way. Usually they will have a few stories or testimonies and then will stop and ask people to pay attention to their bodies and ailments they needed healing for, and very often numbers of people will already have experienced significant healing. They believe this is the result of the level of faith rising in the room, as a result of the testimonies and stories. This is similar to what is recorded in this story of the centurion. I think of it this way, faith creates a healing target for the Lord to touch, almost like a landing strip for an airplane. There are lights and radio signals that guide airplanes to the landing strips, and the combination of the two enable pilots to land even when it it cloudy night, or even foggy. Faith apparently provides an atmosphere for God to move and paints a target on the one who needs it.
This is apparently why Jesus focused so much of the conversation on the faith of the Centurion, rather than on the Father's ability to heal. He wanted people to know that the Father desires to heal and sometimes just is looking for a faith target to land on!
Oh Lord, increase my faith and the faith level of Your church so that we might see more and more people touched and healed, just like You demonstrated when You walked on the earth!
Amen!
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