Centurion!!!

Matt 8:5-13

After healing the Untouchable, Jesus breaks the next frontier: the Gentile. As a powerful representative of the hated occupiers, the Roman Centurion stands as a challenge to Jesus’ call to love our enemies. Yet Jesus listens and responds with healing… he knew the Gentiles were coming and hallelujah for Gentiles like me! The faith of the Centurion is not in it’s great quantity but great quality. He trusts that Jesus can exercise power and authority however, whenever and wherever he wants. It is the object of faith that is powerful, not the quantity of faith. The centurion rightly trusts the power and authority of Jesus with the well-being of his servant. What will we trust Jesus for?

Thinking about the Roman Empire

The other evening, KK asks me, “how many times a week do you think about the Roman Empire?”

Any answers out there?

And I thought for a minute and say “every day!” She burst out laughing.

Apparently, it’s a meme, and I fell right into the apparent classic “male” response.

But here’s my thought, I’m reading the Bible every day, and it’s hard to get far in the New Testament without counting Rome in some way, so… it’s because I’m so holy ;-).

Ready to think about the Roman Empire?

Matthew 8:5–13 ESV

5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

This is a great story.

Centurion

That’s the most accurate picture I could find.

Or this.

What is a centurion? The name comes from “century” as in a leader in charge of around a 100 men. Like most ranks, this becomes looser in an actual organization, usually more like 80 fighting men, then support staff, but even then some posts would have more or less.

The modern equivalent would be a Captain in the US. Army.

This is a man in charge of many other men… but also in submission to higher authorities.

All Centurions would be Gentiles. Not necessarily Roman, but certainly from a non-Jewish established province of the Roman Empire. This is the enemy, the occupying force. Individual soldiers might be more or less helpful or respected, but as a symbol, this is the symbol of foreign and unwelcome oppression.

There are 6 centurions mentioned in the Bible. All pretty favorably. There are several centurions Paul encounters in his missionary journeys, who all help him out in various ways.

There is the centurion at the cross who witnesses Jesus’ death and says “Surely, this was the Son of God.”

Cornelius

And my favorite Centurion, Cornelius.

Cornelius is the Centurion well, let’s read this in Acts 10.

Acts 10:1–4 ESV

1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.

And Peter has this vision of the sheet descending and God saying “what God has made clean, do not call common...”

Acts 10:28 ESV

28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.

And Peter preaches the gospel and...

Acts 10:44–45 ESV

44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.

Hallelujah! This is incredible news, easy to take this for granted, but this is an incredible revelation, a global change, we start with the assumption that “everyone’s welcome” but this is kind of the moment it happened.

But… it was always the plan.

So back to our centurion. Probably not the same guy. Caesarea is a big coastal city, here in Capernaum we are in the boonies, small town up in “backwater” Galilee. But we have another faithful centurion.

Gentiles in the Kingdom

This centurion… is a forerunner of Cornelius. And Jesus starts off towards his house, he says:

Matthew 8:7 ESV

7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

Just like Jesus didn’t hesitate to touch the leper, for his touch would make him clean. Nor did he hesitate to go reach to the Gentile… because he knows who he is bringing into his Kingdom. Hallelujah!

And in response to his faith, he foretells the welcoming of Gentiles into the kingdom of heaven:

Matthew 8:11–12 (ESV)

11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

From the east and west. In Luke’s telling of these words he adds “from the North and South” as well. From all over, this is the “ends of the earth.” Jesus’ mission was (and always was) to the whole world.

The plan going all the way back to the promise to Abraham, that all the nations would be blessed through his family, through that nation.

It certainly breaks God’s heart that “sons of the kingdom” will be thrown into the outer darkness. These are people of Israel that reject Jesus, reject salvation, reject God’s love and redemption. That will break the heart of any Father.

And thank Jesus, that he says “many will come...” I am one of them, and so are you! Welcomed into the kingdom, welcomed at the table as family. That’s good news.

So, presented with an enemy, a Gentile leader of an occupying army, Jesus doesn’t hesitate. He brings the healing and implies-by-association that this centurion may be welcome in the Kingdom.

What stood out about this guy?

The Faith that Astonished Jesus

Matthew 8:10 ESV

10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

He “wondered”, he “marveled”!

Right after the crowds being so “astonished” at Jesus’ authority, here Jesus is marveling, amazed at a Gentile’s faith.

There are only two times this word “to marvel” is used of Jesus. He marvels at the unbelief of Israel. And he “marvels” at the faith of this centurion.

Amazed at his faith. Why though? What’s so amazing about the centurion’s faith?

It is going to come up a bunch, including in these next chapters. Some Jesus calls out as having “no faith,” he calls his disciples “oh little faiths” like a pet name… and then occasionally, marvels at someone’s “great” faith.

What was the centurion’s great statement of faith?

Matthew 8:8–9 ESV

8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

The centurion recognizes that Jesus can do remote control healing.

In fact, in Luke’s telling of the story, the centurion isn’t even there in person. He sends a messenger and so this whole conversation is over Zoom.

(Before the software, there were messengers Zooming back and forth. So this was a Zoom meeting).

Luke 7:3–8 ESV

3 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” 6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

And the same thing, “Jesus marveled” and says “not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

The centurion believed that Jesus could heal via remote control.

Jesus had not yet demonstrated this power. We don’t have any record of him healing without being present, without laying on hands perhaps. We don’t know why the centurion thought that Jesus could… other than the reason he gives.

The centurion, a military man, lives in a system of authority. He is sent by others and he gets is done. He gives orders to others and expects them to be accomplished without micro-managing every detail in person. That doesn’t scale.

What has he heard about Jesus that allows him to extend this model, this lens, to Jesus’ power of sickness. This isn’t a mild issue, it says his servant is “paralyzed.”

And by asking this itinerant preacher publicly, even through the elders, he is making a very public statement. Jesus’ is going to look bad if he can’t… but so is the Centurion. He’ll look like he’s been had, taken in by a charlatan selling snake oil.

He could have hedged his bets by saying “Prove to me you can, if you can.” Plenty of folks took that route, Jesus shut them down.

He knew what he knew. And trusted Jesus with the rest. This is faith.

The youth group went through Experiencing God this last year, and we encountered this definition of faith I love: Faith is trusting what you do know in the face of what you don’t know.

It’s a different phrasing than things like “To be sure of what you hope for and the evidence of things unseen...” out of Hebrews, but the idea is still there.

There are things the Centurion couldn’t have possibly known. Nobody had seen Jesus do this before. He could not have had full revelation of who Jesus was, is, the full extent of his power, even his own invitation to the Kingdom of God. He was some kind of God-fearer, donating to the Synagogue, but that could just be a distant respect for local religious customs and practices, a very Roman thing to do, actually.

So much the Centurion couldn’t have known.

But he knew what power and authority look like in his world. And somehow, some way, he knew that if Jesus said it, it would happen. And he bet on that. He stepped out and took action, letting what he did know drive him to step out over what he didn’t know yet.

That’s faith. That’s courage. That’s trust.

And MOST important of all, beyond the quality or quantity of the faith, is that the faith is absolutely rightly directed. It is aimed at Jesus, who is impossibly worthy of that trust. Faithful. The centurion is absolutely right to call himself unworthy to host the King of Kings.

He says “say the Word” to Jesus… who is the Word.

That faith directed towards any other being in all of creation would have been misplaced.

The centurion’s same “faith” directed at Mohammed, directed at Buddha, directed at the Great Spaghetti Monster, directed at Biden or Trump, directed at money or fame or any other thing... would have been foolish and misplaced, powerless and likely self-destructive.

What will you trust Jesus for?

No we have an advantage on the Centurion. We know Jesus can remotely heal folks. We do it all the time, we call it prayer, we ask for healing in Jesus’ name.

We “know” so much more than he did. So… are we then trusting Jesus for so much more?

Faith is trusting what you do know in the face of what you don’t know.

You know so much more than the nameless Centurion. So much more than Cornelius, baptized with the Holy Spirit and then with water.

What do you know!?

I hope you know, I pray you know, that that Jesus, that same Jesus, loves you. And walked, on purpose, through pain and death for you, to rescue you from sin, guilt, shame and death.

That Jesus, that same Jesus, said he “would never leave you, nor forsake you.” (Thank you, Wayne!) Always with you, forsaken that you would never be forsaken!

We should be absolutely FEARLESS with how much we know! What’s coming here in Matthew. Sickness. Demons. Storms. Oppression. Fearless!

Not a “fake certainty” that God is going to do everything we want him to do. The centurion’s confidence was that Jesus could, so he asked if He would. That is honoring Jesus’ personhood and having faith in his power. That is where “faith” healing goes wrong, the idea that if you have “enough of it” or “do it right” that God has to do your will.

That’s not how any of this works.

We can be bold in faith, trusting in Jesus, because we know exactly that His will will be done in and through us and around us, regardless of what we face. I like this story because the BIGGEST thing the centurion risked was public embarrassment and ridicule.

And that might be the most likely, most immediate boogeyman in our heads.

If I say “Jesus” to my coworker, they’re going to think I’m lame. If I pray for them… I’m going to look like an idiot, especially if nothing happens.

What will you trust Jesus for?

What’s the gap you are willing to jump over, trusting all that you know of Jesus, willing to take a step, a hop, a leap into the unknown?

I know He is calling you to take some risks. Maybe today, maybe next week, maybe he has been calling you forward for awhile. And it is easy to let the fear of the unknown, the uncertainty keep you from it. From taking a risk, from speaking the name of Jesus, from following Jesus.

But in light of EVERYTHING you know about Jesus… it’s no risk at all.

Say the Word, Lord, and my servant will be healed.

Say the Word, Lord, and everything will be different.

For He is the Word, and He has come to our house. Call us out in faith, and we will follow.