Power and Authority at Work

Luke 7:1–17 ESV

After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” 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. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 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.” When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

Introduction:

Illustration about not knowing who you are talking to…

Who is Jesus? How do you see Jesus? How would you describe who He is? How do you see yourself against how you see Jesus? These are questions we need to answer and questions that our text today is going to help us unpack. For the last several weeks we walked along the Pathway of Hope, reinforcing our church mission and vision. But now we finally get to dive head first back into the gospel of Luke. We are ready for chapter 7. In this chapter we come across five interactions that give us some glimpses into who Jesus is. We see how He interacts with people in everyday experiences as well as some extraordinary circumstances. We also see how these people respond to Jesus in sometimes surprising ways. In verses 1-17 we are going to see how Jesus responds to the faith of a centurion, has compassion on the grief of widow, and what the people say about Him as a result of these interactions.

Jesus finishes his teachings in the hearing of the people. In chapter 6 we found the Sermon on the Plain where we find an extended teaching of Jesus. In the closest preceding verses Jesus had talked about building your house on the rock. You may not remember but we talked about hearing the words of Jesus and doing them being like a man building his house with the foundation dug down deep in to the rock so that it was firm and would hold.

So when Jesus had finished teaching, He goes to Capernaum, which sometimes gets referred to as His ministry headquarters.

I. A Grave Need (v. 1-10)

The first interaction we come to is when Jesus is approached by the elders of the Jews who bring a report of a centurion with a servant who is at the point of death.

A centurion was a mid-range leader in the Roman army. The soldiers of Rome had a reputation for being brutal. A centurion commanded around 100 men. He was likely well paid and therefore had servants. The text tells us that he highly valued this particular servant. He wanted so much to see his valued or highly esteemed servant healed that he gets the elders of the Jews or the Jewish leadership of the area or town and asks them to go to Jesus with his request. This man was not Jewish and sent them to Jesus who was a Jewish teacher. He may have been aware that a Jew that entered the home of a Gentile would be ritualistically unclean and wasn’t willing to ask Jesus to go to that length on his behalf. Either way, the Jewish elders go to Jesus without you the man with them. They have no reason to praise him other than the fact that they appreciate and like the centurion. They claim him to be worthy because he loves their nation and built their synagogue. They don’t understand a very important fact. Worthiness before God is not earned by our merit.

The scripture tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that the wages of that sin or the price earned for that sin is death. So none of us can through doing anything good, going to church enough, loving Israel enough, building a church, going on mission trips, teaching Sunday school, giving money, etc, can ever earn enough points with God to be considered worthy of Him and salvation from our sin.

Jesus hears the elders out and goes with them to the man’s house. But while they are on their way a group of his friends meet them and say not to come. This is a little confusing since, he had wanted Jesus to come heal the servant. You almost expect, as R.C. Sproul mentioned, to hear them come with the news that the servant had already died. But that wasn’t it. The centurion sent a message saying that he wasn’t worthy for Jesus to even come under his roof. He was a man under authority and who had much authority. He understood authority and commanding that which you have authority over. The message says that Jesus need only say the word and his servant would be healed. And Jesus marvels at this. We tend to look at it and think well Jesus, who knew everything anyway, was amazed that this guy had faith that Jesus could heal. The issue isn’t that alone. Look at what Jesus says in verse 9.

Luke 7:9 ESV

When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

II. A Marvelous Faith (v. 6)

The emphasis is not on the miracle here but on the faith of the centurion. We only find a couple of times in scripture where Jesus marvels at people. We know that Jesus is God so we can assume that He knew the man had great faith. So he isn’t surprised by it. Why would he marvel at this particular faith?

Not solely at the amount of faith but on the place it was found. Jesus said He hadn’t found faith like that in Israel. The very people who should have been the most likely to accept and believe in Him as their Messiah, rejected Him and yet, here was this gentile, Roman, part of the oppressors of Israel, who trusted that Jesus had the authority and power to heal his servant without even being present! Unlikely faith from an unlikely place. Marvelous indeed.

He had no doubt heard about Jesus and His miraculous works. So he sought out the help from the only one who he thought could save his servant from certain death.

Luke had a keen interest in the Gentiles and hearing this account would have been encouraging to other non-Jews when it came to telling them about Jesus.

Isaiah 56:5–8 ESV

I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

Most of us in this room and listening online are Gentiles. We are non-Jews. So in that way we are like the centurion and outside the covenant with Israel. As Lig Duncan says, we are those being talked about in Isaiah 56. We have no right to the covenant or the promises therein. But… GOD has brought us in by the blood of Christ. Those who have trusted in Christ have been adopted into the family of God. We have been grafted in. Duncan points out that some of us who have been brought in for a long time begin to think like these Jewish folks and begin to lack faith like they did. When we see it displayed in someone outside our fellowship, it reminds us that Jesus can be trusted. He still saves. He is still worth it.

When we talk about this story, a lot of time we emphasize the miracle of the healing. We have it stated that the servant was healed by the time they got back to the house. However, the emphasis is not on the miracle itself but on the attitude of the centurion.

He didn’t know who he was dealing with exactly. He just trusted what He could do.

III. Authority, Position, and Identity

He understood his position as unworthy. The elders of the Jews told Jesus that man was worthy. They did not get it. But here was a man who was not Jewish, rightly understanding that he was not worthy of Jesus coming to him to help him. That is amazing.

None of us are worthy. Only through the blood of Jesus, shed in our place, on our behalf, can we be given his right standing before God. One scholar wrote that to be worthy is to recognize your unworthiness, however, I don’t think that phrase quite gets it because it still puts some of the merit on your recognition. You recognize and confess your unworthiness and trust in Christ’s worthiness and work on the cross and only then, clothed in the white garments of the gospel can you be worthy to enter the kingdom of God. It’s His merit, not yours.

Here as well as in the next passage we see Jesus as compassionate. He doesn’t just offer a hug. He offers a power based on His authority and identity as the Son of God. He can be trusted because of who He is.

After this interaction, Jesus heads down to the town of Nain and a great crowd goes with, along with the disciples.

It was a faith but not quite to the point of saving faith...

The point is why Jesus can do these things: because of who He is.

My friend Jeff Dodge tells this story that you may have heard before:

Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away, there lived a great king.  He was simultaneously the most powerful man in the Kingdom as well as the kindest and gentlest man in the whole realm. The kingdom was known for its peace, harmony and goodwill. Neighbors cherished one another and years would pass without a single crime being committed.

One day, however, the chief servant of the Merciful King came into the throne room with ill tidings. “There is a thief in the realm of your kingdom, Sire,” said the servant.  The king was astonished! “Find that thief! And when you do, bring him to me.  He will be punished with 10 lashes!” Those in the room were astonished as well. It had been so long since a crime had been committed, they could hardly imagine who would have done such a thing.

A week went by and the servant again made his way into the throne room. “I have bad news for you, Sire,” quietly reported the servant. “The thief has not been found and he continues to rob from your people.” In anger, the king raised his voice and said, “Find the thief and when you do he will receive 25 lashes!” The people began to murmur among themselves, “Who could withstand such a punishment? Who could possibly be committing such a crime?”

As time went on, the servant once again came back into the throne room with yet another bad report. “Your Majesty, the thief has not been found.  We have searched in vain for him. Your people are still being robbed.” The king was enraged. “Find that wretched thief! And when you do his punishment will be fifty lashes!” Now the people were filled with dread. They were not even sure the king himself could withstand such a punishment! And if he could not, then certainly no one else could.  Who could be doing such a thing?

Soon afterward the servant again approached the king in his throne room. His face was pale and his voice timid and hollow.

“Your Highness,” spoke the servant, “the thief has been found.”

“Bring him to me this instant,” cried the king. The crowd that had poured into the throne room slowly parted, revealing the thief who now stood trembling in the middle of the room. To the utter shock and dismay of all, it was the king’s aged mother.  There she stood, trembling and crying.  Her small and frail body was shaking with fear and shame.  She was, perhaps, the very last soul that any one would have suspected of such a crime.  And there stood the king, in shock and deeply wounded.

The crowd began to wonder and murmur among themselves:  “What will the Merciful King do? Will he set aside the law and display his love and mercy by forgiving his mother for her crimes?  Or will he display His sovereignty and justice by giving her exactly what she deserved.  Will he choose mercy or will he choose justice?”

The king raised his hand to quiet the crowd.  “Bring the whipping post,” he said.

The crowd was dumbfounded. Would the king truly have his mother receive such a punishment? Even the king could scarcely survive such a flogging! This frail woman would not last even a few strokes!

The old woman was tied to the post. Her garment was rent, exposing her back to the whip-master. Her ribs could be counted for her frailty. “Administer the lashes,” said the king.  And not a sound could be heard as the whip was raised.

But just as the whip-master was about to unleash his first stroke, the king cried, “Halt!”

The crowd sighed in utter relief, but the feeling did not last for long.  The king stood from his throne. He slowly removed the crown from his head, laying it upon the regal seat. As he began to walk down the stairs toward his mother, he laid aside his royal robe and finely woven tunic.  Coming to his mother, he wrapped his enormous body around her, completely enveloping her under his frame.

The king spoke: “Now, administer the lashes."

Thus in one act did the king display pure mercy and perfect justice.

Conclusion:

Luke’s key on giving certainty about Jesus.

The only way you can go through suffering in this word well, is if you know who Jesus is and that He has authority.