Faith of Centurions

The Centurion who saw the power of God through Jesus’ healings

King James Version Chapter 8

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

The Back Story

Jesus is coming off preaching the sermon on the Mount, know to us as one of his most prominent sermons. While we can be sure Jesus gave many sermons during the years of his ministry on earth, this is the one that was written down in the gospels for all generations of Christians to read and learn of the teachings of Jesus.

After this sermon Jesus left the Mount where this discourse took place, it is recorded in Matthew he healed a leper before eventually entering into the city of Capernaum where the account we are going to look at takes place. In Luke it is written that he entered Capernaum as soon as he finished his discourse with the people.

King James Version Chapter 8

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

Jesus enters this city and there comes to him a Centurion with a request for Jesus to heal his servant. Now compared to some of the other centurions we will look at we don’t know much of his military credentials.

King James Version Chapter 8

6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

This Centurion requests Jesus to heal his servant. It should be noted that this centurion request was for his servant. More than likely this was a slave of his. While this servant could have represented a significant finical investment for him, but if the account of this encounter in Luke it says this servant was dear to him. This Centurion had a real care for a slave of his. This gives us a little insight possibly into the character of this centurion.

In Matthew the Centurion is asking Jesus for his servant to be healed. The servant had palsy, while we don’t know exactly what problem this guy had, we know he was incapable of moving or controlling all or part of his body. Most likely this wasn’t a problem he had his whole life. As he was sick with something that was called palsy. There are ideas of what it might have been, but we know is was very painful to him. He was grievously or terribly tormented of tortured. We are also told in Luke the servant was close to die.

Its interesting the phrasing of the words, when he heard of Jesus. This has the idea of this is the first time he is hearing about Jesus. We can’t know for sure it seems that he may have sent to find Jesus but this was early in Jesus’ ministry. So he is hearing about Jesus for the first time, and now he must ask Jesus to heal his servant.

Now in Luke we are told of the humility of this Centurion. He does ask Jesus for this in Matthew, we are given further information in Luke. The Centurion sends first the elders of the Jews to ask this request of Jesus. Again with this we see the urgency of this situation. They came to Jesus and besought him instantly. They didn’t waste anytime getting to the point. They go right into convincing Jesus. They said this is why this man is worthy, or deserving of request being fulfilled. Here are the reasons.

He loves our nation. He loves who we are as a people. Sure he is part of the Roman army but he’s not like them, he is on our side.

He built or paid to have their synagogue. We aren’t told but with another centurion we will see later he may have converted to Judaism or at least admired their religion.

They probably brought these things up to show Jesus this man was on their side, or maybe they had heard about the phecioncian woman and her daughter. Either way they are going to bat for this guy.

Jesus says he will go and heal this servant.

In Luke 7:6 Jesus goes with these Jewish leaders and when they were coming to his house but before they got there he sends this times some of his friends with a message.

Their message is for Jesus to not trouble himself with coming to his house. This centurion is like don’t bother coming to my house, don’t go through all that trouble. You shouldn’t have to put that much time or effort into this for I’m unworthy to have you in my house. It is also stated that he considered himself unworthy to approach Jesus in person. He sent Jewish leaders whom he deemed as more worthy than himself.

That word Worthy every other time it is translated as worth in the Bible it was used by John the Baptist to describe how much greater Jesus was than himself.

The centurion asks Jesus to just say the word and his servant would be healed. Why this was in the second message and not the first is unknown. Maybe he didn’t think Jesus as a Jew would come to his house. Maybe he thought Jesus would just heal his servant after the Jewish leaders asked him to. But he does give his reason for why it was enough for Jesus to command the sickness to leave.

He says I have authority too. I have soldiers who I command if I tell him to go he does it, if I tell him to come he comes, and if I tell him to do something he does it. You can command this sickness away and it will listen to you.

Two things to note here.

First he recognizes Jesus has authority. He says “ For I also am a man set under authority” he does clarify he is in-charge of soldiers which is very different from what Jesus as charge over. He does tho recognize that Jesus has authority, this man has power, and in the face of it he realizes without seemly having seen Jesus in person that this man has much greater power and authority then him. And he was a commander of the Roman army this man had some power. More than your usual person, and yet he still understands how much greater Jesus’ power is than his. How much authority he thinks Jesus has is unknown but what we do know is seen in the second point.

He realizes that Jesus’ power is just not where he is. That Jesus’ power or authority extends over seemly everywhere. Which is a very different mindset from many of the Jews who would seek Jesus’ healing in the gospels. Just a couple of examples Jaruis needed Jesus to come to his house and was upset when Jesus was delayed on the way. Mary and Martha when Lazarus was sick sent for Jesus to come not to command the sickness away.

The response to this message? Jesus marvelled at his faith and say this.

King James Version Chapter 8

Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

What a statement that at the very least Jesus hadn’t found a great faith than this man’s. In Matthew we are given this longer statement by Jesus. Jesus here using this as an example of there shortly many gentiles would come to place their faith in Jesus and would be grafted into the family of God. Which his should have been really good news, but we are told how the Jews who were there took this news. But there is also a warning. The children of the kingdom, the Jews, where going to be thrown out into the outer darkness. Which unfortunately came true as they refused to listen to Jesus’ warnings and chose to reject him time after time.

Jesus would then tell the friends who were sent out to go back as the servant was healed. Little note here how often do end up waiting or missing out on things because we just don’t ask or are trying to make them happen on our own time?

The main things I want to highlight from this text are

This gentile or outsider who didn’t have all the promises of God and the blessings of God had a better grasp on who Jesus was than the Jews. The Jews saw themselves as deserving of blessings and being in God’s presence. It bleeds through a little as they tell Jesus what this man is deserving of. While it is commendable to beg on behalf of this centurion they assumed they knew when someone was worthy of God’s blessings. How often do we lose sight of who God really is? Or what we deserve from God? This centurion wanted to save the life of his servant and knew Jesus had the power of God to do it. Which made Jesus much more worthy than him.

Do we seek God out as this Centurion did? When we hear something of God do we realized the need in our lives and immedantaly seek out God to change out lives?

The Centurion Who Saw the Power of God Through Jesus’ Death

King James Version Chapter 27

54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

King James Version Chapter 15

39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

King James Version Chapter 23

47 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man

This Centurion we have very little with. Only three verses, just one verse in the first of the three gospels. This Centurion was there to oversee the crucifixion of Jesus. We don’t know anything about him other than his reaction the death of Christ.

In the book of Matthew we see not only the centurion but the other soldiers who where there with him saw the signs and they feared greatly, and they came to the conclusion that this was the Son of God. You can imagine there would have been some fear.

In the book Mark we are given this statement from the centurion that Jesus was truly the Son of God. This is a more condensed version of the account of Matthew.

In the book of Luke we are told a little more information. Here the statement is stated as he said this was truly a righteous man. But we are told he glorified God are seeing God’s power displayed through Jesus’ death.

The Centurion who saw God’s power through revelation

King James Version Chapter 10

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, 2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.

The Third man we want to look at we are actually given a name. His name was Cornelius. And we are given a little information about him. He was part of the Italian band, this was a group of soldiers from the Italian peninsula. This gives us his occupation and his origins. The more important information tho is about his character.

First he was a devout man. Or another way to say it would be he was a godly or pious man. Unlike the other two he we know he was one who believed in God and tried to live in accordance with God’s desires. We can skip over this a little quickly, but this God he believed in and followed was the God of the people he was helping to rule over. This was a God of a defeated people of Roman Empire. This really makes no sense if you were to just state this out on paper. But we see no only did he believe in God but he also tried to obey his commandments.

We see he and his household feared God. The book of proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. He also gave much, or great alms to the poor. He belief in God extended beyond himself and his household, it extended to those around him as he would help with the poor.

The final thing in this little insert of who this man was, is that he prayed to God alway. This is quite a statement, that Luke could write of this man as a man of prayer. A man who was in a continual state of prayer. If you think how hard it can be for us now who have the Holy Spirit to be in a state of prayer, think of this man who without the Spirit loved God enough to be alway in prayer.