Transcription
Let's turn today to Luke's gospel, chapter 7, and verse 1. And when Jesus had completed all his discourse in the hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum.
And a certain Centurion's slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. And when they had come to Jesus, they earnestly entreated him, saying, "He is worthy for you to grant this to him, for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue."
Now Jesus started on his way with them, and when he was already not far from the house, the Centurion sent friends, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself further, for I am not fit for you to come under my roof. For this reason, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For indeed, I'm a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; into another, 'Come,' and he comes; unto my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."
And when Jesus heard this, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that was following him, "I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith." And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
This is one of two places where Jesus spoke about the remarkable faith that he saw in someone. When Jesus marveled, he marveled only at two things: he marveled at faith, and he marveled at unbelief. It's very interesting and important for us to remember that we read in Mark 6 and verse 6, he marveled or wondered at their unbelief. And the same thing we read about the Centurion in Matthew 8:10. When Jesus heard this man speak in this way, he marveled at his faith. He marveled at unbelief, like we see here in Luke 7:9. He marveled, and he marvels. He marveled at faith, and he marveled at unbelief. He was surprised when people didn't believe. Among the Jews, what we read in Mark 6 is about his own hometown. The people in his own hometown could not believe, and he was surprised.
But the two instances where we read of amazing faith, interestingly enough, are both found in people who were not Jews, who were Gentiles. One is here in Luke chapter 7, this Roman Centurion. And the other is in Matthew 15 and verse 28, where you read of a Canaanite woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon, who trusted Jesus for the healing of her daughter by saying, "Lord, I don't need the children's bread; if you give me a crumb that falls from the table, that will heal my daughter." And Jesus said, "Your faith is great."
So, great faith does not necessarily come to those who have great Bible knowledge. The Jews had more Bible knowledge than the Roman Centurion or that Canaanite woman, but they had more faith, and they got more from Jesus than all those religious Jews who knew their scriptures so well. And that should be a warning to us that we can have so much knowledge of the scriptures and yet not have faith. Faith is the important thing. It's by faith that we receive everything from God.
You remember that incident where Jesus was walking down the road, and it says a great multitude thronged around him, but one woman touched him in faith and was healed. The multitude thronged, but faith touches and receives. And it's even so today. So many people throng around Jesus at meetings, but faith reaches out and touches and receives from God. And that's important for us to bear in mind that with all our knowledge of the scripture and with all our excitement about understanding it, if we don't reach out in faith, we can remain spiritually poverty-stricken.
But there's something else that we see here which is instructive. Faith is always coupled with humility. Jesus said in John chapter 5 and verse 44, "How can you have faith when you receive glory or honor or fame from one another? If you receive honor from human beings, if you are proud to seek your own honor, you can't have faith." Faith is very closely linked with humility.
And we see that here in the case of this Centurion. He had faith, great faith, in fact. Jesus said that he'd never seen such faith in anyone in Israel, not even in Israel, he says in Luke 7:9. One would have expected to find such faith among those who study the Bible, but he finds it outside Israel. But notice the attitude of the Centurion. First of all, he never felt worthy to ask for this. He didn't feel worthy that Jesus could come to his house. He said, "I'm not fit," the last part of verse 6, "for you to come under my roof." Now, he was a very big man in the Roman army, a Roman Centurion occupying Israel. And the Jews were considered low-caste by the Romans. And for this high-caste Roman soldier, who's a Centurion, a captain, to look down at one who was considered low-caste by his fellow Romans, a carpenter from Nazareth, than to say, "I am not fit for you to come under my roof," shows a degree of humility that's rare to find, even among so-called believers.
And he also said, "I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you," verse 7. He didn't feel that he was fit enough to even come and speak to Jesus. So he sent a message through his Jewish elders. That's the other thing we see in this Roman Centurion: humility, tremendous humility.
Notice another quality here in the Centurion. He had such a concern for a slave. Now, the usual Roman soldier was very hard and couldn't care less for the condition of his slaves. But he was a Centurion who had a high regard for a slave and was concerned enough to get his slave healed. And when he realized that slaves in those days were worse than servants today, because if a slave dies, you just go to the market and buy another one, but he was concerned. He had a concern for those who were lower in society than him.
We also see that he was a generous man. The Jewish elders came and said to Jesus concerning him, in verse 5, "He loves our nation, and he spent his own money and built our synagogue." That's the type of man to whom God gives faith: one who is humble, one who is generous, one who has a concern for others. Quite the opposite of this self-centered preoccupation with oneself which one finds in the race of Adam. We could say that Cornelius was a Centurion like this too, who was large-hearted, generous, and humbled, and God met with him as well.
And we read here that when Jesus saw this faith, he responded to it. He didn't have to go to the Centurion's house. They went back, the messengers whom the Centurion had sent. And when they returned to the house, they found the slave in perfect health. The word of Jesus had healed him. Jesus responds to faith. Genuine faith will always be coupled with humility and a concern for others. And when Jesus sees that type of faith, he responds to it. He wasn't just responding to faith there; he was responding to all the other qualities that he saw in this Centurion back of his faith: his generosity, his concern for others, his humility. Jesus responded to all of that. Many people today just try to believe, but back of their trying to believe, there's no generosity, there is no concern for others, there is no humility. No wonder Jesus doesn't respond. Study the life of the Centurion and see the qualities that there were in him that Jesus responded to. It wasn't just faith.
Verse 11. And it came about soon afterwards that he went to a city called Nain, and his disciples were going along with him, accompanied by a large multitude. As he approached the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a sizable crowd from the city was with her. And the Lord saw her; he felt compassion for her. This tremendous quality that is often expressed in the Gospels, it is found in Jesus' compassion. And remember, God's word says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He hasn't changed. He is the same today, still compassionate, still concerned for our needs. And he felt compassion for her and said, "Do not weep." And he came up and touched the coffin, and the bearers came to a halt. And he said to the young man, to the body, as it were, but he spoke to the young man: "Young man, I say to you, arise." And the dead man sat up in the coffin and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. And fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us," and "God has visited his people." And this report concerning him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.
Now, we can ask this question: Doesn't Jesus feel compassion for people who've died today? Why doesn't he raise the dead today? We must remember that many of the miracles that Jesus did when he was on Earth were an attestation by God, as we read in Acts 2:22, "Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs." The miracles and wonders and signs that Jesus did were an attestation by God of his ministry as the Son of God. And it's not necessary that Jesus' compassion has to be manifested today in every case by raising a dead person. That is a matter which is in God's sovereign will. At one time, he does it one way; another time, he does it another way. He didn't raise every dead person in Israel either. He manifested his power, but the will of God is different in each case. The important thing is to submit. But one thing we can believe is just as compassionate today and meets our need, even today.