"Approaching Jesus!" (Luke 7:1-10)

COVID-19 has people washing their hands more than ever and many are praying more than ever as well. Some have prayed for the first time, others are praying more than ever before. Entire countries have even set apart days for prayer and fasting. Yet, as we make our requests to God in Jesus’ name this story in Luke 7 can help us.

Luke 7:1–10 (NIV84)

Jesus comes to Capernaum where we find a Roman centurion with a servant whom he highly respects. But his servant is ‘sick and dying’. The centurion has heard of Jesus who is purported to work miracles. So the centurion sends some Jewish elders he knows to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. He’s a powerful Roman military man who believes that Jesus could heal his valued servant who was dying (7:1-3).

The Jewish elders go and plead with Jesus to heal the centurion’s servant. They reason that Jesus should heal this servant because the centurion deserved the favor. They say that the centurion loved Israel and he had built their synagogue (7:4-5). These Jewish elders believed that the centurion loved Israel and had demonstrated his love by building their synagogue. This was a Roman military officer of army that was occupying Israel. He was on the side of their oppressors, but he was different. He had gone so far as to build their synagogue, or at least fund its construction. According to these Jewish elder the centurion deserved to have his servant healed because his benevolent actions made him worthy of Jesus’ help. We don’t what Jesus thought of their argument, we only know that Jesus went to the centurion’s home.

When Jesus was on his way, the centurion sent a message with his friends to intercept Jesus. They tell Jesus how the centurion doesn’t think he deserves to have Jesus come under his roof. The centurion’s friends tell Jesus not to come to the centurion’s home.  He didn’t want to trouble Jesus because he wasn’t worthy to come to Jesus. In fact, this is why he hadn’t come to Jesus in the first place (7:7). Why should Jesus to come into a Gentile home and upset other Jews and become ‘unclean’. More importantly he didn’t want Jesus to think he felt entitled to receive Jesus’ personal attention. He didn’t think that he was worthy of Jesus’ favor. Contrary to what the Jewish elders had argued, he did not consider himself worthy or deserving of a personal visit from Jesus.

This foreign military man approached Jesus in a way very differently than the Syrian general Naaman had approached Elisha (2 Kgs 5:10). This man believed that all Jesus had to do was say the word and his servant would be healed. The centurion’s friends inform Jesus that the centurion believed that Jesus had authority to merely speak and word and his servant would be healed. For the centurion was a man under authority, with soldiers under him. The centurion was under the authority of Rome and his soldiers were bound to obey his commands and his servant also obeyed his word. Evidently, the centurion believed that God had given Jesus authority over ‘sickness and death’ and all Jesus had to do was speak the word and the servant would be healed (7:8-9). Hearing this, Jesus was amazed!

This is one of only two places in the gospels where we are told directly that Jesus was amazed. Amazed, Jesus turns to the crowd following him and says, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Jesus was amazed at the centurion’s faith and Jesus had not found a Jew in all of Israel that had such ‘great faith’. Jesus praised him, but not because he loved Israel and built a synagogue. His ‘great faith’ was exhibited in his humble profession of inadequacy and in his complete confidence in the power and authority of Jesus. He believed that Jesus didn’t even need to see the servant; all Jesus had to do was to say the word! When the friends of the centurion returned to the centurion’s home they found the servant well (7:10).

The story contrasts two ways of approaching Jesus; two ways of bringing our requests of Jesus. The first approach is represented by the Jewish elders. They go to Jesus and they plead with Jesus to do something for this worthy centurion. Sure he was a soldier in the oppressor’s army, but he loved the Jewish people and had built a synagogue.  This is radically contrasted by what the centurion had friends tells Jesus. The centurion didn’t want Jesus to trouble himself for he didn’t think of himself worthy. This is why the centurion hadn’t come to Jesus in the first place (Luke 7:7). The Jewish elders thought the man was worthy, but this is not what the centurion thought about himself. He had a low view of himself, but he had an high view of Jesus.  In sharp contrast to the Jewish elders, he begs Jesus, "Lord... I am not worthy... but say the word, and my servant will be healed".  The centurion was a man under Rome’s authority and the soldiers under him were bound to obey him and his servant obeyed him as well. Evidently, the centurion believed that God had given Jesus authority over ‘sickness and death’ and all Jesus had to do was say so and his servant would be healed.

When Jesus heard this he was amazed (7:9). This is one of only two places in the gospels where we’re told directly that Jesus was amazed. Here Jesus turns to the crowd and in amazement he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Jesus was amazed at the centurion’s faith! Jesus hadn’t found a Jew in all of Israel that had such ‘great faith’. According to Jesus this Gentile soldier of the occupying Roman troops was the model of genuine faith. But this was not because of what he had done; Jesus praised him because of his humble dependence and unwavering confidence in the power and authority of Jesus. Jesus didn’t even need to be present; he just had to say ‘the word’.  

The other place where we are told directly Jesus was amazed is in Mark’s account of Jesus’ Nazareth sermon. There Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith (Mark 6:4-6). What a contrast this Gentile soldier is to those in Jesus’ home synagogue! How shocking this story would have been to its original observers. According to Jesus this Gentile army officer of the occupying Roman troops was the model of genuine faith. The religious leaders missed the mark, but the centurion made his humble request and his confidence in Jesus and Jesus spoke a word and the dying servant was healed!