Authority and Faith

Part 1

27^th October 2012

Matthew 8v5-13
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralysed and in terrible suffering."
Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."
The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.

We all have what's sometimes called a "comfort zone", a place where we feel secure and confident. The centurion would have been very much at home among his fellow officers in the Roman army but, in reality, he was many miles from home, as a captain in the army occupying what was then the Roman province of Galilee. And some of the locals would have hated him. Jewish zealots would have been out to kill him (although he had been good to the Jews in his area, see Luke 7v4-5) . But he was desperate; his servant was in great pain and no-one else could help. So he came to Jesus, a Jewish religious leader, to ask for a miracle.

There are many people who, like the centurion, are very comfortable in their own circle of friends, at their place of work, in their local pub, or wherever, but would be really uncomfortable in a church. What makes a Roman centurion come to a Jewish Messiah? What makes an English agnostic come to church? Often, it's because we've come to a point in our lives where we realise that God is the only answer. We don't know if He'll help, but we do know that no-one else can.

So, despite any reservations he might have had, about his personal safety or what his army colleagues might say about it, the centurion came to Jesus to ask for help. And Jesus offered to go to his home, to heal his servant. But the centurion replied, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof".

That is an excellent reply. Firstly, it's excellent because he calls Jesus "Lord". Of course Jesus is indeed Lord, but it's remarkable that this occupying soldier recognised the fact. Occupying armies don't usually acknowledge citizens of the occupied territory as having authority over them, to put it mildly.

Secondly, it's excellent because he understood that he had no right to expect Jesus to come to his house. It was against Jewish custom to visit the house of a Gentile, and he wasn't just any Gentile; he was a Roman officer. Perhaps the centurion was concerned about public order. Maybe the Jews in that area would have rioted if Jesus had gone to his house. But surely there's something else here, too. If you realise that Jesus Christ is "Lord", if you understand that Jesus is the Son of God, and if you have any sense of your own sin, then surely you must also realise that you're not worthy to have Jesus come to your home, or be involved in any way in your life (except to pronounce judgment on you).

The centurion understood that but - remarkably - many Christians don't. Some of us who have been Christians for a long time can get so used to the love and grace of God that we forget that we don't deserve to be Christians at all. We can quote the doctrine all day long, but in our hearts we can forget that we can't earn God's favour, we can't earn the power of the Holy Spirit, we don't deserve to have God help us, and guide us, and heal us.

God loves us. But he loves us despite the huge chasm between his holiness and our sinfulness. Jesus died to bridge that chasm, and we can know his forgiveness, love and power. But let's not pretend that we deserve to.

Not only did the centurion understand these things, he also understood that Jesus the Lord has authority over everything, including sickness. He said, "I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it.".

We'll look at that next week.