Faith That Amazed Jesus

 

                     

When the bishop’s ship stopped at a remote island for a day, he determined to use the time as profitably as possible.  He strolled along the sea shore and came across three fishermen mending their nets. In Pidgin English they explained to him that, centuries before they had been Christianized by missionaries. “We are Christians” they said proudly pointing to one another.

The bishop was impressed. But, did they know the Lord’s Prayer? They had never heard of it. The bishop was shocked, “What do you say then when you pray?” We lift our eyes to heaven, we pray “We are three, you are three, have mercy on us”. The bishop was appalled at the primitive, heretical nature of their prayer. So he spent the whole day teaching them the Lord’s Prayer. He had the satisfaction of hearing them go through the whole Prayer without a fault.

Months later, the bishop’s ship happened to pass by those islands again and as he paced the deck saying his evening prayers, he recalled with pleasure the three men on the distant island who were now able to pray thanks to his patient efforts. He looked up and noticed a spot of light approaching the ship and as the bishop gazed in wonder, he saw three figures walking on water. When they were within speaking distance, the bishop recognized the fishermen. 

‘Bishop” they exclaimed “We hear your boat go past island and come in hurry to meet you.” “What is it you want?” asked the awe stricken bishop. “Bishop, we are so sorry we forgot the lovely prayer, please teach us again”. The bishop felt humbled. ‘Go back to your homes my friends’, he said “and each time you pray say ‘we are three, you are three have mercy on us’”

Luke 7:1-10 shows us how faith works by giving us a glimpse of unusual faith found where least expected. Here we read of a centurion who believed and thereby received a great miracle from the Lord. He lived in Capernaum, a small fishing village on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. As the name implies, a centurion was the captain of 100 soldiers. They were always gentiles. Whenever the New Testament mentions a centurion, it presents them as honorable, good men.

The centurion had a slave whom he highly regarded. We are not told much about the slave. Luke says he was sick to the point of death. Matthew’s version (Matthew 8:5-13) adds that he was paralyzed and in great pain. The centurion does not mention his name. We are not told the cause of his illness or how long he had been sick. Death was so close, evidently only a miracle could save him now. And that is why the centurion came to Jesus; He was looking for a miracle.

That the centurion highly regarded a slave was rare indeed. In the Roman Empire, slaves had no rights. They could be mistreated and even put to death. Under Roman law a master had the right to kill his slave, and it was expected that he would do so if the slave became ill or injured to the point where he could no longer work. So this is the first unusual thing about this story–that a Roman centurion would care so much about his slave.

The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant” (v. 2). It is unusual that he asked the Jews to go in his place and that they would go. The relationship between the Romans and the Jews was not good. The Romans had no use for the Jews and their religious beliefs. On the other hand the Jews hated their Roman occupying army, which the centurion represented, but this man was different

The Jewish elders stressed the centurion’s good qualities “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue” (vv. 4-5). This gives the picture of the centurion. He was kind-hearted, wealthy and generous. The Bible says that the Jews begged Jesus to go because the time was short and the servant was dying. It was completely against Jewish custom for a Jew to enter a Gentiles’ house; yet Jesus did not hesitate to go to the centurion’s house.

The centurion did not let Jesus come to his home. He said “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you” (vv. 6-7). The Jews he sent to Jesus said, “This man is worthy” But the centurion said, “I am not worthy.” The centurion was a humble man and he had faith that Jesus did not have to come for the healing to take place "Lord, just say the word and my servant will be healed.”

Verse 8 gives the reason for the centurion faith. “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 come. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”  He argues from personal experience because he knew all about being in command and giving orders that must be obeyed.  He knew that Jesus had power over disease.” If his authority produces instant obedience, how much more will Jesus authority produce.”

This centurion did not know much about Jesus. He knew about his background and something about his teachings and miracles. He knew that Jesus was more than a man and more than a good teacher. He saw Jesus for what he was and his great faith came from that realization. He considered Jesus’ word as absolutely authoritative. He knew that Jesus did not have to be personally present for his servant to be healed. He could command things to be done and completed outside His immediate presence.

When Jesus heard the centurion’s words, he marveled. The man’s understanding of Jesus’ spiritual authority made Jesus marvel. His simple confidence in the ability of Jesus’ mere word to heal showed a truly great faith, worthy of praise. Jesus was amazed by this man’s faith and he told the crowd “I have not found such great faith even in Israel” (v. 9). Only twice was Jesus said to be amazed: Here because of this man’s belief and in Nazareth because their unbelief (Mark 6:6).

The only thing that amazed Jesus was faith; when it was present in unexpected place and when it was absent where it should have been. He could not do mighty work among his own people because of their unbelief. He was limited by their unbelief. When Jesus overheard people telling Jairus that the daughter had died, he told Jairus, “Don’t be afraid, just believe” (Mark 5:36). Jesus asked the blind men who came to him for healing “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Yes lord they replied. He said to them “According to your faith, let it be done to you” (Matt. 9:28-28)

This faith outside Israel amazed Jesus. Israel had the knowledge of God and the history of his miraculous works. They had every advantage the centurion did not have, yet he had faith and they did not. Jesus did something that went beyond what the centurion suggested; he healed the slave without a word. Jesus did not go and he did not say a word of healing.  He did it to demonstrate beyond all questions that he has authority over sickness and death. If it’s faith that impresses our Lord, then we need to know how faith works. 

What is your level of faith on Jesus’ “faith- meter”! He ranked the centurion’s faith “great.” When His disciples faith as, “O you of little faith” (Matt 8: 23-26) and “you have no faith?” (Mk 4: 40). So, on Christ’s faith scale, your faith can range from zero to great. As you have believed, so it shall be done for you. If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can do exploits (Lk 17: 6). Faith comes by hearing the word of God (Rom. 10: 17). Don’t miss blessings because of unbelief and remember that without Faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6).