Today’s Readings: Matthew 8:5-13
Officer: Lord, I don’t deserve to have You in my house. And, in truth, I know You don’t need to be with my servant to heal him. Just say the word, and he will be healed.
What is it about the Centurion officer that Jesus healed his servant, but often we can pray for someone’s healing and it doesn’t happen? Why would God answer His prayer and not ours? Look at what he did to the Jews. The Centurion led Roman soldiers who abused the Jews at every turn. They occupied the country and kept them under Caesar’s tight rule. The soldiers ensured the Jews paid those heavy taxes levied against them. Just look at the types of punishment they came up with to entice others to follow the rules.
The word crucifixion didn’t exist before the Romans. It came about to describe the horror of a new form of torturous execution. This new crucifixion in which victims eventually died of asphyxiation on a cross, sometimes days after hanging there. It was by far the cruelest 
of punishments known to man. The Centurion Officer led men skilled in its execution. We don’t know how he gained his position. He could have bought it or been the son of a senator or other key political figure. But he kept it through his military skill. And Jerusalem was one of the toughest places to keep your position of power.
So why would Jesus grant this Centurion’s request and not ours? What is it about his faith that might give us a clue about why he so impressed Jesus?
First, there is no evidence that he heard Jesus personally up to this point. All of his information came from secondary sources. Still, he put together the information he received from his sources and knew Jesus to have powers only God could have. As Centurion, he unnamed officer would understand how to use sources of information and weed out truth from fantasy and put together the facts of what happened around him. He heard enough from those sources to understand Jesus did what he said, had the power to heal, aided those in need, and with what he knew, could help his servant.
Second, the Centurion had nothing to lose. His physicians already tried everything else. His servant still lay in bed with a fever without hope from anyone or anything he or anyone he knew could do for him. The Centurion considered Jesus the last hope for his servant. Jesus could heal him or not, but if he didn’t ask, this unusual man would not know his desperate situation.
Third, he understood authority. If Jesus was who his intelligence gatherers said He was, God has power over everything. He could act on people from a distance. God controls all, so Jesus’ presence at his home would not change His authority over the disease that racked the Centurion’s body. He gave orders and his subordinates carried them out. Jesus, as God’s Son, could do the same with nature. He could tell a disease to go away and it would. Authority isn’t limited by geography.
Finally, the Centurion understood faith isn’t some magical, mystical thing that some people possess and others don’t. It is available to all. In fact, everyone has faith, it’s just a question of what or rather who we put our faith in. I put my faith in my car every time I turn the key in the ignition. I put my faith in the power company every time I flip the light switch in the house. I put my faith in the bank every time I give my debit card to a cashier.
Why is it so hard to put our faith in Jesus? Isn’t He more secure and more reliable than any of those things? The Centurion thought so, and so do I. How about you.
Join me next time, won’t you?
Richard
Walk with Me 