Amazing Faith

Luke 7:1-10

Jesus was entering Capernaum. Our scripture tells us that He had finished all His sayings in the hearing of the people. He had just proclaimed the Beatitudes to His disciples. He had gone on to tell them to love their enemies, give to anyone who asked of them, be merciful to others as their father had been merciful to them.

And then as He journeyed on he encountered some Jewish elders from the synagogue. They had been sent to Jesus on the behalf of a centurion. A centurion who had a servant who was dear to him who now lay on his deathbed.

This centurion had heard a lot about Jesus and yet he himself does not come directly to Jesus or have Jesus come into his home. Perhaps he did this out of respect because he knows that Jesus would be rendered unclean by coming into the house of a Gentile.

We read about centurions a lot in Gospel stories. In first-century Galilee and Judea they would have been a part of the Roman occupation force. And as a gentile this centurion might have been an oppressor of the Jewish people yet he seems to be a man who has done some good for his community as the elders tell Jesus that a synagogue has been built under his authority.

First the centurion sends these elders and in the second part of the story he sends some friends to Jesus. He never comes directly. And these friends mouth the centurion’s words that he is not worthy to have Jesus under his roof. But if Jesus just speaks the word, the servant will be healed. He explains how in his own middle management job he is given authority from above so that the people who work under him can be given his commands. So we can almost imply from what he is saying here that this centurion fully grasps how Jesus has authority from above—from God His father—and then Jesus can enact by simply saying the word. We hear that in verse 7: “But only speak the word and let my servant be healed.”

Jesus is amazed at the faith of this centurion, this Gentile. He tells the crowd that He has not seen this kind of faith, even in Israel. And Jesus heals the slave through this amazing faith.

Are we also somewhat amazed by the faith of this centurion, his understanding of Jesus’ God-given authority to heal and His ability to accomplish that healing from a distance? Are there people in your own life whose faith seems amazing? I think God likes to surprise us and delight us so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by the many places that faith shows up in our world.

Corrie Ten Boom said that those letters that spell the word faith stand for Fantastic Adventures in Trusting Him. We need a lot of faith and a lot of trust as we walk through our daily lives. With our trust in God we can expect those fantastic adventures.

In the daily journeys most of us walk we often find ourselves standing in places of illness, in places of uncertainty and fear, in contemplation. Sometimes we stand in those places filled with anger or confusion. But it is at the edges of those situations where we encounter Christ most strongly, where our faith is brought into focus.

As we willingly approach Jesus like the elders and the friends did in today’s gospel, whether we approach Him for someone else or for ourselves, as we approach Him with hearts and eyes wide open we will see God’s Love and His will in new and amazing ways. He is a God who journeys with us, who knows when we need healing or when our faith has hit a dry spell. He is a God who will never leave our side.

These characters in Luke’s story tell a remarkable story of all humanity and they tell a story of you and me.

We are all on a journey to know more about Jesus, to demonstrate our own amazing faith to each other. We are here on earth to be God’s people. We are children of God sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of God forever. We will face challenges, but our faith can tackle those challenges before they tackle us. No one can strip our faith away. It anchors our souls to our Loving Father.

It is through our faith that we reflect God to others---we show our faith as we worship together in our churches, as we study scripture and learn from each other. We share our faith when we share a word of kindness or we encourage or call someone who might be lonely. We share our faith when we buy food for the food bank, or when we pray for each other. Love and forgiveness become our special faith vocations.

The healing that the centurion’s servant benefitted from also comes to us through our faith. God’s kingdom breaks through into our lives.

At the core of the gospel story we see that God is Love. It is manifested as we see how Jesus reacts to each person that He meets. We see a God who stands with us and for us, who wants to be fully accessible to each one of us.

We need to find a way to show the world our amazing faith. We need to be about the Lord’s business, knowing that in the very places God puts us, in the presence of those we know and those we do not know, we have the faith to speak and to do what God has already written in our hearts. That is pretty amazing….God will be glorified through us and our amazing faith.