Word of Salvation – Vol. 45 No.39 – October 2000

 

Jesus Heals the Centurion’s Slave

 

Sermon by Rev C Kavanagh

on Luke 7:1-10

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 56:1-8

 

Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction:

 Archaeologists have uncovered the synagogue at Capernaum.  Little of it was left standing after the ravages of time.  In the immediate generations after Christ the Roman armies created havoc in the land when they put down two rebellions, in AD 70, and again with greater severity, in AD 135.  The latter resulted in the exile of the Jewish nation from its homeland until modern times.

But they did find the floor of the synagogue in Capernaum dating from about the time of Christ.  Quite possibly it is the only part of the building built by the Centurion in the account we read, that remains.  The Centurion is un-named, and there is no other record of the builder of the synagogue in Capernaum.

The monument that is left to him is not a building, but the account of his encounter with Jesus of Nazareth.  He loved the Jewish people, and loving them, he must have been very aware of their religion and their God.  They couldn’t be separated.  Israel was a state that was founded and existed solely as a function of the revealed religion.  No modern nation is such.  There is no modern nation that the Lord claims as his own.

Christian nations are so called because a significant number of their citizens profess the Christian faith.  Their laws are based on the law of God, and so on.  The politics and religion of Israel was not separable; and still isn’t, as I was reminded recently when I was looking for a video of Jewish religious customs, and the only place I could find it was at the Israeli embassy – now can you imagine finding specifically Christian videos in our overseas embassies?

So the Centurion, in loving the nation of Israel, cannot fail to have known of the God of Israel.  It is significant that he built a synagogue for the people – not a gymnasium or an amphitheatre.  Perhaps he, too, worshipped at the synagogue, as far as he was able without being a full convert to the faith of the people of God.  But his true memorial is not his synagogue but his real encounter with the God of Israel.

The Centurion was in a troubled state about his servant.  Now this speaks volumes in itself.  Here was a Roman non-commissioned officer, an army man, with soldiers under him, and he feels for his slave.

See also that he did not turn to the gods of Rome for help, and by this stage it was too late for the doctors to help.  But hearing of Jesus he went to him for help.  He could not have known much about Him.  He must have heard about Him and His miracles though, perhaps from his Jewish friends, or even seen the results of His healings.  That cripple, who used to sit at the barracks’ gates, he saw hopping and skipping down the main street the other day.

So he determined to approach Jesus.  He recognised in Him someone who was a very important part of this Jewish nation he loved, and was not afraid to go to Him.

Now this is how it should be with us, too.  If there is someone who is sick, we should seek the Lord for him or her, as this is the clear command of Scripture by teaching and example.  It might be that the loved one seems to be beyond help, but we are to seek the Lord anyway, for that is His command.  We do not expect miraculous healings like the Lord performed, but He may heal fully or partially in answer to our prayers.  But let’s pray anyway!

The Centurion recognised something about Jesus – whether by report of others, or by his own witnessing of the deeds of Jesus in Capernaum or their effects.  He recognised that Jesus had authority, and this man knew what authority was about.  He could recognise it when he saw it (vss.7b-8).  He was well versed in the concept and practice of authority, as I guess anyone in the armed forces must be.

He could shout a command to his soldiers, and they would go to, because he was the Centurion.  His office had the authority invested in it.  Whether he was popular or despised, good at this job or not – he carried authority with him.  In the same way, he knew that his superiors in the garrison at Caesarea must be obeyed.  They, too, had authority.  And then they had the top brass over them back in Rome.

He recognised in Jesus, one who had authority.  Yet His was of a different order and in a different realm.  He had authority over evil in all its forms.  He had authority in the spiritual realm – not through gaining it; or being given it; not through power of personality or magic of some kind.  But by virtue of His office.  Just by being who He was He had authority over evil, and He had authority in all the realm of God.  The Centurion recognised that Jesus of Nazareth had authority in the realm of this people of God he had come to know and love.

And so he confesses to Jesus that he recognises that He has authority.  Note well though, that is all he is saying.  This Scripture is not saying that Jesus fits into a line of command.  The soldier does – but not Jesus.  There is no authority structure for Jesus in the Holy Trinity.

To say that Jesus fits into a line of command in the Holy Trinity with God the Father at the top, the Son next, and the Holy Spirit at the bottom is one wrong belief that is very common.  Its technical name is subordinationism – the Son is subordinate to the Father.  Yet he is not.  He is of one substance with the Father – God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.  This is from the Nicene Creed.  One of the other Creeds of our churches puts it like this: “The Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.”  That is Article 6 of the Athanasian Creed.

This false teaching of subordinationism later gave rise to a full-blown Arianism, which is a false teaching about Christ that He is not really God in the same way that the Father is God.  It says that it is true that Jesus is a very special person, the most special of all God’s creation, but He is not quite God.  If you want to meet some modern day Arians, just wait till next time the Jehovah’s Witnesses come knocking on your door, and if you have an hour or two to spare, ask them who they think Jesus is.

But the trouble is, it can be an easy way of thinking for any of us to fall into unconsciously – and one which we must guard against with all our might.  Because a Christ who is in any way inferior to the Father cannot be a Saviour.  Only someone who was infinite in his Person could absorb the infinite wrath of God against our sins, and Jesus did that.  Not a drop of it leaked out, but there was no more room for a drop more to be poured into Jesus on the cross.  He absorbed all the wrath of God, so that there was not one drop left over for you and me.  That one drop would be enough to send us down to hell – but praise be to Jesus, He took it all for us.

And then if we say that Jesus is not really God, then we diminish His glory.  Just to take away one tiny little bit of His divinity – to say he is the same as God the Father in everything except this tiny little thing – is to take away from the glory of the Son.  And yet his glory is equal in all things to the Father and the Spirit.

So the Centurion recognises in Jesus one who can heal his beloved servant, because He has authority over the realm of evil, and has authority in the realm of God.  And so he searches for Jesus through the elders of the people, and when they find Him and entreat Him, Jesus comes.  Then the Centurion sends his servants to stop Him coming.  But he still wants Him to heal his servant, and believes that He can heal him.

The question arises – why did he stop Jesus coming?  Why wouldn’t he let Him come into the home?  Why did he send for Him to come, then when He was on his way, tell Him not to come?

One suggestion is that he did not want to compromise Jesus by allowing Him into a gentile home.  But this never seemed to bother Jesus.  When the welfare of one of the people was at stake, He would stop at nothing.  He risked His neck to heal a man with a withered hand in the synagogue one Sabbath day.  That really was the start of the enmity of the religious establishment to Him.  He didn’t seem to care whether He made Himself unclean when he reached out His hand and touched a leper.  And as for touching a dead body, He didn’t turn a hair, when it was for the good of His people.

It would seem, however, that the reason the Centurion gives for calling Jesus not to come into his house is that he did not deserve that Jesus should come.  That’s the real reason.

It was a real humility.  It was a full recognition that Jesus was in the place of authority over him.  It was not a false humility that said do not bother to come.

Maybe we can speculate that in Jesus the Centurion recognises something of the God of Israel – the very thing that deeply attracted him to the nation of God’s people, and to the nation’s God.  Maybe he saw that in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  He had read in their Scriptures that their God was a loving God, not desiring even the death of a sinner.  Their God had given laws like “Love your neighbour as yourself”.  But He was a God of utter holiness, too, and far, far above the temptations of human frailties.  Not like those Roman idols.

His response was one of humility to Jesus, and to the God of Israel, God’s people.  Jesus was greater than he.  We have said that we should approach Jesus with our needs, such as our sicknesses.  And He Himself said, “Come to me, all those who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.  So, we should approach Jesus.  But how should we approach him?

Humility is one great key in all our approach to God.  The Scripture testifies this through and through:

– When Moses approaches the Lord in the burning bush, He tells him to take off his sandals – a sign of being humble in the presence of a greater.

– Isaiah records the words of the Lord, “This is one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word” (Is 66).

– In Luke 18 the Pharisee preened himself and strutted before God.  But the tax collector would not even lift up his eyes to heaven.  And Jesus concludes by saying, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Lord has shown us himself that humility is essential in our approach to Him.  When the elders of the town came to Jesus with their messages, they stated their case: “This man deserves to have you do this.” He’s a good man, they were saying to Jesus.  He has done a lot of good.  He deserves something in return.

The centurion had a better estimation of things: “I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.”  He pleaded nothing of his own to come to Christ with.

In all our prayers and approaches to God, we must say to God – I am not worthy; I don’t deserve anything from you.  And this should be our attitude of mind, too.  Not just our words.  The publican in the parable really believed he couldn’t lift his eyes to heaven and that he was a sinner before God.  I guess the Pharisee must have known it in his head, too, but not in his heart.

Humility characterised the Centurion’s approach to Jesus.

The other great characteristic of this man was his faith.  He believes in the first place that Jesus is able to heal his servant.  This is real faith, because all hope was gone for the servant.  He had watched him get sick, then sicker and sicker and sicker.

Then he believes that Jesus can heal with a word, and at a distance.  No magic would be involved, or force of personality.  But Jesus has an authority to heal; it is an authority to do good.  He recognised that there was something so like the God of Israel about Jesus of Nazareth that a faith in the God of Israel would not be misplaced if it was placed in Jesus, too.

Jesus is able to heal him whether He is in the presence of the servant or not, because His ability to heal rests on His authority, and not on magic.  It is not the form of words He will speak, like a chant or a spell, but the meaning of the words, and their power because they are His words.  The Centurion knows this, and it demonstrates his faith.

When Jesus hears of the Centurion’s request not to come, He deliberately speaks of this to the crowd following.  He never loses an opportunity to teach.  He tells the crowd that this is the way to approach Him, with humility and faith.

Conclusion

Jesus is the Son of God, who has absolute authority in this world.  Yet He is very approachable and open to our appeals.  In all our approaches to Him, we must come in humility, and in faith.

Come, humbly before your God when you pray.  Think into whose presence you are coming.  Think that you are not worthy to come to Him, let alone ask Him to do things for you.  But come into His presence believing, and knowing that He is a loving God, who delights to hear prayer and to give to His children.  When you pray, know that God is there, and that He is listening to you.

And note, too, that this Gentile outsider had a faith that put many of God’s own people to shame.  It can be that great faith is shown where we least expect it.  It seems to come from nowhere, out of barren ground, or out of most unpromising situations at times.  Yet, the Holy Spirit can produce faith to shame any of us wherever He is at work.

Amen.