The Faith of a Roman Officer
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
Suppose there is a fire in the upper section of a house.
As the people gather in the street below, a child is seen at the window of a room next to the fire.
The fire trucks are at least five minutes away and so will be too late to help.
How is the child to escape?
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Now suppose that in the neighborhood lives a large man, well known for his strength and athletic ability.
He arrives at the scene and shouts to the child, “Drop into my arms.
Don’t be afraid.
I’ll catch you.”
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It is one part of faith for the child to know that the man is there.
It is another part of faith to believe that the man is strong and able to catch someone.
But the essence of faith lies in his dropping down into the man’s arms.
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Faith is a vital part in the life of the follower of Christ...
Today we will explore the faith of a particular man...
Someone who had such great faith that Jesus is recorded to have been amazed by it.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 1 and focus on verses 1 through 10.
Our message this morning is titled, “The Faith of a Roman Officer”
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This message today will focus on the amazing events that took place right after Jesus completed His Sermon on the Plain...
Additionally, we will look into the life of a Roman Officer and witness his acts of love and faith.
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
Love For God’s People...
Trust in God’s Authority...
And...
The Power of Faith.
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
Open our eyes to see the truth of Your word!
Allow Your commandments to penetrated into our minds and hearts...
And keep transforming us into the image of Your Son.
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Thank You for watching over us as we sail through all of life’s storms...
Thank You for being our lighthouse in the darkness...
Thank You for being the voice of hope in a world of madness.
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Watch over us as we study the subject of faith today...
And help us to have a solid faith that is unshakable in Your promises...
We cry our to You for faith is a gift and You are the one who gives it!
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And it is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
1 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.
2 Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him.
3 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant.
4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him,
5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”
6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.
7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.
8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”
10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) Love For God’s People
1) Love For God’s People
Verses 1-5: After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”
Beloved, let’s start with a few defined words...
A “centurion” is a Roman military officer who commanded 100 men (although the actual number of man supervised would vary from centurion to centurion)...
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Luke has this helpful note:
“Luke’s reference to the centurion provides the biographical setting for this story.
Centurions, so named because they were in charge of approximately one hundred soldiers, were the backbone of the Roman army.
A Roman legion at full strength consisted of 6,000 men, and was divided into ten cohorts of 600 men each.
A centurion commanded 100 of these men, and a legion therefore had 60 centurions, each of whom reported to one of the legion’s six tribunes.
The Roman historian Polybius described centurions as ‘not so much venturesome daredevils as natural leaders of a steady and sedate spirit, not so much men who will initiate attacks and open the battle as men who will hold their ground when worsted and hard pressed and be ready to die at their posts.’
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Since Galilee was under the rule of Herod Antipas during the life of Christ, Roman troops were not normally stationed there.
This centurion may have been overseeing some of Herod’s soldiers, or a small detachment of Roman troops may have been assigned to Capernaum.
He most likely was not an Italian, but a native of one of the nearby territories, such as Syria.
That he was a Gentile is clear from verses 4 and 5.
He was a career soldier, having risen from the ranks by proving to be a strong, responsible, reliable man and a brave, loyal, and skilled fighter.
His responsibilities included keeping order, enforcing the law, and overseeing the collection of taxes.”
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In Luke’s account he indicates that the centurion appealed to Jesus through intermediaries due to his own sense of unworthiness...
In Matthew’s account he makes no mention of the intermediaries...
This time around Matthew’s account is the more condensed version...
So, The main differences in the Matthean and Lukan accounts are due to Matthew’s abbreviation of the incident...
It can also be concluded that Matthew appears to mean that what a man does through agents, he does himself.
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Yet, for Luke, the messengers were important to mention as they show the man’s humility..,
So, this is the same account...
Luke just provides us with more details and paints a clearer picture of what happened with this event.
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This detail of the Roman officer using intermediaries is a true measure of the respect this man had in the community...
This was a big deal that Jewish elders would be willing to bring his cause to Jesus...
This centurion really loved the Jewish nation...
And he was personally responsible for the building of the local synagogue.
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So, the centurion may have been what is called a “God-fearer”...
That is a Gentile who believed in the teachings of Judaism and kept the moral law but who had not become a Jewish proselyte.
Yet despite his honorable reputation...
He deeply sensed his own unworthiness...
And that is why he used intermediaries rather than speaking to Jesus personally.
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The word “servant” is better rendered as “slave”...
In the Koine Greek the word is “Doulos” and is a specific term describing a person purchased, owned, and completely subject to the will and control of his master.
So, we can conclude that this centurion is truly a humane person who was concerned for his slaves...
This was true even despite there great difference in social status.
In fact, the centurion even referred to his slave using the term “pais” which, though often used of slaves, literally means, “child” or “son.”
In this context, the term strongly suggests the great affection the centurion had for his slave.
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The centurion’s tender concern for a lowly slave was completely contrary to the reputation of Roman officers in Israel...
This compassion an love was usually absent but clearly this Roman officer was different.
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The statement that the centurion “loves our nation” by the Jewish elders was shocking...
This was simply not the attitude that was unusual in the Romans in Isreal for they were conquerors and usually looked down on the citizens of the Jewish nation...
Yet again, this Roman officer had the opposite attitude.
As pastor John MacArthur says:
“The centurion’s love for his slave was in marked contrast to the typical view of slaves in the Greco-Roman world.
Aristotle described a slave as a living tool.
The legal scholar Gaius noted that it was universally accepted that masters possessed the power of life and death over their slaves.
The Roman writer Varro insisted that the only difference between a slave, an animal, and a cart was that the slave talked.
Slaves were often abused, young boys in particular, since pedophilia was not uncommon.”
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Additionally, the use of the pronoun “autos” in our passage in addition to the third person singular verb translated “built”...
This emphasizes the centurion’s personal role in the building of the synagogue. and why the Jewish elders gave him the sole credit for building their place of worship.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the primary function of the synagogue was to teach the word of God...
So, the building of the synagogue reflected the Roman officer’s love for God’s truth.
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Now that we have properly defined the terms that were important to our study...
Let’s quickly explore another record in Scripture that has many similarities to our passage...
Turn your Bibles to Acts 10...
We are going to park here for a bit...
And we will start by looking at Acts 10:1-2 which says:
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort,
2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.
Here we see another centurion...
Additionally, he was a “God-fearer” which many scholars believe the Roman officer in our passage was also.
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Next read with me the events recorded in Acts 10:3-8 which says:
3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.”
4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.
5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter.
6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him,
8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
Here we witness God having mercy on Cornelius...
Cornelius fears God and even prays to Him but still needs to know Him...
So the Lord stats a serious of events that will bring Peter to his front door.
Take a look at Acts 10:9-16 which says:
9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.
10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance
11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth.
12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air.
13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”
14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”
16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
Something amazing has just happened, Church...
It was now okay to eat bacon!
Praise the Lord!
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Actually, it was so much more than just about clean and unclean food, Beloved!
This was God showing Peter there was no longer to be this great division between Jews and Gentiles...
People like Cornelius that is genuinely searching for the truth should have it and be part of God’s royal family despite what nation he was born into.
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Our passage that we are studying today was foreshadowing this...
Our passage about the Roman Officer showed that although he was a gentile his faith was great...
A believing gentile is far more faithful than an unbelieving Jew...
Overall it is not about nationality but about the heart.
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Acts 10:17-23 is the next section we will cover and it says:
17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate
18 and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there.
19 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.
20 Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.”
21 And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?”
22 And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.”
23 So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.
Here is God’s hand completely visible...
He is clearly bringing Jews and Gentiles together to hear the Gospel message...
The message that connects all the true and genuine followers of God.
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Next, Acts 10:24-33 says:
24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.
26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.”
27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered.
28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.
29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”
30 And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing
31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God.
32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’
33 So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”
Again, we are seeing how this is a divine appointment...
That this meeting is both God’s will and desire...
And Peter is starting to shatter the idea of Jews being unclean by associating with Gentiles...
And finally Peter shares God’s truth with them...
So, look with me at Acts 10:34-43 which says:
34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality,
35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),
37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed:
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree,
40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear,
41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
There is the Gospel message...
This is the truth that Peter was sent to proclaim...
This is the truth that Cornelius, his family and his friends needed to hear.
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That section ends with Acts 10:44-48 which says:
44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.
46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared,
47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
Proof that the Gospel message was accepted by the Gentile audience that Peter was speaking to is found in the crowd receiving the Holy Spirit...
This was God’s amazing display to show without a doubt that the Good News is for both Jew and Gentile.
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So, this truth should be in mind as we continue in our study of our original passage...
Next, we will discuss the Roman Officer’s trust in God’s authority...
And this takes us to our second point.
2) Trust in God’s Authority
2) Trust in God’s Authority
Verses 6-8: And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Again we witness the humble character of the Roman officer...
He fully understood the Jewish tradition of that time...
So, he knew that for a Jew to enter a Gentile’s house was to make the Jew ceremonially defiled...
Out of humility and a sincere desire to not see Jesus suffer any such inconvenience for his sake...
He told the Jesus, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.”
Additionally, he had solid and unshakable faith in Christ’s authority that if He wanted He could heal by merely speaking a word.
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As the Reformation Study Bible puts it:
“His humble self-assessment contrasts sharply with the Jewish leaders’ high regard for him.
This humility, along with his confidence that Jesus can heal his servant with a word of command, without being present, evidences a faith that outmatches any that Jesus has observed among God’s covenant people.”
Likewise, the MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Luke again has a helpful note for us to consider:
“His desperation had prompted his emotional request for Jesus to come and heal his slave.
But he had become increasingly convicted of his utter sinfulness and felt unworthy to have Jesus enter his house.
Unlike the proud, self-righteous Jewish elders, he was too ashamed of himself and his sinfulness to be in Jesus’ presence.
His attitude is reminiscent of Peter, who exclaimed, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!,’ and the tax collector, who ‘was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’’
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In fact, it was because of his sense of sinfulness and unworthiness that he did not even consider himself worthy to come to Jesus in the first place.
He was a true penitent, with a broken and contrite heart that the Lord would not despise.”
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This attitude of being unworthy is very reminiscent of what we covered earlier in our study in Luke 5:8 which says:
8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
It is vital that we understand how unworthy we really are...
Regardless of how others may even perceive us.
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Notice in our passage that the Jewish elders praised the centurion and they labeled him a worthy...
As a Roman Office he had a major social status...
Yet the centurion in humility understood his unworthiness and need for Jesus...
Likewise we are to do the same.
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Regarding the statement of the Roman officer said, “But say the word, and let my servant be healed.”...
New Testament scholar Robert H. Stein says:
“True faith realizes that God can heal apart from rituals, special ointments, touch, or monetary gifts to the healer.
The centurion recognized that all Jesus needed to say was a single word.
His faith in Jesus was absolute and unlimited.
Even a single word from the Lord spoken at a distance could heal his servant, for the Spirit of the Lord was present with Jesus to heal.
No doubt Luke would long for his readers, as well as for the church today, to have such faith.”
Furthermore, the ESV Study Bible says:
“The centurion responds, in effect, ‘I too can do things because of the authority given me, so how much more can you!’”
So, the centurion recognizes that Jesus has considerable authority over sickness, similar to his own authority within the military chain of command.
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We too, are to trust in God’s authority in this way!
Beloved, I must ask you to consider these questions...
Do you truly believe in your heart of hearts that God is all powerful?
Do you truly believe in your heart of hearts that God has absolute authority over His entire creation?
Do you truly believe that God has already planned tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, and all of eternity?
Do you truly believe that God is all good in His decrees that He established before the foundation of the world?
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Church, do you believe in a small God or a big God?
Do you trust God with all your affairs?
Do you trust in doing things His way?
Do you truly believe in your heart of hearts that all authority is found in God?
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How you answer those questions will reveal a lot about yourself...
It will reveal how much faith you truly have...
And this takes us to our third and final point.
3) The Power of Faith
3) The Power of Faith
Verses 9-10: When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.
Consider this, Beloved...
While Jesus frequently amazed people, there are only two times in the gospels when He is said to have been amazed...
In Mark 6:6 it says:
6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.
Jesus was amazed but it was in the negative sense...
Our account is the other of those times...
And it is the only time Scripture records Jesus as amazed in a positive sense.
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The statement by Jesus when He said,“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith” would not have been well received by Jesus’ Jewish listeners...
The Roman office was a Gentile...
He was one of Israel’s foreign rulers...
Yet here is Jesus giving him high praise.
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The Pillar New Testament Commentary on Luke says:
“The core of this pericope follows the faith of the centurion more than the healing of his servant, for the centurion’s faith is celebrated beyond anything Jesus has experienced in Israel, whereas the healing of the servant is appended somewhat anticlimactically.
Faith—the combination of humility (‘Lord, I am not worthy’) and confidence (‘Say the word and make my servant well’) exhibited by the centurion—is a greater miracle than even physical healing.
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Jesus is not only amazed at the faith of the centurion but pleased with it, for it is the firstfruit of Simeon’s prophecy to Mary and Joseph, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32).
The miracle of Luke 7:1–10 is not simply that Jesus healed the servant at a spatial distance; he has spanned a greater cultural distance in bringing a Gentile to faith.”
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In the Gospel of Matthew this event is recorded like this in Matthew 8:10-12 which says:
10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The faith of this gentile Roman officer...
And likewise the faith of Gentiles since the days of Jesus until now is in stark contrast to the faith of Jews as a whole in Christ...
A majority of Jews...
Although they are the chosen people...
Although they had possession of the Scriptures...
They rejected Christ!
They lacked faith and in fact petitioned for His death!
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Yet the Gentiles who were considered so unclean...
These outsiders...
Were brought into the royal family of God!
As Romans 9:30-33 says:
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;
31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.
32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
If we approach Jesus with our works and believe we can build a stairway to heaven with our deeds...
They we will come crashing down!
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It is all about faith...
We must pursue God by faith...
A faith that is in Him!
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Consider this event recorded in Matthew 15:21-28 that tells us of another gentile that displayed great faith in Jesus...
That passage says:
21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”
23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
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So, clearly we need faith...
And the best definition of faith is found in the Word of God...
Look with me at Hebrews 11:1–3 which says:
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
2 For by it the people of old received their commendation.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
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The Faithlife Study Bible has this well written note as a summary of our passage:
“The report of Jesus healing the centurion’s slave demonstrates that not just Jews, but also Gentiles (non-Jews), can have faith that is acceptable to Jesus.
By including narratives like this one, Luke continues to support his central theme that Jesus is the Messiah for the whole world.”
So, this story clearly foreshadows the later Gentile mission we witness in the New Testament...
This will continue to be a theme we see continuing to recur in our study.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like to share this that I came across in my study:
The story has been told of a man who was crossing a desert in the days of the pioneers.
He ran into trouble and was dying of thirst when he spotted a pump near an abandoned shack.
He had no water to prime the pump, but he noticed a jug of water near the pump with a note attached.
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It read:
“There is just enough water in this jug to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first.
This well has never gone dry, even in the worst of times.
Pour the water in the top of the pump and pump the handle quickly.
After you have had a drink, refill this jug for the next man who comes along.”
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What would the man dying of thirst do?
To follow the instructions and prime the pump without first taking a drink would be an exercise of the kind of belief the Bible speaks of.
Biblical belief requires that one stake his life on the truth of the promise.
If the man follows the instructions, he takes the chance of pouring out all the water and getting none to drink if the pump fails.
So he must trust that the message is right.
He must act in belief, without first receiving, and must trust in the truth of the promise.
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So, I must ask...
What are you putting your faith in?
What are you trusting your life with?
What are you trusting your whole eternity with?
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Are you trusting your own achievements and good works?
Are you trusting your background or family?
Or are you putting your trust in the person of Jesus Christ who lived and died for His followers?
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To God be all the glory.
Amen.
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Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.
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