Luke 7:8 NIV
[8] 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 comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
It never ceases to amaze me how power seems to attract trouble.
In our days, it seems to attract an air of invincibility, of invulnerability. So we see powerful people making incredibly bad decisions because no-one would dare keep them in check.
The results of that are bad: addictions, predilections, felonies.
And for some, jail or even death.
2024 saw a former pop star throw himself from a balcony while high on drugs, a famous rapper was put on trial for sex trafficking and a man who stood for election as president of the USA – and won – charged with multiple counts of fraud, while an outgoing president pardoned his Son, who had committed a string of felonies.
You know the old saying: power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
In Jesus’ day, the Romans had power. They didn’t always use it well. Often they used it very badly. They were bullies, determined to keep their own place in the world at the cost of everyone else.
And we saw that attitude creep into the Jewish leadership's thinking (John 11:45-52). That was why they wanted to kill Jesus.
But sometimes we face situations where we are utterly powerless. It doesn’t matter if we had power before or if we felt disenfranchised. These situations are part of human existence after the Fall. They happen to all of us.
All of us will face situations that we are utterly unable to change or affect.
And this Roman centurion faced the one situation that we all have to face someday:
Someone close to us falling seriously ill.
How he dealt with this situation is a lesson to us all.
But while we all have it in common, there are aspects of it that were thoroughly unusual.
So let’s explore it by first looking at A Man Who Had Power.
A Man Who Had Power
Luke 7:1-2 NIV
[1] When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. [2] There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die.
So here you have a Roman centurion.
Okay, he’s not Caesar. He’s Imperial army middle-management. But he would have had around eighty to a hundred subordinates, likely taken from across the Roman world. So he had some form of power.
And he also had influence – influence over the Capernaum officials. Think about it: he didn’t send some lackey from his army to fetch Jesus by force. Instead, he sent some Jewish elders to do it instead.
And they went.
Willingly too.
So this man hasld influence. Not over what people wear or how they exercise or where they eat or go on holiday. Those are small compared to this.
The centurion had power over occupied people so that they willingly, not under any form of duress or coercion, came to his help.
That is soft power.
That is real power.
How many people in our world have that kind of power?
Not very many.
And when they have it, I would question if they use it wisely. Most don't. Most even use their power to encourage their followers to do things that are morally questionable and damage their health, all in the name of profit.
This centurion was different. He used his soft power to get help for his servant.
But even that was not enough, because he was also A Man Who Had No Power.
A Man Who Had No Power
His servant was ill.
No matter what power or influence this man had, he could do nothing to prevent misfortune striking his household. As Solomon explained:
Ecclesiastes 9:11 NIV
[11] I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
There is a very important lesson for all of us here.
We might desire safety and comfort and security for ourselves and our family. There is nothing at all wrong with that.
We might insure ourselves against disaster and suffering. It's prudent to do so.
However, what we have to know that we cannot ever prevent all sufferings. There are some that visit us no matter what we do and no matter how we try to avoid them.
This is the situation here. This centurion had power and wealth and position and influence.
But none of that mattered – not one bit – when his servant became ill.
For all he had, he could not do anything about this.
He was powerless.
How many times have we seen the rich and the powerful and the infamous face this issue?
How many times have they been forced to realise that, for all their wealth, they are just as human as we are?
How many times have we seen those who have so much stumble over things that seem so little by comparison?
Now, what happened next here seems, at first glance, to be quite boring and mundane. In fact, it is not. It is quite striking and perhaps a little revolutionary.
What we see next is The Man Who Used Power.
The Man Who Used Power
And this is really quite special.
Because this centurion used three powers that changed the entire narrative of this whole encounter.
The first of these is The Power to Love.
Luke 7:2 NIV
[2] There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die.
What we have to know here – and this might trouble us – is that Roman law gave the right to any servant owner to kill their servant if they became useless for any reason, in much the same way a horse owner will put down a horse with a broken leg, or a farmer will put down an unproductive cow or a pig, or a pet owner will put a sick pet out of its misery.
This is very tough to hear, but it was true.
In other words, the centurion had a very easy way out of this problem if he felt nothing for his servant.
But he felt something, and so he did not use this right.
Feelings always make difficult situations harder. When we have sick relatives or friends it isn’t just the condition itself that causes us the issue, it's also how we feel towards them.
As Christians, we are commanded to love. We have no option. We are commanded to love the Lord our God and our neighbour as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:29-31). We are commanded to do no harm to those around us (Romans 13:10). We are in the Body of Christ with other believers where we are supposed to feel happy when they are happy and sad when they are sad (1 Corinthians 12:26).
And yes, that can make life harder.
But it also makes it so, so much richer.
So if you find that you feel something for someone who is suffering, do not ever view it as a curse. It might make things harder for you, but it is a deep blessing, not a curse.
Because you love them.
But this centurion’s love went further.
Luke 7:3-5 NIV
[3] The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. [4] When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, [5] because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”
Now, this is altogether unusual. This Roman centurion is from an invading imperial force. They were one hundred percent not welcome in Israel. There were even terror campaigns to get rid of them.
Yet, in the midst of deep animosity and anxiety, this man excelled and stood out because he loved the nation of Israel and even built a synagogue in which the Jews in Capernaum could worship. What’s more, there was no sign of an ulterior motive. It was purely and simply out of love.
And that love leads to The Power to Respect.
There is a quite special undercurrent here. You see, as a centurion, he could have ordered his soldiers to arrest Jesus, bring him to his home and heal his sick servant. But he didn’t do it?
Why?
Because he respected the Jewish office of Rabbi, and, specifically, he respected Jesus.
He would have understood that no self-respecting Jewish Rabbi would be seen in the house of a Gentile, because Gentile homes, with their idols and shrines and forbidden depictions of people and animals, were unclean to the Jews.
So when Jesus showed willingness to go (Luke 7:6-8), the centurion stopped him – likely not just because of his faith in Jesus, but also because he did not want to defile him.
Now, when people are in emergency situations, they often do not behave with respect towards other people. I recall once being in the emergency room of a hospital with a back problem, listening as a drunk man verbally abused the nurse who was attending him – and his situation wasn’t even an emergency.
More often than not, those who are experiencing life-threatening experiences can become desperate and demanding, and, to a certain extent, we can understand it.
But this man dod not. In fact, if you think about it, his love for his servant and the people of Capernaum and his respect for Jesus actually made this healing all the more complicated. In those days, there were traditions that resembled those of Catholic or Orthodox thinking, in that people sought out close physical proximity with healers or things they had touched in order to be healed (see Acts 5:15, 19:11-12).
However, this man had asked Jesus to not even come under his own roof, which meant that Jesus could not be physically present when the miracle took place.
Now, that is quite a challenge.
The reality is that when we try to behave with respect, both towards other people and the rules, at first glance it seems to make things work slower. After all, if we are restricted to following proper processes or going through the right people or waiting in line, how will that get anything done?
And yet this man, in a literal life or death situation, wanted to do things right.
There really is much we could learn from this centurion.
Apart from the power to love and the power to respect, we also see that this centurion had The Power to Believe.
Think about it: a man with all his resources and yet the one person he approached is a Jewish Rabbi. Not only that, but he approached a Rabbi who is still pretty early on in his ministry, and approached him with a very difficult situation, made more difficult by his love for his servant and his desire to act with respect.
He approached Jesus with a very tough challenge: to heal a dying servant without even setting foot in his house.
And he was prepared to trust Jesus in the face of the leaders of the town, and of many others who had followed Jesus to Capernaum.
He was really taking a risk. He was going right out on a limb.
Something many of us are often afraid to do.
And yet this man was prepared to do it.
Here, in this man, we see three powers that will actually help us to make it through times of suffering and trouble, when it feels we have no power at all.
Why?
Because the one power we always have is the power to change how we react to a situation. If we respond to our suffering in love, respect and faith, we will find that we are stronger than we think and our ability to endure will rise.
But if we buckle and give in to narrow-eyed hatred, disrespect and distrust?
We will only dig ourselves deeper in despair.
As well as a man who had power, but really had no real power and used what power he had, we also see A Man With True Power.
A Man With True Power
Luke 7:6-10 NIV
[6] So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. [7] That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. [8] 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 comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” [9] When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” [10] Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
This centurion had faith in Jesus. But for that faith to be rewarded, he had to believe two key facts:
Firstly, that Jesus was able. He came to Jesus with a very difficult request – to heal a servant without being physically present. That was a big deal. Having made his declaration through his messenger in front of all who were present, he had to believe that Jesus was able to do it.
Just think for a moment about what this would say about Jesus. He was asking Jesus not to heal with a deed, like a regular physician, but with a word. And when Jesus did something like that, it surprised even experts in Jewish theology:
Luke 5:21-26 NIV
[21] The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” [22] Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? [23] Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? [24] But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” [25] Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. [26] Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
But he didn’t just have to believe that Jesus was able, he also had to believe that Jesus was willing.
The centurion and Jesus were on either side of a political, philosophical, ideological divide, one that was fuelled by hatred, suspicion and domination. The actions of both sides had been violent and almost unforgivable. The ultimate expression of this division would come a few decades after Jesus’ death, when the Romans would sack Jerusalem and utterly destroy the Temple.
Yet this man took a tremendous risk and believed that Jesus was willing to help his servant.
He exhibited tremendous faith in Jesus’ heart and character.
And Jesus did not let him down.
First Jesus commended his faith, holding it up as an example to His own people – who should know better.
Then Jesus rewarded his faith, by healing his servant – at a distance – just by saying the words.
The power and sovereignty this displayed should come as no surprise to us. After all, the universe was created at His command (Hebrews 11:3), so fixing one man's deadly ailment, by comparison, is a much smaller thing.
However, this centurion was not a Jew. His faith in Jesus was not rooted in the fulfilled prophesies of Scripture or first hand experience of following Him. In fact, we have no evidence of what it was that led him to send the message to Jesus. All we know is that he sent it, and that Jesus responded with an outstanding miracle, just when it was needed.
Conclusion
When my daughter was very small, we applied for my wife to get the right to stay in my country indefinitely. We had been so strict and careful. We had everything covered.
Except one thing.
Before leaving the Philippines, we hadn’t expected her spouse visa to come so quickly, so we had decided to stay a month longer. When the visa came very quickly, we used this time so she could spend quality time with her friends and family before travelling to the UK. That month could have proved problematic, because it meant that when she applied for Indefinite Leave to Remain, she had been in the UK for one month less than she should have been.
We knew what the possible outcome of this was: an expensive requirement to extend her visa just for a month, and then starting the process for Indefinite Leave to Remain again.
We wondered what we could do. We prayed about what we should do. We didn’t have a lot of money. UK visas were expensive then (they are a lot more expensive now). Paying for two in such a short time span would have really hit our finances.
So we made a plan. I called the Immigration contact number. They told us what we knew: we’d probably have to pay for two visas.
Undeterred, I located the direct number of the office that would be processing our application and explained our predicament.
‘Look, just come to the office at this time. We’ll sort it out.’ I was told.
So we followed his instructions. With no little trepidation, we took the train and the underground to the Immigration office, handed over our documents and waited.
Less than two minutes later, their decision came back: my wife had Indefinite Leave to Remain.
Half an hour later, we left from that office with a stamp affixed to her passport.
The situation was completely resolved.
God granted us a really special blessing. The situation was out of our control. It was never out of His.
In life we will often encounter moments when we are powerless, when the situation is simply out of our hands and there is nothing we can do. Of all the people we could learn from in Scripture, this nameless Roman centurion – a member of the forces who were dominating the Lord’s people – shows the best way to react. Because we might have no power to change a situation, but we absolutely have the power to change how we react to it. What he did right was:
He put his faith in Jesus
Because of this, he was able to react to the problem with love and respect
He was able to admit to being powerless
He didn’t take shelter in his own wealth or power or influence, but trusted in Jesus
No matter who we are, no matter what power and influence we have at our disposal, there will always come a time when we can do nothing but trust in Jesus.
This is a lesson it would be better for us to learn now, before the trouble comes.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You for inspiring this wonderful example. I know that I can’t trust in who I am or what I have, and that when trouble comes, like the centurion, I need to trust in You. I am not too proud to admit that I am powerless and need Your help. Amen.
Questions
What is so remarkable about this miracle? List some of the things about this miracle that make it special.
What made the difference for the centurion: was it his power and influence or his trust in Jesus? Why?
What have you learned from this meditation that will help you when troubles come?
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