The Centurion

The Word of Authority

           Then Jesus said, …“Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” Matthew 8:13

He was a Roman centurion who commanded one hundred soldiers quartered at Capernaum. When a valued servant became deathly ill, the centurion sought help from Jesus because he had heard of His wondrous healing powers. He sent some Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come heal the servant (Luke 7:2-3). The elders “pleaded earnestly” with Jesus, saying, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue” (7:4-5).

In contrast, the centurion felt he didn’t deserve to have Jesus come under his roof. As a Gentile, he knew that the Jews believed they’d be defiled if they entered a Gentile’s home. When Jesus approached the house, the centurion sent friends to greet Him. They also delivered a message from the centurion: he understood authority because he exercised it with his soldiers and servants. He believed that if Jesus said the word, his servant would be healed. Jesus, he said, had spiritual authority and didn’t have to be present for the miracle to occur (vv. 6-8).

Jesus was amazed by the centurion’s words. He turned to the crowd and said, “I have not found such great faith even in Israel” (v. 9). When the centurion’s friends returned to the house, the servant was well (v. 10).

In Matthew’s account of this healing, Jesus added, “Many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:10). Jesus turned the traditional Jewish beliefs upside down. Many who expected to go to heaven would end up in the place of “darkness.” And others—including both believing Jews and Gentiles—would be feasting in the kingdom of heaven together.

The centurion’s faith reminds us that none of us deserve God’s grace. We won’t receive it because of the church we attend or the good things we do. Like the centurion, we must place our faith in Jesus. Do you have faith to ask Jesus to meet your greatest need?

DIG DEEPER:

Compare Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. Matthew’s version says the centurion himself came to Jesus. How do both versions convey this man’s humility and faith?

Read Luke 23:32-47, the story of a centurion in Jerusalem who declared Jesus to be “a righteous man” (Matthew 27:54 and Mark 15:16 say “Son of God.”) What did Jesus say and what did He do as He was being crucified that may have stirred this centurion’s faith?

In Matthew 28:18-20, what does Jesus say about His authority and that of His disciples? Have you ever done any of these things? How can you do them? What has He promised you?

According to Hebrews 7:23-28, how is Jesus, now in heaven, able to answer your prayers?

Nancy J. Baker

This devotion is part of a series, Unnamed Heroes.