![]() ![]() I understand the centurion's intentions but there are two very important things that many of us fail to realize about God: None of us are worthy. I grew up Roman Catholic with a very real understanding of what is holy and untouchable. How many of us have had the same feeling? So, I believe the intention of the centurion was not to offend Christ with the request. He knew he wasn't worthy to have Jesus in his house and that Jesus as a Jew would most likely not sit at his table, eat his food or have anything to do with him because of his status as a roman soldier. The Roman centurion was a well-trained killing machine and there was nothing holy about that. He believed that Jesus is at the very least, a Holy man and he may have even had the revelation that Jesus was God and saw that he, a roman centurion, a man of war with blood on his hands, was unclean. He says, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.” This seems like the epitome of humility. What struck me as the most amazing part of this story, and not necessarily in a good way, was the fact that the centurion didn't want Jesus in his house. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.” Story over, right? I say no. So Jesus tells the centurion, “Go thy way and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. He tells Jesus himself that, “For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me and I say to this man, ‘Go’ and he goeth and to another ‘Come’, and he cometh and to my servant, ‘Do this’, and he doeth it.” And Jesus commends him for his faith saying to his followers that He has not seen such great faith among them. ![]() Faith enough to believe that his servant would be healed at Jesus' request because the centurion knew and understood the power of authority and chain of command. Most people when reading this story focus on the fact that the centurion had great faith. That was extraordinary, but it is not the most important part of the story for me. However, what I find most unusual about the story isn't the fact that he came to Jesus, that he cared about his servant enough to humble himself, travel a distance and ask a Jew for help. He must have cared deeply for his servant who was not a citizen and by roman standards, not terribly important. This man travelled a distance to ask for Jesus's help. Romans, especially Roman Soldiers, were not known for their compassion. Even the fact that the centurion was asking for help for his servant is unusual. There is no indication that the centurion or his servant were Jewish and this point, Jesus had only healed Jews. The first, and most unusual thing about this story is the fact that the centurion came at all. He needs his servant healed and of course, Jesus obliges but there’s a lot more to this story. It is an account of a Roman centurion, one of the fiercest worriers in all of history, who comes to Jesus to ask for the healing of his beloved servant.Īt first glance, the story from Matthew chapter 8 seems simple enough. ![]() If you've been in a Christian church for any time, you've probably heard the story of the Centurion. ![]()
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