Faith of a Centurion

This was from today's early morning prayer meeting!

Matthew 8: 8-10

“The centurion replied, ‘Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 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.”

I wonder how the centurion must have felt when Jesus told him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” The Bible rarely mentions the phrase that  Jesus was amazed; and whenever it does mention that Jesus was amazed, it was always due to great faith or lack of faith.

In verse 5, a Roman centurion came to Jesus, asking for help. He was not an ordinary citizen - he was a centurion, a high ranked Roman soldier in charge of 100 soldiers. He knew his power and authority very well, but in this circumstance he was helpless. He came to Jesus and said, “Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” The centurion had two confessions. First, he acknowledged that Jesus was Lord. By confessing this, he believed that Jesus had power and authority over him. Second, the centurion acknowledged that the servant was paralyzed and he could do nothing to save him. He had no faith in his ability to help his servant. His faith was not in himself, but was fully on Jesus and Jesus’ authority and power to heal. “The centurion replied, ‘Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 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.” This amazed Jesus and then Jesus told the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would” and it was done.

The centurion believed that Jesus’ words had authority and could heal his servant - he had great faith in Jesus. We see that all Jesus required was faith and obedience in order to work through the centurion. In the same way, Jesus does not have a list of qualifications we must meet before he uses us or does miracles through us. Instead he requires faith and obedience. But often times when God calls me to do something, I first look at my qualifications. If I feel qualified, I’ll do it, but if I don’t feel qualified, I struggle to accept what God calls me to do. However, I must put my faith not in myself, or my abilities, but fully on Jesus, trusting that he will fulfill the promises he has given me. Although God calls each of us to do different things occupation wise, but he calls each one of us to have faith in Him. Despite the circumstances we may see in front of us, we have faith in God - trusting that he will fulfill the promises he has given us - not because we are able, but because God is faithful. There are promises God has given me that seems impossible when I look at my abilities. For example, I believe that God has called me to the medical path of becoming a doctor. It was easy to say before I entered college that I was going to be pre-med. However, as I entered freshman year, I was hit by the reality that college was hard, really hard. It was much harder than high school and challenged me in many ways more than just the difficulties of school work. Even though I was only a freshman in college, I felt the competitive spirit in the pool of pre-meds. For example, in curved classes as organic chemistry, it feels like while your friends want you to do well in the class, they secretly want you to fail so the curve will be in their favor and vice versa. It’s so easy to compare and see that others are already in research labs, volunteering, getting involved in clubs, and whatever else people are doing and feel behind or unqualified. In the middle of both semesters, I told God that it seemed impossible to do well in some classes - and it would be only by his grace that I was going to do well. And I can assure you, it was only by God’s grace that I did well in those classes. During my freshman year, I realized that the journey to become a doctor is long and hard and it is only possible through having faith in God alone. I have faith that if it is God’s will for me he will carry me through, not because of my abilities, but because he is faithful.

One word: have faith.