Jesus Saw Faith

Scripture: Luke 7:1-10

1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. 2 At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. 3 When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. 4 So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, 5 “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.” 6 So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. 7 I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 8 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” 9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” 10 And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed. (Luke 7:1-10 NLT)

Jesus had recently taught his followers to “Love Your Enemies” (Willing to Listen 02-11-26). The Roman officer was, by definition, an enemy. Palestine, especially the Israel part, had for decades been a trouble spot for Roman rule. The Roman officer in charge of the province of Galilee occupation would have been a strong no-nonsense leader. Yet he loved the Jewish people and was a friend to the respected Jewish elders. He had put his money and influence where his heart was and had even financed and built a synagogue for the local people to gather for community events and worship.

When the officer’s servant was sick and near death, he heard about Jesus and sent his friends, the Jewish elders, to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. Then, before they arrived, he sent others and said, “Lord, You don’t need to come to my home, and I don’t feel worthy to even come and meet you. But I recognize authority when I see it and if you’ll just say the word from where you are, I know my servant will be healed!” Jesus was amazed! He said, “I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” By the time the officer’s friends got back to his house they found the servant completely healed! I don’t know if Jesus and the Roman officer ever met face to face, but I think they would have really liked each other.

This Roman officer was not a bully. He was not ruling the people under his authority through fear and threats and intimidation. Those he ruled both loved and respected him. Jesus was an itinerant rabbi, preaching a Kingdom from God, and yet the Roman officer didn’t fear him or consider him a threat to his rule. It’s interesting that the Roman officer saw authority in Jesus, the man of faith, and Jesus saw faith, not authority, in the man with the military power! The faith Jesus saw in the Roman officer was not defined by religion he practiced, or the group he belonged to, but by the character of his heart. The authority the Roman officer saw in Jesus was not defined by title or position, but by a relationship with God, the source of all true authority.

Jesus had Zealots in his group, political activists who advocated driving the Romans out of Israel by force. Jesus had at least one tax collector, who had partnered with the Romans to collect taxes from the Jews. The Romans said, “Caesar is Lord”, and Jesus’ disciples said, “Jesus is Lord!” It’s no wonder Jesus came down hard on loving our enemies: “Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. 31 Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” (Luke 6:27-28, 31 NLT)

Who are the good guys in this story? Who are the bad guys in this story? Looks like this time, it’s all good guys and no bad guys.

What does this have to say to us? We live in a nation that is growing more polarized by the day—both politically (Conservatives and Liberals), and within the church (Conservatives and Liberals). We seem to be oblivious to the reality that to be healthy as a nation there has to be some middle ground, a place for conversation, moderation, and cooperation. We seem equally oblivious to the reality that to be in unity as a church, there has to be some middle ground, a place for conversation, moderation, and cooperation.

We’re not labels. The people around us are not labels (You’re Not a Label 02-04-26), so let’s stop the name-calling! We’re complex individuals that group ourselves by geography and history and culture and beliefs and ideas and opinions and strengths and weaknesses. Unless we can get beyond our exclusivism and our demand for total uniformity, we’ll never have completeness and we’ll never have unity. The issue has been going on in society as long as there have been humans and in the church ever since the day of Pentecost. Every generation has faced these challenges, some with better outcomes and some with worse outcomes.

But it’s on us now. Let’s get some things worked out and let’s not leave an ungodly mess for our kids to clean up!

Prayer:

Father, Jesus prayed that we all would be one, as you and he are one. But there’s so many things that divide us. There are so many things we can’t or won’t talk about with each other. We identify each other by labels, rather than by the common blood of Jesus that saves us, or by the Holy Spirit who indwells us, or by the One Father whose identity we bear in our very beings. Please open our blind eyes and soften our hard hearts. May we be one as you are one! For Jesus’ Sake, Amen!