Luke 7:1-10
Introduction:
How strong is your faith?
What does a strong faith look like to you?
Can you think of anyone in particular who had a very strong faith?
I think of George Mueller:
Story of George Mueller:
Known as “the Man with 50,000 answers to prayer.”
He ran many orphanages. Over the course of his life, the orphanages that he founded housed over 10,000 orphans. But there were two things in particular that made him remarkable. The first was that he never asked anyone for money to do this. He prayed and literally millions of dollars came in to build and fund these orphanages.
The second is that he recorded 50,000 answers to prayer in his prayer journals. Here is perhaps the most well-known example.
“The children are dressed and ready for school. But there is no food for them to eat,” the housemother of the orphanage informed George Mueller. George asked her to take the 300 children into the dining room and have them sit at the tables. He thanked God for the food and waited. George knew God would provide food for the children as he always did. Within minutes, a baker knocked on the door. “Mr. Mueller,” he said, “last night I could not sleep. Somehow I knew that you would need bread this morning. I got up and baked three batches for you. I will bring it in.”
Soon, there was another knock at the door. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. The milk would spoil by the time the wheel was fixed. He asked George if he could use some free milk. George smiled as the milkman brought in ten large cans of milk. It was just enough for the 300 thirsty children.”
Theme: What an admirable faith in Jesus’ divine authority looks like. X2
Review:
It’s been awhile since we were in Luke! Our last sermon was on July 16. By this point, it would be pretty easy to forget the context we find ourselves in when we come to Luke 7.
Luke 7 occurs right after Jesus gives the Sermon on the Plain. You have probably heard of the Sermon on the Mount before. That one is found in Matthew. The Sermon on the Plain is the version in Luke, and it is shorter.
In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus is preaching to the people about what true godliness looks like. When Jesus walked the earth, God’s people had become corrupted in their understanding of what godliness was all about. This was due in large part to the teachers of the day, especially the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The Pharisees in particular taught and practiced a showcase religion of performance and virtue signaling. Virtue signaling might be a new word for you, but it basically just means they go out of their way to do and say things so that other people will praise them as being virtuous.
The Pharisees were strict about cleaning, tithing, dress, Sabbath obedience. But on matters of the heart – like loving your neighbor, telling other people about God, caring for the poor and afflicted, being faithful to their spouses: they basically twisted and corrupted the teachings of the Bible to nullify what the Bible had to say about those matters.
Pharisees taught that a man could divorce his wife for any reason. They taught that you didn’t have to love everybody, especially your enemy. They taught that you could avoid taking care of your parents by declaring your things to be corban. Rather than telling other people about God, they strictly avoided Gentiles at all costs and viewed them as irredeemably filthy. They wouldn’t even go into the house of Gentiles; such was how low their opinion of them was.
Furthermore, they thought that the greedy accumulation of wealth was a symbol of God’s blessing upon their lives. They looked down upon the poor and hurting as ones afflicted by God – similar to how Job’s friends treated him.
When Jesus taught the Sermon on the Plain just a bit ago in the Gospel account of Luke, He was basically telling the people of the day that their entire concept of godliness was utterly backwards and shameful. He was also telling them the kind of godliness that God truly requires.
And the kind of godliness that God requires is a presence of love, grace, and mercy in your heart, expressed through godly actions. X2
The other effect that this sermon no doubt had was to convince everyone who heard it, and everyone who reads it in subsequent generations, that they have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Read through Luke 6 on your own some time, and you will see why we need a Savior.
Link: Now, what’s about to happen next in the Gospel of Luke is Jesus is about to authenticate His message.
Throughout Jesus’ time on earth, He taught a lot of bold and shocking things. Most bold and shocking of all, was that Jesus taught on His own authority and not as the scribes taught. Jesus taught the people things that contradicted what the other teachers of the day were saying. And when Jesus taught them, He did so on His own authority – essentially saying “I say that this is true.” The scribes and Pharisees would say “so-and-so said this so you should believe it” or “a great leading Pharisee said this, so you should believe it” or “this is what our fathers believed.” But Jesus said “I say it’s true. Believe it.”
Such a way of teaching and teaching such things demanded proof of authority. Already in Luke Jesus has given ample display of His authority. He has miraculously cured many diseases. He has cast out demonic powers. He has healed and cured disabilities. He has healed a man with paralysis.
Now, He is about to show His divine authority through healing a man on the edge of death, and doing it without being anywhere near the man – simply on the basis of another man’s faith. When we see what happens soon, we must conclude that Jesus has divine authority and His words must be believed and obeyed.
Text: Luke 7:1-10
Verses 1-5
So immediately after completing His sermon, Jesus entered into the town of Capernaum. Sometime shortly thereafter, several elders of the Jews approached him on behalf of a centurion.
It might at first seem a little strange that this centurion would send elders of the Jews to go and petition Jesus for him, but it’s because the centurion was a Roman, not a Jew. At this point in history, only a true blooded Roman would ascend to the rank of centurion. A centurion was the commander of one hundred Roman soldiers. Maybe not the most important Roman position in the land, but not a small one either.
He knew that Jesus was of Jewish descent. He knew that the promises and the kingdom were first of all for the Jewish people and that Jesus was born King of the Jews. Also, up to this stage in Jesus’ ministry, the majority of His miracles and healings have occurred in Jewish lands and towards Jewish people. The centurion recognized that there was really nothing entitling him to receive Jesus’ mercy and grace, and so he sends others that might be able to make a good case for him.
He sends elders of the Jews to Jesus to make a connection. Elders were respected once not long ago, but were especially so during these times. These older Jewish people then proceed to plead with Jesus, asking that Jesus might come and heal the centurion’s servant and they give a good testimony about him.
The centurion was evidently a follower of the Bible. He at the very least had a strong respect for the Jewish people and their religion. It’s said that he loved their nation and even built them a synagogue. Centurions were important people, but not so important that building a synagogue was a small thing. This must have been some sacrifice on his part.
He must have been really quite something special for a gathering of older Jews to love him so, especially given that he was a roman commander. Romans were seen as enemy occupiers.
Link: All of this was probably not necessary to persuade Jesus to come. In an earlier confrontation in His hometown, Jesus did state His intention to be a blessing to Gentiles as well as Jews. When Jesus said that, His hometown tried to kill Him. So I don’t think Jesus was utterly disinclined to help Gentiles like this Roman must have thought. But the positive testimony of these elders probably didn’t hurt his case either. Jesus decides to go.
Verses 6-10
This event was enough to cause even Jesus to marvel about it. In His whole ministry to the Israelite people up to this point, Jesus had not seen such a powerful display of faith.
Here Jesus was going through the land, healing many sicknesses, diseases, and casting out demons and yet many still questioned His word and authority.
But the centurion has faith that Jesus can do even more. Jesus had not yet healed anyone in this manner before. This was a new thing that Jesus had not yet demonstrated the power to do. And yet, the centurion needed no further miracles or words to convince him of Jesus’ divine authority. He didn’t need any demonstration to convince Him that Jesus was able not just to heal in proximity, but to heal by command. He has faith that Jesus has the authority of God and can command something to be and it will be. He has faith that Jesus can command spiritual powers, worldly powers, command an illness to go away and it will go away.
Jesus marveled at him. I can think of no higher compliment than to have impressed Jesus. This centurion really must have hit it spot on.
Furthermore this centurion recognized His spiritual bankruptcy. He was like the person described in the beatitudes – one who is poor in spirit. He testifies that, though he is a centurion and a man with authority, yet he is not worthy to have Jesus come under His roof or even to appear in His presence.
That was why he sent these Jewish elders to go to Jesus. He knew he was unworthy. Even when Jesus had agreed to come and was on His way to the centurion’s house, the centurion said “no, I’m not good enough to have Jesus come under my roof. I need to send my friends to stop Him from coming under the roof. All I need is Jesus’ word that my servant will be healed. I know that is enough to heal him and it is more than I deserve as it is.”
Jesus declares of the centurion “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And what does that mean? That means that the centurion was spot on when he stated that Jesus can command whatever He wants to happen and it will happen. What an astounding level of authority! Jesus is able, by the force of His authoritative command, to heal people.
When the centurion’s friends return to the home, they find the servant well. Whatever was going on and whatever or whoever needed to be commanded to address the situation, it has been taken care of on Jesus’ authority.
Application:
This centurion has showed us what faith that impresses Jesus looks like. Faith that impresses Jesus is faith that He has divine authority and can command things to be so and they will be so. It is a humble and unassuming faith. It’s a faith that recognizes Jesus’ infinite worth and evaluates self as being therefore infinitely unworthy.
But it’s also faith that, despite our unworthiness, believes that Jesus is a kind and gracious Savior. Jesus will not turn away the humble in heart. Jesus is worth bringing our prayers and requests to, because He has a kind heart and the ability to answer them.
It’s also a faith that recognizes that we must approach God through someone else. That’s what saves us through faith in Jesus. Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life, no one can come to the Father but by Him.” If we want to be with God in heaven, Jesus is the one that we must trust in to get us there. If we would bring our petitions to God, Jesus is the One that we must trust to deliver our message for us. Our own merits are not good enough. It doesn’t matter if you have built a church, if you love and bless Christians, or if you have an impressive job. We must have faith in Jesus to approach God, because we are unworthy.
Jesus is someone we can trust to help us. Though He isn’t on the earth in the flesh today, He is nevertheless able to answer our petitions to Him. If Jesus can do this, certainly we should have faith that Jesus can answer our prayers.
Let’s pray for an increase in our faith in Jesus’ divine authority.