Faith of the centurion
Key Verses: 3, 9, 13, 25, 29,
When Jesus is willing to do something, it happens. The man with the incurable skin disease is told to tell the religious leaders what happened to him as a testimony to them. In their day, nothing cured the disease except a miracle from God. Today we have drugs that cure leprosy, but then leprosy was a death sentence. And what life you did have, you lived away from family and friends, isolated and rejected. Jesus gives him his life back.
The Roman soldier, really a Company Commander over 100 soldiers, knew about authority. Those of us in uniform know what that looks like. As an officer I salute every person I meet accept the few of my own rank. I return the salute of those below me in rank, and render a salute to those above me. All this is a visible demonstration of authority. The Roman Commander knew Jesus had authority over his servant’s illness. Jesus’ word would be enough to bring healing. And it was!
Jesus continued to exercise that authority, healing those who came to Him. Peter’s mother-in-law, and the crowds that gathered, experienced Jesus presence in a way that healed them. Physical sickness and spiritual oppression were both under Jesus authority. Even the weather is under Jesus authority.
What I find sad is that fact that so many did not recognize, and even today refuse to recognize Jesus’ authority. Even the demons in Jesus’ day recognized His authority to judge. I think much of that reluctance to accept stems from our reluctance to live. We live with one foot in this world, trusting in what the world has to offer. Our lives demonstrate this struggle to make up our minds and trust Him fully. We see it in the text where these Jewish folks were raising pigs. They were compromising, living in a world where profit was more important than godly principles and practice.
Jesus uses the demons to discipline these people for their duplicity. They were more concerned with profit than with pleasing God. Their faith was in their own abilities, rather than in Christ’s ability. They pushed Jesus out of their world. Sounds like much of the world today. In the West we have pushed in to Sunday mornings, never to be talked about in the public discourse of our lives. We don’t allow His solutions to even be placed on the table. So we are dooming our culture to failure.
The Arnold Journey 