On Line Bible Study - For the Week June 28 - July 4, 2010

Lesson 446

Luke 7: ¹When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. ²There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. ³The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. ⁴When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, ⁵because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." ⁶So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. ⁷That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁸For 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."

⁹When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." ¹⁰Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

With the "Sermon on the Plain" complete, Luke now turns to questions of faith and Jesus' identity. The story before us now is that of the Centurion - also told by Matthew, and possibly told by John. In John we read of a "royal official" whose son is ill. Several textual notes:

• In Matthew (8:5ff) and John (4:46ff), the centurion / royal official comes to Jesus personally. In Luke, he sends emissaries.
• In John, Jesus responds to the official's request with a rebuke: Unless you people see signs and wonders you will never believe. In Matthew and Luke no such rebuke is recorded.
• In John, no mention is made of the official's faith.
  

Darrell Bock notes a number of other textual challenges. There is the sense, however, that behind the several (not insignificant) differences in the telling there lies a real story - a story of faith that both surprised Jesus, and caused him to compare it to that of the faith of Israel. The centurion or royal official is a Gentile - an outsider.

We have seen earlier in this gospel the leaning toward a universal awareness of the import of Jesus' message. In a sense we could say that Jesus has come not only for those who would be expected to believe in him (that is, those whose religion had an explicit messianic expectation), but for those who had no awareness they needed him.

The heart of the matter is this: Jesus' word has the power to heal, to restore, to make whole. In Luke 7 the centurion got exactly what he was asking for. Luke tells us the elders of the Jews spoke on behalf of the man. While one might be tempted to wonder about the motives behind an alliance between a Roman centurion and Jewish elders, in this case we have to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. And in the final analysis, the question before us is this: What is the strength of our faith? It is easy to pay lip service to the notion that "God will take care of us," but when push comes to shove, do we truly believe it?

This story is about faith - the centurion's and ours. The following story - a resurrection story - is about who Jesus is. We turn to that next time.