JUST SAY THE WORD
It surely would take a lot to make Jesus, the Son of God astonished. Yet, a Roman centurion mentioned in the Bible managed to astonish Jesus with his faith. Matthew takes us through that story,
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly. ”Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”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.”When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ——–Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment. (Matthew 8:5-13)
What was so amazing about his faith?
- Recognition of the spiritual reality-The Roman army was unparalleled in its discipline. As a centurion he knew what it meant to carry our orders and also to give orders and see it executed. There was neither an inch given nor any laxity tolerated with authority within the army. While pointing that out, the centurion states that there is an unseen spiritual reality, which orders the physical reality that we see. If life is reduced to a mere working of the physical reality, no scope for miracles remains. But for one who recognizes the presence and superiority of the spiritual reality, life becomes a string of miracles.
- Recognition of faith as a bridge-Without faith, the spiritual reality can do little in the physical world, yet when faith is utilized as a bridge, the former can influence and control the latter. The centurion recognized that and so asked Jesus to ‘just say the word’. He didn’t for a moment doubt that when He would say the word, healing would result in the physical realm, even though in this case a paralyzed man would need to be corrected. Faith is central to existence of life here on earth, as man has been designed to go beyond what he can physically infer to touch and navigate through the spiritual realm.
- Recognition of Jesus as Lord of all reality-The centurion despite being a Roman, having possibly no familiarity of the Scriptures and prophecy that the Jews had, was able to recognize Jesus as the Son of God at a time when very few did. Even the disciples had their doubts and needed the resurrection and the Pentecost to be convinced. But here was truly one who was an author of faith in Christ. He understood that Jesus is Lord and also that He is before all things and in Him all things all hold together. The reverence and wisdom with which he converses with Jesus is a joy to behold and no doubt the reason for Jesus’ astonishment.
The healing miracle followed, but what was even more miraculous was that in this incident, there was only person who wasn’t astonished- the centurion!
