“Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me, And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (Matthew 8:5-9 NKJV)
“When Jesus heard it, He said to those who followed, ‘Assuredly, I say to you I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Matthew 8-10 NKJV)
I have written about this centurion in a previous post but recently I read a sermon by the late Pastor Ron Dunn and he has some very good points that I didn’t see before. Pastor Dunn says this:
“Now, I have a great respect for the Word of God. But I must confess to you that for a long time I couldn’t see what was so great about what that man said. I didn’t understand it. What did he say? He said, ‘I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me…..”(verse 9)
Why was Jesus amazed at this man of faith? I couldn’t see what the man said had to do with faith. But I got to thinking, If it amazed Jesus, it ought to amaze me. I would think it would take a lot to amaze Jesus. He was amazed twice in the Bible. Both times He expressed amazement at the faith of a Gentile. What could you show Jesus, or what could you tell Jesus that would amaze Him? He’s seen it all! He made it all!
If this encounter amazed Jesus, it ought to do something to me. I thought to myself that I must be missing something. Let’s look at the encounter again. Jesus told the centurion that He would come to his house and heal his servant. But the centurion replied, ‘Oh, no, Lord, don’t do that. I’m not worthy to have You come under my roof. Just speak the word, and my servant will live, for I also am a man under authority.’ Now I would expect his next words to be, ‘And if I am told to go somewhere, I go somewhere, and when I am told to do something, I do something.’ But that is not what the centurion said.
He said, “For I also am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to this one go, and he goes. And to this one, do this and he does it.’ The centurion was saying, ‘ I live under authority; therefore, I have authority.’ And he did. He had authority over one hundred soldiers. That’s why they call him a centurion.
As long as the centurion was submitted to the authority of the emperor, he had the emperor’s authority over those one hundred soldiers. If he rebelled against the authority of the emperor, he lost his authority over those one hundred soldiers. So that was the principle by which he was living. But that is still not what amazed Jesus. What amazed Jesus was one little word that the man said. Some translators say ‘also.’ Some say ‘too.’ And unfortunately, some leave it out. But it belongs there.
Now listen to me as I quote it: …..’Just speak the word, and my servant will live, for I also am a man under authority.’ In other words, ‘I don’t have to run my own errands. If I want something done, I tell others to do it, and it’s done for me. And Lord, I understand that You live by the same principle I live by.’ When he said, ‘I, too,’ or ‘I, also, am a man under authority,’ this is what amazed Jesus, that this centurion had such great insight into the truth that Jesus Himself lived by that same principle. He said, ‘I have never seen such great faith.’
The point I want you to get is that this was the principle by which Jesus Christ lived. He lived under the authority of His Father; therefore He had His Father’s authority. That’s the principle by which the centurion lived. He was under the authority of the Emperor; therefore, he had the emperor’s authority. That’s the principle by which (the Apostle) Paul lived. That’s the principle by which we should live if we want to experience victory in the Christian life.
I’m trying to say that the responsibility for the victory is not mine, it is God’s. I realize that many of us use the expression, ‘win the victory.’ I’ve got to go out there and ‘win the victory,’ to overcome the devil, and win over temptation. But I want you to know there are no victories to be won. Christ won every victory two thousand years ago when He died for us on the cross! Every temptation you will face has already been overcome by Jesus. The responsibility is not ours…….The responsibility for victory in the Christian life does not rest with us. It’s not our victory; it is God’s victory through Christ.” (Ron Dunn by Ron Owens, pp 267-269)
PRAY
Lord, we praise You because You alone are worthy of our praise. You are our Creator, Savior, Father, and LORD!
Help me today to stay completely under Your authority and banner so that You can lead me in the Victory that You have already won.
Fill me with Your Holy Spirit today so that I may speak of Your wonders and mercy to all that You send into my path today. I belong to You, and help me to stay under Your authority as You lead me in the victory that You have already won at Calvary!
