A Roman Centurion’s Great Faith (Luke 7:1-10)

A Roman Centurion’s Great Faith

 

Luke 7:1-10

 

Today, we are going to think about a Roman centurion’s great faith, which even amazed Jesus. A centurion is a Roman army commander who had about 100 soldiers under his command. It is quite remarkable that the gospel of Jesus Christ contains this story of a Roman centurion who was a gentile and whose job is killing people’s lives. There are a few Bible texts suggesting how the soldiers were in those days. In Luke 3:14, soldiers came to John the Baptist to be baptized and asked him “What shall we do.” Then John replied, “Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages” (KJV). This suggests that many of the soldiers were greedy, and extorted money from others through violence, intimidation, and false accusation. In the process of Jesus’ sufferings and crucifixion as well, we can see the naked faces of the soldiers. They ridiculed and mocked Jesus (Luke 23:11), made a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus’ head (John 19:2), and divided Jesus’ clothes just after crucifying Jesus (John 19:23). After Jesus’ resurrection as well, some soldiers received a large sum of money from the Jewish elders and circulated the false rumor that Jesus’ disciples had taken his body away (Matthew 28:12-15). Considering these general characteristics of the soldiers in those days, the centurion in today’s text was quite an extraordinary case. He was “a man who feared God and loved people.” In a word, he was more “a person of good conscience” than “a Roman soldier.”

 

Jesus, after having taught the word of God to people, entered the city Capernaum. Then, there was a Roman centurion whose servant was sick and about to die. The centurion heard about Jesus, and he sent some elders of the Jews to the Lord, asking him to come and heal the servant. The Bible says that the servant was dear to the centurion (KJV). Seeing the centurion working desperately in order to save the servant’s life, we can guess how highly the centurion valued the servant. Although they were the master and his servant, the centurion and the servant were in such a dear relationship of love. The following may be helpful to understand this love relationship. There is Austrian-born Jewish philosopher Martin Buber who is famous as the author of ‘Ich und Du (I and Thou).’ In this book, he explains the nature of people’s life as relationship, meeting, and dialogue. That is, we live a life by meeting others, having dialogues with them, and establishing relationships. And there is a critical factor that determines the quality of this life. It is what he calls ‘Primal Life Stand,’ and Martin Buber suggests two types of it: one is “I-Thou” relationship, and the other is “I-It” relationship. That is, people have I-Thou relationships, meetings, and dialogues, or they have I-It ones. In an I-Thou relationship, one treats the other as a whole person. And through the person-to-person relationship, the two enjoy mutual conversation and friendship, and each submits and devotes himself/herself to the relationship. In an I-it relationship, on the contrary, one treats the other as an object or ‘a thing.’ And he/she exerts one-way directions and actions, and tries to manage or control the other. In an I-Thou relationship, I and Thou become two bridge piers and on top of the piers is laid a firm deck bridging the two. And over the firm deck, truthful meeting and dialogue take place without ceasing. In an I-It relationship, however, there is only one bridge pier ‘I’, and therefore, no deck can be laid. Everything is self-centered, and every connection is one-way. There is no truthful meeting or dialogue. ‘I’ just tries to get what I want using others as ‘means,’ and for this purpose, I keep dictating or controlling others.

 

From our common sense, the centurion and his servant should be in an I-it relationship. The Roman centurion not only had power as an army commander, but also enjoyed economic wealth and good social reputation. He was rich enough to build a synagogue for the Jews and influential enough to have Jewish elders as his close friends. on the other hand, the opposite was merely “a servant,” even a servant who was sick and dying. The centurion, with such a great wealth, could take this as “a small loss.” However, the centurion did not treat the servant as “it.” He took the servant as his “Thou.” To him, the servant was a noble person, as noble as himself, and therefore he was worthy to be Thou of the love relationship. The two were connected not through a “master-servant” relationship, but through the love relationship of I and Thou. And now, one of the two piers sustaining the deck was breaking down. Because the centurion was connected to the servant in this way, his heart was also breaking down. The centurion could save himself from this trouble by giving up the relationship with the servant. But he didn’t do so. He devoted himself to the relationship, and he became a servant of the servant. In order to save his beloved, he humbled himself and asked Jesus’ mercy. He was very sincere and truthful to this love relationship with the servant.

 

The centurion’s sincere attitude as such is also observed in the process that he sought Jesus’ mercy. He asked Jesus’ help not in the I-It relationship but in the I-Thou one. The centurion had the urgent problem that his dear servant was about to die. He had the desperate need to heal the servant. Having this important issue, he could solve it quickly by ushering Jesus into his house and having him heal the servant. Quite simple! But the centurion didn’t do so. Apart from his urgent need, meeting Jesus was opening a totally different new chapter of his life. Today’s text says that the centurion “heard of Jesus.” We don’t know exactly what he heard of, but probably he heard that Jesus had driven out evil spirits by his command, that Jesus had healed various kinds of sickness, that Jesus had cleansed a leper, that Jesus had raised a paralytic, and so on. When he heard of all these powerful works of the Lord, the centurion thought of “Jesus, who had such miraculous power” rather than “the miraculous power that Jesus had.” In other word, he thought of “Thou” rather than “It.” When he mediated on Jesus, his heart was gradually overwhelmed with fear. He could be blinded by his urgent need and see only the healing power in Jesus instead of seeing Jesus himself. But he did not make such a mistake. His thought was wholly prevailed by the question “Who is this?” and then his urgent need became “secondary.” After all, Jesus eclipsed every concern in the centurion’s heart, and now the only concern left in his heart was “How can I honor the Lord?” This became his top-priority need. After many thoughts, he sent some elders of the Jews and asked humbly and earnestly that Jesus would come and save the servant. But when Jesus was close to his house, he realized that his most humble and respectful invitation was still not honoring but troubling the Lord. He held his head with his hands and cried, “O My God! What am I doing now?” He changed the plan hurriedly. He sent his friends to Jesus and said, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.” In the centurion’s eyes, Jesus and his power were unfathomably great, and he himself and his problem were too tiny. He believed that Jesus’ “one word” was more than enough.

 

How could the centurion reach this belief? He explained how he understood Jesus’ authority based on his own experiences. “But 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.” According to his saying, the centurion believed that Jesus had authority. As an army commander, the centurion might be quite familiar with the absolute power of “military commands.” A military command is powerful enough to move soldiers forward, even denying the fear of death. But what about the authority of Jesus’ command? Jesus’ command even moves “death” itself. His authority drives out demons, heals any kinds of sickness, calms down the stormy waves and wind, raises the dead, ties up the Devil, and forgives all of our sins. With this authority, Jesus created the heavens and earth, and even now he is sustaining all things by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:3). To the centurion, Jesus was just “Living God.” When he thought about Jesus, his mind was 100% pure and clear like white paper. What he needed was nothing but a word of grace out of the Lord’s mouth. As if there was nothing but God before the creation, his soul just prostrated itself before the Lord and waited for the word of the Mighty. There was only Thou, and I who was waiting for the mercy of Thou, and nothing else.

 

Hearing the centurion’s word, Jesus was amazed at it, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” The faith the centurion showed to Jesus was so great that even it amazed the Lord. How can we have such a great faith? We can have it by believing in “Jesus.” The beginning of genuine faith is Jesus himself. Many people who followed Jesus were amazed at the miracles performed by Jesus. They praised Jesus, welcomed him, and gathered around the Lord. Seeing these miracles, however, few of them took interest in Jesus, asking “Who is this on earth?” Even some showed the exactly opposite response. According to Matthew 13:54-55, the people at Jesus’ hometown were amazed at Jesus’ works and teachings and asked to themselves, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” But at the same time, they despised Jesus, saying, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” Their only interest was in “it” such as power and wisdom, but not at all in “Thou,” namely, Jesus himself. They tried to get what they wanted and to satisfy their curiosity with Jesus’ power and wisdom. But the centurion was different. When he heard of Jesus’ wisdom and power, he gained “Jesus” from them. He met Jesus the Lord through Jesus’ wisdom and power. He came to believe in Jesus through Jesus’ wisdom and power. He knew and believed that Jesus was truly the Son of God commanding the heavens and earth by his word. The origin and foundation of our faith is Jesus himself. And whatever grace we receive from the Lord, it should be written in our hearts as another piece of my knowledge of Jesus.

 

Jesus was so pleased with the centurion’s great faith, and healed the centurion’s servant immediately. This story shows us the blessedness of the “I-thou” relationship. The blessedness of the “I-thou” relationship is that “genuine dialogue” takes place in the relationship. According to Martin Buber, there are three kinds of dialogue, which are genuine dialogue, technical dialogue, and lastly, monologue disguised as dialogue. Technical dialogue is for delivering objective information as that between a professor and students or between a doctor and a patient. Monologue disguised as dialogue looks like a mutual conversation but actually it is one-way pouring-out of whatever one wants to speak. Compared to these, genuine dialogue concentrates on the person in front of me, and exchanges words full of sincere and truthful intention, which is actually exchanging “You” and “Me.” These different types of dialogue are also applicable to our relationship with Jesus. Some may come to Jesus, but not be much interested in who the Lord is. They just pour out what they want to say through overnight prayers, fasting prayers, or whatever ways. This is more a monologue than a dialogue. Some may come to Jesus and ask many questions, but they don’t want to make a true I-Thou relationship with him. Their desire is limited to “more information” for satisfying their scholastic curiosity. But the centurion said to Jesus, “Say the word, and my servant will be healed.” He enshrined in his heart Jesus the Lord of the heavens and earth. And he humbled himself to the lowest position. And he believed that the word from the mouth of the Lord cannot be resisted by anyone or anything. In this way, he had genuine dialogue with the Lord.

 

The centurion tried to avoid direct encounter with Jesus, but his soul was already captured by the Spirit of God. He couldn’t escape from the majestic glory of the Lord. This was his blessing. He submitted himself to Jesus, and put himself in the Lord’s merciful hand. Actually this is our destination. Someday, each of us will be left alone in front of the Lord. There is nobody who can stand beside me together, and there is no place where I can hide myself from the Lord. At that time, I am “Absolute I” and Jesus the Lord is “Absolute Thou,” and the I and the Thou will settle up about who Thou has been to I, and who I have been to Thou. And the most tragic possibility is that Jesus says, “I don’t know who you are,” At that time, Jesus will recognize me as much as I recognize Jesus now. Martin Buber calls God, “Eternal Thou.” If we recognize him now and have the true love and faith relationship with Him, I will become His “Eternal I” even now, and all the words in the Bible will revive and reverberate powerfully in our souls as the Word of the Living God. May the Lord give us this grace today and forever!!!