The Faith of a Centurion

Passage: Matthew 8:5-13

⁵ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶ “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

⁸ 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. ⁹ 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.”

¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.¹² But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³ 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.

Thoughts
This passage is an interesting one that puts many questions in my mind. Maybe even some doubts. What I found really amazing was that when Jesus said "Alright, I will go to where your servant is and heal him", the Centurion responds with a correction. He doesn't tell Jesus what to do or how to do it or question him...instead he says with total humility, "I'm not worthy to have you come into my house. I know that you are in command so just say the word and I know he will be healed." To which Jesus is blown away.

This whole scene provokes a lot of questions. Why was Jesus blown away and marveling? Why was he so wowed? It was as if he didn't expect it...whereas in other places in scripture, Jesus already knows how people will respond. Nevertheless, even Jesus is pretty shocked, and he says that this man's faith exceeds that of any other in the land.

Another question, whatever became of this Centurion? And where did this Centurion's faith come from? How did he have such faith? How was it so simple, cut and dry, FACT to him? He had no doubts whatsoever. Which confuses me because as far as I know, this Centurion doesn't really know who Jesus is. Where is his skepticism? Where is his second thought? Where is his testing eye and his wariness? How did he know with such absolute confidence that Jesus was who everyone was saying He was? I don't get it.

Anyway, this guy's faith really is something, for all the reasons and doubts I just listed out above. I guess my takeaway here is that I would have such a faith. Where I know with such certainty that God is who he says he is, and that he loves me and looks out for me, that whatever I ask for he will give. I hope that my skepticism and doubt will go away. I'd imagine that God would say to me, "Oh you of little faith" quite a bit.

Prayer
Lord give me the faith of the Centurion. Lord, I pray that you would gift me with such a faith that I could move mountains. I pray that your Holy Spirit would live in me and abide in me in such a way that I can have this kind of faith. Lord, I want to not doubt you or second guess you. I want that absolute confidence and that absolute faith. Zero doubts, zero skepticism. Remove that from me. I don't know where that comes from. Maybe it's because I don't want to be disappointed? I think that's part of it. Like, what if I ask you and you don't give me what I ask for?

It's still all very cloudy to me how to really have faith. I pray that you would help me to be more daring and to have more boldness in my life. To do things in faith. To walk by faith and not by sight.

Lord, give me more faith. I want to really believe in you. Seriously seriously seriously.

In Jesus name I pray,

Amen.