Jesus Was Amazed – Sermon 2 June, 2013

Jesus Was Amazed
Luke 7:1-10

What is faith? Something we believe in.

We have statements of faith in the form of Creeds.

But faith does not only believe who God is and that God can do; it knows that He will.

Faith allows God to do for us and with us what we could never do alone.

Our text today is about a Roman soldier’s faith.

In seventh chapter of Luke verses 1-10, we find a centurion who, though he was a Gentile, understood who Christ was and is. It is the story that would of special interest to Theophilus, the Gentile to whom this account is addressed. The story is significant because this was a Gentile who exercised this faith. Even Jesus would remark that this man’s faith was amazing.

Only twice in all of Scripture was Jesus said to “marvel” or be amazed. The other time was when he began his public ministry in his hometown of Nazareth, and he was rejected by his fellow Jews – “he was amazed by their lack of faith.” (Mark 6:6, Luke 4:14-30). The centurion had a faith that was more discerning and sensitive than anything Jesus had witnessed in Israel.

What could be more horrible than to amaze the Son of God with one’s lack of faith? What could be more thrilling than to amaze Him with one’s faith? This centurion had amazing faith!

I want us to consider “Why was Jesus so amazed?” What are characteristics that made this man’s faith so amazing?

1. To love across all barriers. (vv. 1-2)

Jesus has just completed the teaching known as “The Sermon on the Mount.” Now Jesus entered Capernaum, a city on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. While he was in Capernaum, he was approached by representatives of a Roman Centurion. Centurion was equivalent in rank to a modern-day army captain and normally in command of 100 soldiers.

This particular centurion had a servant who was ill. Luke, the doctor, said he “was sick and about to die.” The centurion had an awful sense of helplessness similar to the sense of losing someone we love.

We are told that this man loved Israel, though it was not the land of his birth. It is also evident that this man cared deeply about his young servant, was very out of the ordinary socially. And he crossed racial barriers when he as a Gentile appealed to a Jew for help.

This man loved people who were not just like himself. Hearing that Jesus was in the area, the centurion decides to risk his reputation by going to a Jew for help.

2. To be excited and active in the work of God. (v. 3-4)

We need to understand that the Jewish elders had little love for the Romans in general and Roman soldiers in particular. This man must have been a very unique individual for the elders to be willing to approach Jesus on his behalf.

The elders not only bring the man’s request but they argue that their Gentile friend is a man of integrity and he was well liked by the Jews, and worthy of Jesus’ help. Verse three says, “The elders when they approached Jesus said, “for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.” This man had given substantially to the building of a house of worship. So he used his money, his reputation and his influence to build a synagogue. This centurion consciously chose to participate and involve himself in what was most apparent that God was doing.

3. It caused this man to approach Christ in great humility (vv. 6-7a)

We are impressed not only with this man’s great love, but also his great humility. This passage reveals two essential components of the Christian faith – and understanding of who Christ is and an understanding of who we are.

In verse six we find before Jesus could reach his house, the Centurion sent a second representative to Jesus, tell him that it was not necessary for him to come to his house. Because he was familiar with Jewish religious customs, he did not wish to put Jesus in a position of having to enter the house of a Gentile.

This Roman soldier a man of considerable influence and power, was also uniquely humble, he regarded himself as undeserving of having Jesus come under his roof, and even felt unworthy of meeting Jesus in the street. This soldier, unlike the Pharisees does not ask Jesus for a sign that he was who he said he was. This man doesn’t even ask to meet him.

4. It caused this man to be willing to trust in Christ alone (vv. 7a-8)

“… But say the word, and my servant will be healed. (8) For I also am a man placed 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.”

The centurion apparently realized the one who had power of life and death; that could heal with a word, must be God. And if Christ is divine, then he as a Gentile sinner was unworthy to even meet him. All Jesus must do is say the word, and he believes that it is as good as done. There is no evidence that this man ever personally heard Jesus preach and yet he believed. He made his request based on what he had heard of Jesus.

Jesus promised a special blessing on people like the centurion and us. When Jesus appeared to Thomas and removed all his doubts, and proved that he had rose from the dead he said to Thomas, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believed.” (John 20:29). That blessing extended to the centurion and to every believer today.

In the word “also” in verse 8 we see that the officer saw a parallel between the way he commanded his soldiers and the way Jesus commanded diseases. If this Roman, with very little spiritual instruction had that kind of faith in God’s word, how much greater our faith should be.

In verse 9 we see the reaction of Jesus, “When Jesus heard these things, He marvelled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”

This man’s remarks amazed Jesus. Jesus marvelled at a Roman centurion, whose background and circumstances ought to have made it difficult for him to have faith, a man hated by the Jews because he was a Roman. Yet in spite of all the circumstances that went against him, here stood a man who was striking example of faith.

What startled and impressed Jesus was the characteristics that anyone can have in their lives. Some think that an amazing faith is the ability to do the miraculous, but miracles are something that Jesus can do any time. We should understand that there are people whose lives would impress Jesus, because of their faithful godly lives. The characteristics of an amazing faith are something that anyone can have.

We should try to amaze God with our faith. As Christians that’s the least we can do.

Krikor Youmshajekian