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The War Cry | NOVEMBER 2015
The centurion in Luke 7:1-10 was an outsider. His
command of 100 Roman soldiers did not protect him
from scorn as part of the hated occupation of Palestine.
Everywhere he went, he was noticed. He could not speak
without people knowing he was not one of them.
Being an outsider could have made him bitter and
angry. The Bible tells us that, though he came as a
conqueror, his own heart had been conquered. Weary
of the tales of the drunken, adulterous and murdering
gods of Roman mythology, he found himself drawn to
the Jewish religion that proclaimed a holy God, tran-
scendent above all creation, who chose to draw near to
humanity in love. Opening his heart to the true God
made him an outsider among his own troops.
The proof of his conversion was evidenced in how he
was moved to help the Jewish people. When asking for
a favor from Jesus, the Jewish elders reported his good
deeds. "If anyone deserves your help, he does," they said,
"for he loves the Jewish people and even
built a synagogue for us" (Luke 7:4-5).
Soldiers were notoriously un-
derpaid; so how did the centurion
have the means to build a whole
synagogue? He could have been born
into wealth, but this is unlikely. Soldiers were known
to extort money from conquered populations, but this
would have been common knowledge among the Jewish
people had he done that. Most likely he was a career
soldier who had joined in many military campaigns. The
custom of the day included the division of spoils among
the officers and men, the size of the share according to
rank. The wealth he had accumulated was most likely
from risking his life for the emperor, no doubt with
scars to prove his bravery.
Further evidence that the centurion was a changed
man was his love for his servant. The servant was likely
one of the spoils of war, taken to be a lackey, but as the
centurion's heart was changed, he saw the man as some-
thing more than that. He became even more of an out-
sider to his fellow Romans. A well-known Roman named
Chrysolgus wrote about slaves: "Whatever a master does
to a slave, undeservedly, in anger, willingly, unwillingly,
in forgetfulness, after careful thought, knowingly, un-
knowingly, is judgment, justice and law." So it was: there
was no inhumane act prohibited when it came to slaves.
The slave became deathly ill. Knowing of Jesus' mi-
raculous deeds, the centurion believed that Jesus could
heal his servant. He asked the Jewish leaders to inter-
cede for him, as Jews tried to avoid direct contact with
Gentiles. But as the men talked with Jesus, the cen-
turion realized that asking Jesus to enter a Gentile's
house was worse still. As a high-ranking officer in the
Roman army, he could have ordered Jesus to come, but
instead he was mortified that in his desire to see his
servant healed he might have offended Christ.
For His part, Jesus was not bothered in the least. He
had already proven He would touch the untouchable
and receive anyone who came to Him. He was on His
way when, "just before they arrived at the house, the
officer sent some friends to say, `Lord, don't trouble
yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of
such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet
You. Just say the word from where You are, and my
servant will be healed. I know this because I am under
the authority of my superior officers, and I have author-
ity over my soldiers. I only need to say, `Go,' and they
go, or `Come,' and they come. And if I say to my slaves,
`Do this,' they do it" (vs. 6-8). The centurion apparently
grasped what eluded most of the Jew-
ish leaders--that Jesus Christ was
God Incarnate. He reasoned that if
a mere mortal like him could send a
soldier forward in battle to certain
death and expect obedience, how
much more authority over life could Jesus have? If
He was God then there was nothing impossible to Him,
and certainly no obstacle such as distance, that could
keep Him from doing His work. And further, since Jesus
was God, the centurion was even more unworthy to
have Him walk into his house.
The Bible says that Jesus was "amazed." How wonder-
ful would it be to hear the Lord say we had amazing faith!
The centurion's faith was both an encouragement and a
rebuke: "Turning to the crowd that was following Him,
He said, `I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all
Israel!'" (vs. 9).
The centurion's simple but profound faith was not
only recognized but rewarded. The slave was healed. In
Matthew's account of this miracle (8:5-13), Jesus further
remarked, "I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come
from all over the world--from east and west--and sit
down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in
the Kingdom of Heaven" (vs. 11). Here the rejects, the
outsiders and people on the fringe find a place to sit and
dine with the Most High God. Here all who are in Christ
are honored friends, beloved members of the family.
The outsiders are taken in.
Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee is Editor�in�Chief and National
Literary Secretary.
"I tell you, I haven't seen
faith like this in all Israel!"
(Luke 7:9)
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