Vol. 11 — No. 4 January 25, 1970
Matthew 8:1-13
When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him. See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him. And saying. Lord my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said. Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed. Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel, And I say unto you. That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion. Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
In Christ Jesus, who loves to praise the faith of men. Fellow Redeemed:
After Jesus had heard the centurion make his plea in behalf of his slave boy, “He marvelled, and said to them that followed. Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Jesus had been in Jerusalem, the religious center of the nation. He had traveled in Galilee. He had chosen the Twelve who were to be His apostles. He had associated with those who should have had faith and with those who did have faith, but it was not until He had heard the plea of the Gentile centurion that He felt compelled to praise someone’s faith. We do well to examine and analyze the faith that could and did call forth such praise.
We do well to know what kind of a faith Jesus praised because in our day the world also praises faith. Certainly all of you have heard someone say of another: “He or she has a great faith.” Those are words of praise. The world tends to admire a person who has a great faith. But if you examine the matter a bit, you will find that the world cares little for the object of that faith. What the individual believes, on whom or on what his faith rests is relatively unimportant in the minds of most, the person may have a great faith in “god” without even knowing or inquiring who God is or what He is like or what His will is. Another may have a great faith in an idea or a cause or a hope. People marvel at and praise such a faith, but the Lord would characterize such a “faith” as unbelief. When man praises another man’s faith, he considers that faith a work of man, a human spiritual accomplishment. But the faith that calls forth the praise of the Lord is never a work of man, but always a work of God in man. In response to the question of the Jews: “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” John 6:28-29.
Your faith and my faith in the Lord Jesus is a work of God in our hearts. He would perfect that work in us so that it would call forth His praise. Surely we should be interested in the characteristics of -
We have two accounts of faith in our text. Both have this characteristic. The leper who came worshipping with his prayer for healing put it in this way: “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” Lord, if thou wilt!—not, if thou canst! This faith is all the more amazing when you consider that leprosy was considered to be and was in fact incurable in those days. This leper came to Jesus, who was considered by most people to be just another Jewish rabbi or teacher, and asked for healing from an incurable disease. And he expressed his petition in a way that revealed that he just assumed that the Lord could help him. And the Lord did, for with the Lord nothing is impossible. It is basic for faith to learn this simple lesson—that with the Lord nothing is impossible, that He can always help no matter what the situation is, that the impossible is always possible for the Lord.
We find this same faith in the centurion. He was bothered by the same problem that troubled the leper: Would the Lord help? The possibility that the Lord would be unable to heal his slave boy never entered his mind for an instant. He expressed his faith in terms of his own experiences and way of life as a military officer. “I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.” He was accustomed to command and to be obeyed—without hesitation and without delay. If he, a mere man, could do this, then Jesus need but “speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Jesus wouldn’t have to come and be present to heal—as some of weaker faith believed. He wouldn’t have to touch the sick boy and pray for healing. No, He just had to say the word. The centurion assumed—without hesitation, without doubt, but simply and implicitly—that Jesus could help, could always help. Such is the faith that calls forth the Lord’s praise.
St. James urged such a faith upon his readers when he urged them to pray “in faith, nothing wavering.” Then he added this comment: “For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” James 1:6-7. A child believes that Daddy can do anything. A child of God is to believe that the Lord Jesus can always help—even if human reason and human experience argue to the contrary.
Do you have such a faith that the Lord is eager to praise? Perhaps a good way to check your faith is through your worry-index. Are you a worrier? If you are, isn’t it true that you don’t quite believe that the Lord can take care of your son or brother when he is away in the service. You can’t believe that the Lord can take care of your children when they go off to school. You imagine that a situation may arise that He can’t handle. If you worry in time of sickness, isn’t it true that you are doubting whether the Lord can heal or whether His decision in the case is the best. If you worry in advancing age, aren’t you worrying that the Lord can’t quite take care of you through your old age. Such lack of faith doesn’t call forth the Lord’s praise, but rather His rebuke: “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” The Lord had no trouble healing the incurable leper or speaking the word to heal the centurion’s slave boy. With God nothing is impossible. He can always help. Only believe this!
The faith that calls forth the Lord’s praise also -
The question for the centurion was never whether the Lord could heal his slave boy, but only whether He would. Then when the Lord, through the intercession of the Jewish religious leaders in his behalf, began to walk towards the centurion’s home, the centurion almost panicked. He wanted the Lord to heal his slave boy, but he didn’t want the Lord to come to his home. How can this be explained? The answer lies in the centurion’s humility over against the Lord. He had two reasons for not wanting the Lord to come to his house. First, he knew; that the Lord would become levitically impure if he entered his house because he was a Gentile. He didn’t want either this stigma or inconvenience to rest upon the Lord. Secondly, he felt himself morally and spiritually unworthy to receive the Lord: “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.” His faith had taught him to walk humbly before his God.
The Lord praised that faith. You will recall that the Lord made just this humility one of the characteristics of saving faith in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee exalted him self, put his virtues and spiritual achievements on exhibit and received the condemnation of the Lord. The publican humbled himself, confessed his spiritual bankruptcy, cast himself upon the mercy of the Lord, and was justified. We begin our services with such a humble confession of sins and plea for mercy, for only such a faith is acceptable in the sight of the Lord. Lord, keep us ever humble.
Humble before God, but also humble towards one’s fellowman. This is the nature of a faith that calls forth the praise of the Lord. We must realize that the Romans were the “master race” of that time. They had nothing but disdain for the Jews. Yet this Roman military officer asked a personal favor of a Jewish rabbi. That was as unlikely as it would have been for a Nazi to ask a favor of a Jewish rabbi or as unlikely as it would be for a dyed-in-the-wool segregationist to ask a favor of a Negro preacher. But this centurion was no longer a slave of racial pride and racial prejudice. He had embraced the God of the Jews and their hope. He had built the Jews a synagogue in Jerusalem. He found no difficulty in begging a favor from Jesus, a Jewish teacher though He was. He was most unRoman in his actions, and Jesus was most unJewish in His response. The pride of the Romans was only outdone by the pride of the JewS who considered their national origin to have placed them in an especially favorable relation ship with God, Jesus pricked that balloon of racial religious pride by saying that the faith of the Gentile centurion was greater than any He had found in Israel and by adding “That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness,”
The faith that calls forth the praise of the Lord is both humble towards God and over against the fellowman, regardless of his race or color. Both the Romans and the Jews were guilty of racial pride. The faith of the centurion had overcome that. There are many today who are sick with the same ancient ailment of racial pride that goes back to the curse of Babel. They think that because they are white or because they are black or because they are American or because they are Asian they enjoy special divine privileges over against the others. That is always the flesh talking, never the spirit, for the Spirit of God would purify faith so that the believer walks and conducts himself humbly before both his God and his fellowman. Such a faith that makes one humble calls forth the Lord’s praise. Such a faith also -
The Roman centurion was not ashamed of his faith. He let the whole community know that he had embraced the God and hope of the despised Jews. You can imagine what his fellow officers and their families thought of him and how they possibly isolated him socially. But the Roman centurion went farther. When the religious leaders of the Jews were beginning to show their opposition to Jesus publicly, the centurion unashamedly confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus. This sequence of events didn’t take place in the privacy of someone’s home or out in the country, but rather in the streets of the city. Unashamedly the centurion confessed his faith.
On other occasions the Lord stressed the importance of this feature of faith. When He sent out His disciples. He said unto them: “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 10:32-33. On another occasion He said: “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generations of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:38.
Ask yourself whether you are ashamed of the Lord and His Word. We have been called a “renegade” church. I have been told that there actually are people in the community who are ashamed to come on our church property or to attend our services. I have been told that some people would like to visit us, but are afraid of what their friends or relatives would say. Are you ashamed of your church? Are you ashamed of what we teach and preach and practice? Do you feel embarrassed when people “pick at” you because of the changes in doctrine and practice that we have instituted according to the Word? Do you feel you must apologize for this or that Word of the Lord because it is such a “hard saying” for the ears of modern man. The Lord would encourage us to be unashamed of Him and His Word. He encourages us again this day by praising the faith of the centurion who was unashamed to confess his Lord before the Roman and Jewish world.
May the Lord give us a faith that trusts in all situations, that walks humbly before God and with our fellowman, and that is unashamed to confess the Lord at any time and in any place. Amen.
Ministry by Mail is a weekly publication of the Church of the Lutheran Confession. Sermon archives, and subscription and staff information may be found online at www.clclutheran.org/ministrybymail. Audio Sermons are available at: podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ministrybymail
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the King James Version.