Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, “for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.”
Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 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.”
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!” And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick. (Luke 7:1-10)
This is a very interesting story of a man who was not a Jew, a man who had not been brought up to know the God Jesus was talking about, yet sends emissaries to Jesus to ask for help.
In this story something was evident that this man had heard about Jesus and knew about Jesus healing power and was not afraid to ask for help for his servant.
One other thing that you notice in this story is that this man was a generous man, the elders who had come to Jesus had this to say about him, “for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.”
We can also tell from his message to Jesus regarding his servant that he was a good man, he did not want his servant to die. He was concerned about his servant.
Apart from this man being a generous and good man he was also a man who understands authority, he understood the culture and he was a humble man.
He had an understanding of power and how it worked. He understood something about Jesus Christ which no one else understood.
This centurion had heard about Jesus and knew that Jesus was a man under authority just as he was a man under authority and knew that all Jesus had to do was speak the word and his servant would be healed, this man had dynamic faith.
Dynamic faith is faith that defies all odds, it is faith that does not talk much but has a full assurance in what he has not seen but believes that it would happen without a single doubt in his/her mind.
This man knew that Jesus did not have to come to his house, he knew all Jesus had to do was speak the word.
The bible says Jesus marvelled at the centurion’s message.
…“I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”
Jesus was saying now that is what I am talking about, this is dynamic faith.
When Jesus says I have not found this kind of faith in Israel was He talking about the lack of faith NO! He was saying this was faith at another level. Other people had come to Jesus and got their healing, blind eyes had been opened because they had come to Jesus.
But here we see a gentile send a message to Jesus you don’t have to come under my roof yet I know my servant will be healed once you speak the word.
Dynamic faith believes greater and more difficult truths, dynamic faith is fully convinced of the difficult promises and the hard to understand truths of Scripture. Dynamic faith knows that God can do it.
Has your faith ever shocked Jesus?
