The Rabbi & The Roman “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” Matt.9:36 I am sure we all recall the story told in the gospels of the Centurion whose faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was of such a calibre that it is the only time I can recall Jesus actually being described as experiencing amazement, a pretty tall order when considering that this is God Almighty we are discussing here, a being who knows the end from the beginning. Please turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter Eight, and Verses Five to Ten: “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.” Before moving on please allow me to briefly describe what someone who is suffering from ‘the palsy’ would most likely be going through. Palsy itself is a term used in conjunction with several medical conditions. Although the exact cause, symptoms, and treatments vary from one condition to the next, all forms of palsy are characterized by a loss of motor function. Three common forms of palsy are cerebral palsy, Bell’s palsy, and brachial palsy. I am sure we are all more than aware of the suffering involved with cerebral palsy, and as brachial palsy is usually caused during delivery this would most probably not be what the centurion’s servant was suffering from, so let us look at Bell’s palsy. This type of palsy can come about via viral infection and can cause a variety of issues, including unbearable pain that is constant, paralysis of facial muscles, and involuntary muscle movement, on top of this inflammation and swelling can put a great deal of pressure on the facial nerves causing secondary symptoms in the eyes, mouth, and ears. Today there are a variety of medications and therapies we can employ to alleviate at least some of the suffering, however, back in Jesus’ day, there was really nothing one could do but to twitch and spasm and suffer day in and day out night after night after night. It would also have led to a person’s inability to work and thus supply his daily sustenance and early death would most probably have been all there was to look forward to. On top of this, many of the cultures inhabiting the Middle East in those days were a superstitious lot, believing people who suffered from such maladies did so because of being cursed by the gods for having done some evil or other, so the social stigma would have been equally unbearable to this person. To carry on, the first thing to notice here in the this passage is that this man is not a Hebrew, he is a Roman, and being a centurion means he is going to have to, at the very least, come across to his superiors as a good little pagan towing the Roman party line. Perhaps he was genuinely a pagan and this was the moment of the possibility of his conversion; whatever the case may or may not happen to be this man comes boldly to the Lord, beseeching a miracle on behalf of a servant who was obviously more than a servant. One can almost feel the ache of the love written ever so subtly between the lines here. His servant is desperately sick and grievously tormented, perhaps on the very threshold of death itself. The other thing to notice is the man simply states the problem. He doesn’t try to tell the Lord how He should best deal with the problem. How often do we in prayer lay out our shopping list with all the advise and suggestions attached to that list of how best the Lord may accomplish all that we desire, despite the scriptures that tell us plainly that the Lord already knows before we ask what it is we really need. “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” (Matthew 6:7-8) I have been thinking about his a lot recently, about how often I try to advise our Heavenly Father on how best to organise my life, which usually includes a lot of other people’s personalities needing to be drastically altered or uncomfortable situations rearranged to suit what I believe are my ‘needs’, when, in truth, I am actually dealing with the most staggeringly intelligent being in existence who must surely know better how to organise my life than I myself can possibly know. And if this is case and I believe that the Lord is who He claims to be, then why don’t I simply save time and thank Him for whatever it is He is planning for my life today and ask Him to strengthen me to walk in His will by His Spirit, opening my heart to His cleansing so that it might be filled with His supernatural love, a supernatural love that can then be freely given to those around me, both friend and foe alike? This is one of the many examples I believe can be seen in this passage we are examining here. Here we have a man who may or may not have some knowledge of the Jewish belief of a coming Messiah, either way I think we can all agree he would be a pretty far stone’s throw from being a scribe of the Torah, and yet have a listen to his knowledge of the authority of the man who is standing before him. Keep in mind we are talking about a man who belongs to the occupying force that has its boot heal firmly on the throat of the Hebrew people, a man that actually has no need to beseech any Rabbi for anything, a man who is more used to giving orders rather than making desperate requests. Now he has obviously heard of this Jesus of Nazareth, and is most probably aware of some of the various rumours doing the rounds about healings and water being turned into wine and such. And who, if he were not desperate enough, would not go to some healer or other, if someone whom they loved was suffering from a pain racking disease or disability or if that person was at the point of death. However something quite strange occurs in this sudden exchange, this centurion sees something in the eyes or manner of conduct in this carpenter, something that completely turns everything on its head in a heartbeat. What he sees is complete and utter authority! Now, please try to grasp the enormity of what is happening here. We are talking about a man who is used to seeing authority, one doesn’t become a centurion without being in the presence of Roman authority, this man may well have seen the emperor himself from afar, he would certainly have met many generals and other such men of authority during this occupation. However something out of the ordinary is obviously happening here, this Roman appears to be encountering something altogether unlike anything he has ever experienced before. He tells the Lord the problem without offering a solution, and the Lord say’s in effect “Fine, I’ll come with you and we’ll sort this all out”. Now just sit back and have a listen to this man’s reply: “Lord,” (what a title for a Roman soldier to bestow on the Hebrew before witnesses), “I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Can you imagine the reaction of the people listening in on this outlandish exchange between the Roman and the Rabbi? Here is one of the occupying force’s soldiers, a man obviously of some weight among his people, commanding a hundred men as the title ‘Centurion’ implies and he is telling one of the occupied that he is of such a calibre that his own unworthiness is suddenly so palpable that he is finding himself overwhelmed to be standing in the presence of this Nazarene. And how does he explain all this: “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.” He simply lays out what he knows by his own experience to be the truth of the matter of what it is he is bearing witness to that very moment. This does not have the ring of rehearsal to it, something that was hurriedly practiced on the way in order to manipulate some sort of selfishly desired outcome; this appears to be a completely spontaneous reaction to a greater example of authority than this centurion is obviously used to. This is a man who has suddenly been humbled before God Himself standing there before him in the flesh! He is displaying something that has been lost to many in the reading, myself included, this man is actually giving one of the greatest examples of believing in hopeful prayer that one can find in all of New Testament scripture. Here is a man, as yet not a follower, who is simply saying to Jesus in effect, “Listen, I know authority when I see it, I don’t need you to come along with me and on top of this you are obviously a holy man set apart and I am of such a calibre that it would be insulting to even think that one such as you would sully himself by coming under my roof for even a heartbeat. Please, someone I love is suffering or dying, and I have been around authority enough times to know that all someone like you has to do is say the word and it shall come to pass. I have men under my authority and all I have to do is give an order and that order is as good as done and I am also a man under the authority of others who need only make an order and I am as good as carrying it out. And what I see in you right now tells me very clearly that you are of such weight that you can change and/or rearrange the very heart of nature itself, you can supernaturally stop a suffering man from suffering or a dying man from dying by merely ordering it to be so. No. I do not need to physically witness this event, if you speak it, I know it will be! Please, Lord, please help me and the one whom I love…” Now, when is the last time you prayed like this? When is the last time you looked at an impossible situation and knew that all things are possible for God? When is the last time you prayed with the authority of Christ over a sick friend, a broken friendship, a forthcoming disaster, a lost one whom you love more than words can possibly express? When is the last time you heard such prayers in your church? Lenard Ravenhill once said that one day a simple soul will pick up God’s book and simply believe it and put the rest of us to shame, and it is this type of momentous event that is actually unfolding before our eye within this exchange between the Lord and this humble pagan with seemingly more belief than all those who studied the scriptures daily in the town of Capernaum. “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.” This is an example of believing in the complete and utter authority of Jesus Christ.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 17:39:32 +0000
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