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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, the text this morning comes from the gospel reading, The Healing of the Centurion’s Servant. You may be seated.
Last Sunday, Jesus said a very powerful statement, and it was not believed upon by the Jews. He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death,” meaning he will live forever, eternity. In this text, the centurion and his servant kept that word of Jesus. They trusted in Jesus. They believed in Jesus. And they saw in their lives the power of Jesus’ word, his authoritative word, as it worked its work in their life.
But there were also other lives in this text that were powerfully affected by Jesus’ authoritative word, believed on by that centurion and by that servant. You see, the centurion didn’t wake up that morning and say, “Lord, how can you use me? Tell me and show me.” The centurion woke up that morning in great concern, full of compassion, filled with empathy toward his servant who was dying. The servant didn’t wake up that morning saying, “Lord, tell me what I can do to serve you. How can you use me?” The servant woke up dying.
Everything in this text came about and transpired and was all orchestrated by the master conductor, Jesus himself. Let that be made known very clear. None of this was coincidence. None of this was by chance. And none of this just seemed to happen. It was divinely orchestrated.
Now, some important background information about this grizzled soldier, this centurion. A centurion was a man who was selected by the Romans and their military to command and control 100 men. He was a career soldier. He spent his entire life as a soldier. The 100 men that were under him were not all Roman men. They were a multinational force, as it were. And there was not this uniform code of military justice that kept law and order. It was brute strength that kept law and order.
So this centurion had seen his fair share of battles. He had had many men at the end of his sword or in his grasp, clasp in his grip, who died. He watched men die who were his friends. He was also very well respected in this community. In fact, the scriptures talk about centurions always in a positive light, never in a negative light. He was well paid for his work as a centurion because he had money. Hence, him donating that money to build a synagogue for the Jews. He himself was not a Jew. He was a Roman, a Gentile.
There are three, as I mentioned, centurions mentioned in the New Testament. This is one of them. The other one is the one at Jesus’ death who says, as Jesus died, “Surely this was the Son of God.” The third one was visited by Peter, who visited a man by the name of Cornelius, whose whole household came to faith and was baptized by Peter. Those are the three that were mentioned in the Scriptures.
Now, this code of conduct, as I mentioned, that was backed up not by laws that were written down by codes, but by brute strength. He himself said, “I too am a man set under authority.” He understands what authoritative words are. Say what you mean, mean what you say. You don’t have to keep going on and on; then you’re not an effective leader. Right? You do need to stick to what you said and be sure that what you say is exactly what you want to do.
So he said, “I say to one soldier, go, and he goes. I say to another soldier, come, and he comes.” He understands authoritative word. He understands and believes in Jesus’ authoritative word.
Now, this centurion had a relationship with the Jews of that village or town called Capernaum. His relationship was so close and tight that he gave of his own money as a Roman to build a Jewish synagogue. That is a very strong relationship with those people. And they loved him for it. And he had no idea when he began this process, that is the centurion, how God was going to use him. I mentioned that earlier. He did not wake up that morning thinking, “How is God going to use me?” He had no idea and God was using him.
The first thing that God did was get him his faith to ask those elders, “Go and seek Jesus’ help for my servant.” His witness was to these elders, “Jesus has power. Seek that power.” When those elders get there, they kind of take things into their own hands. And they do what you and I are tempted and have done before too. They play the worthiness card. And they say, “Jesus, you need to come do this for him. He is worthy for you to do this. He has built us a synagogue.”
So are the only people worthy of God’s love those who have plaques on church buildings? Or in hospitals? Or anything else? Who’s truly worthy? In fact, Jesus begins to come, and these elders don’t have trust in God’s authoritative word because they felt like they had to use the worthiness card to get Jesus to come.
And when Jesus begins to come, the centurion is used again by God by sending a second delegation, friends, the text says, friends to come intercept this movement of people to the centurion’s house, and they say to Jesus, “Don’t do this.” They quote the centurion. They don’t use their words. They quote the centurion. And the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.”
The centurion knows this because he’s worked with Jews for several years. Jews do not go into Gentile houses, for to go into a Gentile house would defile the Jew and render him unclean. This is the centurion, who is not a Jew, is telling Jesus, who is, and the elders who are, that he ought not to come into his house because that would defile him. The elders were willing to do it. The centurion said, “Just say the word and let my servant be healed.”
In other words, the centurion is saying, “If you say it, it’ll be done. I understand that kind of authority.” You and I, not so much. We struggle with it, the concept of true authority and submitting to it. But without this man, the centurion, and his servant realizing it, in the midst of their pain and suffering, you need to get this, in the midst of their pain and their suffering, God is using them.
God is using this centurion and this servant in the midst of their suffering to witness to, without them realizing it, to witness to the elders of the village of Capernaum, and the friends that were sent by the centurion, and the household of the centurion in which the servant dwelt. Three different groups of people were being witnessed to of the faith and trust in Jesus’ authoritative word in the midst of their suffering.
You and I think that when we are at our lowest point, we are worthless to God. Jesus says otherwise in this text very clearly. He uses the centurion and he uses the servant. We have no idea about their background. The servant, we have no idea about his background. He’s a servant, a low on the totem pole of society. We have no idea about the centurion other than he’s a grizzled old soldier who has seen his fair share or he wouldn’t be where he’s at. And God used them in the midst of their suffering.
They didn’t wake up that day thinking, “Use me, O Lord!” They were used by God. They were the tool that God used. The vessel. Same way with you and me. We are only the tools and the vessels that God uses. But he will use us. He will use us.
When the centurion tells the elders through these people who are friends to say to them, “Just say the word and let my servant be healed,” the centurion is confessing a whole bunch of truths about Jesus. He’s making it very clear to the elders, “This Jesus is the Christ.” He is the Messiah, from a Gentile’s lips, mind you. By him saying, “Say the word and let my servant be healed,” he is saying also that the only way that Jesus can do that is to be God. Because only God can heal.
So Jesus is not only man, he is also God. By the centurion confessing this, he’s also confessing that Jesus, his power works through his oral word. He speaks and it’s done. God spoke and Oliver became a believer right before your very eyes. The Spirit entered him and you didn’t see a thing. Neither did I. But by faith in God’s words, that’s what happened to that little boy. That was confessed by the centurion, a soldier.
The fourth thing, Jesus’ word has power to save. Not only is it powerful, it’s powerful to save. As it saved Oliver, as it saved you, so it saved this centurion’s servant, but more than that, it confirmed and affirmed the centurion’s faith and the servant’s faith in that authoritative word.
And he’s not just confessing it to the elders, or to the friends, or to the household of his own; he’s confessing it to you and to me, this soldier is. And he’s reminding us it’s not worthiness that Jesus listens to. It’s humble repentance that Jesus listens to. Worthiness falls on deaf ears. Unworthiness he hears always. Those are the kind of people he listens to who know they are not worthy to be heard. But cry out in faith nevertheless like this centurion.
“Do not trouble yourself. I’m not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore, I did not presume to come to you, but say the word, and it shall be done.” The centurion believed that Jesus really is for him, a Roman soldier. The centurion believed that Jesus really is for his servant, a servant.
Now, here’s something else that’s interesting about this text. It’s the other side as well. The elders didn’t wake up that morning thinking, “How is God going to use me today?” And the elders were used by God through the centurion. He’s the one that asked the elders to go see Jesus.
So the elders, who had no idea they were being used, were being used. Oh yeah, that’s right. The second group, the friends, who came the second delegation. They did not wake up that morning thinking, “How is God going to use me?” They were used by God through the centurion. And then finally, the unknown third is the household of the centurion. When Peter went to visit Cornelius and baptized him and his entire household, that was normal. You didn’t just baptize Cornelius. You didn’t just baptize Cornelius and his wife. You baptized Cornelius, his wife, his children, the servants, and their children. And that was the faith of the household.
That’s what they did. They weren’t selective. “Oh, you’re too old, you’re too young, you haven’t heard enough.” They told them the story of Jesus. They proclaimed the gospel and they baptized.
Now, there’s another person that was also used as an intermediary, like the elders and the friends in the household, to an old grizzled soldier whose name was Naaman. He was a general of the powerful country of Syria. And in fact, it was one of his soldiers or groups that went into Israel and captured a little girl, whom we knew not her name. And it just so happened that God used this little girl who was captured to be placed in all the possible houses, Naaman’s house, serving Naaman’s wife.
Now, Naaman had leprosy. And this girl was used by God to tell Naaman’s wife, who in turn trusted and believed in this word of this little child, to tell Naaman, who trusted as well and believed in that word enough to go tell his king, “There’s a prophet in Israel named Elisha who will heal me.” That little girl was taken from her family. She did not think in her mind as she was taken from her family and from her home. Who knows if she ever was returned? She did not think, “How is God going to use me?” She was scared. But God used her, didn’t he?
He will use you, and he has already used you. Because you are like these elders and these friends and the household. You are intermediaries that God uses to reach other people. And not when you’re the shiniest and you’re the brightest, but when you are going through the suffering in the most difficult time.
Because Naaman, that general in Syria, if you read about it, he goes back to Syria and continues to believe, the general. God used him. God uses you. God has used you. But we are only intermediaries. We are only vessels that God uses. And we don’t know when. In fact, there’s times when we think we’re trying to find the right time and God’s already used us, and we didn’t even know it.
That’s what the text is about. The powerful, authoritative word of Jesus that he uses through us to accomplish things like what he used this centurion who did not wake up that day thinking, “How will God use me?” He was just used. Period.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you for using us as your vessels to work in other people’s lives, even in the midst of our sorrow and sadness and grief and pain. You use us. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
