The Miracles of Jesus - Healing the Centurion's Servant with Jake Woodason

Jesus found faith in a Roman Centurion that He hadn't found in all of Israel! A remarkable and powerful story unfolds of Jesus's power over health, even from afar, and a man who demonstrated the kind of faith that Jesus is still looking for in us today. 

Transcript

 Hello and welcome back to Cultivating Growth. I wanna thank everyone for joining us this week. This is our last and final episode talking about some of the miracles that Jesus performed throughout his time. On Earth and as we typically do at the end of the month, we've got a special guest with us today to discuss one of those miracles.

We're gonna be primarily in Luke chapter seven in Matthew chapter eight today, talking about Jesus healing a centurion servant. And so hopefully open up your Bibles and follow along with us and we'll get right to the discussion.

Well, John, as you may mention, we've come to the end of the month as we've spent, uh, the last three weeks talking about various miracles. Of Jesus. We've got Jake Wooderson with us here today. We're gonna talk about another specific miracle, one from Luke chapter seven. Jesus healing the Centurion's servant.

Before we get to that, and I, I thought it would be, you know, appropriate, just to kind of reiterate, you know, a couple of kind of common generalities about. Idea of Jesus and his miracles. We talked about this several weeks ago in episode number one. You know, just with the idea that when Jesus went about doing his miracles, we'll see it again here.

There was always purpose behind it. We've gotta keep that in our mindset. He was not looking to entertain, he was not looking to put on a show. He was always had a purpose. And what we've also seen, as we've already seen over the couple of last couple of weeks, faith in a lot of ways plays a role somewhere, and most certainly that's going to be the case here in Luke chapter seven.

So. I'd be looking forward to our conversation about this miracle specifically. I thought it'd be good for us, uh, just 10 verses for us to, to read this miracle together. And then, uh, and then we'll have a discussion about a very interesting, unique miracle in several ways, and I'm sure we'll get to what makes it unique as we get into it.

So I'm in Luke chapter seven, beginning in chapter one. Verse one says Now, when he had concluded all his sayings and the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum and a certain centurion servant who was near to him, was sick and ready to die. And 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. And 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, or, I'm 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. And when Jesus heard these things, he marveled 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 sent. Now there's a lot of different things kind of happening in this miracle. There's no question about it. There are several things, you know, kind of that stick out that I'm sure we'll spend some time to, you know, kind of get to.

But, uh, you know, kind of in a big picture kind of situation. Uh, Jake specifically, when we kind of, you know, go over to John after that, what is it that kind of big picture kind of stands out to you and just generalities kind of about this miracle. Yeah. As I've gone through this. This miracle over the past couple weeks, two things really stuck out to me, and it's kind of the big ones that we normally see, uh, the authority of Jesus, uh, over all things.

Uh, certainly sickness and, and, um, you know, for the servant in this situation, uh, but the faith that the centurion had, and not only the faith that he had, uh, and how he approached Jesus, but how Jesus responded to his faith. Yeah. I mean, to me, uh, before we get over, you know, to, to John on that it is Jesus marveling at him.

Mm-hmm. I, I didn't go back and count, you know, the amount of times in the New Testament where it says that Jesus marveled in some capacity. I, I know it's there a couple of times, but it ist an abundance of times. And so here is an opportunity that Jesus marvels and he marbles marvels at the. Faith of this man, and I agree with you.

To me, that definitely sticks out, John. That would make a really good sermon. It would to go back and, uh, and look at the times where Jesus marvels and, uh, see kind of how that, you know, plays into things. But the, the faith is certainly a, a big thing that stands out as well. And I, when I was reading this, I just read all of chapter seven just to kind of get the context around everything that, that Luke is recording for us.

And a, as with most of the gospel writers, Luke will, uh, combine some stories and group things together. Uh, even if sometimes it disrupts the timeline of things, he'll group things together. And I think it's really interesting that at the beginning of chapter seven, he tells the story about Jesus marveling at this centurion's faith.

And then the last story that Luke includes in chapter seven is of, uh, Jesus forgiving this sinful woman. And the very last verse of that chapter, then he said to the woman, your faith has saved, you go in peace. There is, uh, a theme of this chapter that is centered around faith and its power and the people.

In this chapter are very diverse. You have the centurion at the beginning of the chapter. Um, he's gonna talk about John the Baptist and his faith in Jesus, and then ultimately this woman who has been involved in sinful behaviors throughout her life. All, all of them expressing faith in their own way. And, and so not only do you see faith coming to the forefront of this, but faith from very diverse people.

And I think what that tells us in, in Matthew's account, it kind of alludes to this because Matthew includes something that Jesus says at the end of this, about the gospel going to all people and all nations. And what we're seeing here is that it's not the. Lineage of the individual. That's important.

It's not the social stature of the individual that's important. It's not the sex of the individual that's important. It's whether or not they have faith in Jesus. That's what matters. That's what Jesus is looking for. That's what he's always looked for, and he found that in this centurion. To the extent that he says and makes that statement, listen, I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel.

You know, all these people that should have been anticipating my coming and, and know who I am and why I'm here and be excited. And I haven't found faith like this anywhere among them. Uh, but I have found it in this centurion and he found it in Ham Baptist and he found it in this sinful woman at the end of, of Luke chapter seven.

And that, that really should be where our focus is as well. Let's not. Focus so much on our background or our nationality, or our stature, our socioeconomic stature, whatever it might be. Focus on faith. That's what God wants from us, and that's what Jesus sees is most important. Yeah, I thought it was interesting as I was looking at how, uh, the centurion's attitude toward Christ and, and you know, we look through the gospels and we see the number of times that Jesus was in people's homes.

Uh, the people, to your point, John, who should have known, who should have been anticipating him and the attitude that they had as far as, uh, the worthiness of them. Being around Christ, of having them in their homes. Uh, obviously the centurion here, uh, a very healthy understanding mm-hmm. Of who Jesus was and his own worthiness to, uh, to, to be counted as such.

So, yeah. And even his, even his power. Uh, you know, I was thinking about this earlier today. I mean, clearly, uh, this centurion had some knowledge of Jesus and, and some knowledge probably of, of miracles maybe, that he has performed. But for the most part, when Jesus is healing people, he's doing so right there.

Mm-hmm. Uh, he does heal from distance as he, as he does here on, on a multiple, on multiple occasions, but not very many. There, there are hundreds of times throughout scripture where he is. On the, a lot of times his hands are on them and, and you know, I was thinking if this Arian has witnessed, you know, Jesus healing the sick or healing the blind, or healing the lame, or he has seen Jesus handle these people or speak to these people, or them touch him as, uh, the one woman does, you know, whatever, in any of the cases for him to extrapolate in some capacity to say, listen, uh, Lord, you, you, you don't even have to go.

Mm-hmm. I mean, you, you don't have. To be there. You, you don't have to put your hands on him. You don't have to see 'em. You don't, you don't have to do that. You can just say the word. And I think that in a lot of ways I is where, where his faith is that it is so extreme, almost, that he's picturing something maybe that he hasn't seen.

You know, maybe he hasn't seen, you know, something like that. And so he's able to picture this, you know, and. And ask for that. You know, I think about, um, it and what, maybe you could think of where it is specifically in the book of Joshua, but when he, he asks basically for the son mm-hmm. You know, to, to Joshua chapter 10.

Yeah. For the son to stand still, he's not seen that. Right. I mean, that's not something that God has done thousands of times before. And Joshua was like, Hey, you know, God, you remember last week when we needed that extra long day and you stopped the sun? If you could do that. Again, you know, that would be super helpful here.

Mm-hmm. No, it is his faith to ask of something so incredible, but knowing that anything is possible with God though, that's where he is with Jesus. Mm-hmm. It is something that is so incredible, but yet anything is possible so you don't have to go, I mean, you could just say the word because your words like mine.

He understands authority clearly. Yeah. It it your words like mine carries authority and you have authority over. Disease, uh, this level of authority, and Jesus marvels then at his faith. One thing that I was, I was thinking about as you were saying that, is that that was the purpose of Jesus' miracles. We talked about that.

You brought that up. We talked about in week one of this study that Jesus performed these miracles so that people would believe who he was. And so to your point. Maybe the centurion has seen or heard some of those things, and that's why he has this degree of faith. Maybe he hasn't seen these things before, but has heard about Jesus and has, has come to at least a place of strong curiosity, if nothing else.

But what's really interesting is the effect that this likely had on this man. I'm gonna, I'm gonna speculate here for just a second and I wanna preface it by saying I'm speculating. So please, uh, uh, make sure everybody understands that in Luke chapter 23, when Jesus is crucified, Luke records for us, same gospel writer that we're reading about in Luke chapter seven.

Luke records for us that there was a centurion at the cross and when Jesus was crucified in verse 47. It says, so when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God saying Certainly this was a righteous man. Now, was that the same centurion? I don't know. I find it interesting that it's Luke that records both of these, uh, instances and references the centurion in Luke chapter 23.

If it was, it's a clear indication that the miracles Jesus performed had the intended effect on this man. Now, even if it wasn't the man there in Luke 23, clearly had seen something about Jesus that has moved him to a place of faith. But again, that's what Jesus intended for when he was doing these miracles and when he was, uh, interacting with the people the way that he does, he's doing so to convince people who he is.

And so when this centurion in Luke chapter seven comes to him and he says, listen, I, I'm not even worthy he to have you come into my house. Just do it from here. Jesus is like, bingo. That's what I'm looking for. Mm-hmm. That's, that's the kind of faith that I'm talking about right there. And all you Jews standing around, that's what I'm looking for from you, is to have that level of faith.

And so I think we can then take that and, and apply it to our own lives. Like to your point Jeremy, we need to have the kind of faith that says, maybe I haven't seen this before. But I believe he can do it, and I'm going to act on that faith and I that's going help me move and make decisions, uh, appropriately.

And so the Centurion sets forth this wonderful example of what true faith really looks like. Well, I mean, with God, anything is possible, right? I mean, scripture sets it up, you know, ask, and it will be given, ask the mountain to be moved and it can be moved. I mean, it, it, it, God is pretty clear, you know, throughout the New Testament that this is the level of faith that you can operate with Now.

We struggle to do so because we've never seen mountains move. Right. Right. We've never, we've never seen those things and so we, when we're operating just in our own physical parameters, we are missing out on the power that God operates with. He doesn't operate in the same physical parameters that we do, and this centurion understood that.

He understood. He, he doesn't operate in the, the regular parameters that everybody else operates with. Mm-hmm. You can just say it and it can be done. That was what stuck out to me as I was looking at this and, and seeing how the centurion, uh, you know, the faith that he had in wanting to have that same kind kind of faith for myself, right?

It, it took me to Ephesians three 20 and, and talking about those things that, uh, you know, not putting limits on God, having that faith that. Anything can happen. You know, we see in verses 20 and 21, I'll, I'll read that. It says, now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us.

To him be the glory in the church, in Jesus Christ to all generations, forever and ever. So those things that, that, that our faith can do in Christ and it's the power of Christ doing it. Yeah. That, that, that faith is derived from spending time. With Jesus faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Where does, where does the faith that can move mountains, where does the faith come that recognizes that God can do things far beyond what even our imaginations could conjure up? Well, that that comes from spending time in his word, that comes from listening to him, that comes from being near him. And again, you know, whatever this centurion's background was with Jesus, there had at least been some interaction or knowledge or hearing or seeing or whatever it was.

That has led him to a place of faith and that that is what it takes. We need to be spending time in the word so that our faith grows to this point. We can't expect to have faith like the centurion or faith that can move mountains or faith that says God can do anything beyond my wildest imagination. We, we can't have that kind of faith.

We're never gonna have that kind of faith if we don't spend time getting to know him. When we get to know him and we listen to him and we see what he does, and we hear what he says. That's where that faith begins to develop. And again, Jesus is kind of disappointed that the Jews aren't there largely because they've had those opportunities to spend time with him, to read about the prophecies pertaining to him, all of these things, and they hadn't done it.

But we have that opportunity today to. In time with him and to grow in our faith in that way. And clearly this satter had some knowledge base of Jesus. Mm-hmm. I mean, clearly whether it's him seeing what he has done, but even in his interaction with Jesus here, he understands that Jesus is different than him.

He under and he listen. He is someone who has a credible power. He operates with great authority and, and I mean, he is bowing himself nearly here at, at Jesus saying, listen, I'm not even worthy that you come into my. My own home. And he backs that up with, listen, I, I didn't even feel like I was worthy to approach you even.

And so, hi. His understanding and knowledge base of Jesus. And I think, John, you're exactly right about that. Uh, our understanding and knowledge of God, of Christ and who they are. Only increases our faith. Mm-hmm. It only puts us in a position to then understand more, Jake, of the point that you made, that Paul gives us in Ephesians chapter three.

Listen, I, I'm, I'm here for a good superlative like the next guy. Right. I love all the ly words and it's like Paul. Piled all of them in. He is like all the big LY words that I can think of. I'm gonna put in this one verse and, and that barely scratches the surface of what God can do. And, and that is because of his relationship with Christ.

And that is ultimately where we can we we need to be. And I think the point of Luke chapter seven is to say, here's an example of someone that was able to get there. A non-Jew just of witnessing and seeing Jesus and the way he interacted with people. I can do that right? I, I can get to this level of faith and I think that's really one of the big points.

One of the things that I also thought of as well, is that we're going through the, the Hebrew study right now and, and looking into Hebrews 11, you see all the, the, the folks throughout history who had that great faith, but starting in the beginning of the chapter in verse six, where it says, without this faith, it's impossible to please him.

Mm-hmm. And he found someone here that he was very pleased with. To, to your point at the very beginning, John, uh, that was something that he was looking for in these Jewish folks who should have had that faith. Uh, but here we found that in the, in the centurion. Yeah. I've wondered sometimes too, going to verse 10 of this chapter, it says, those who were sent returning to the house found the servant well, who had been sick.

I've wondered sometimes who those people were who were sent back to check and to what the conversation was like on the way back to this guy's house, because if it were people that had been around Jesus before, I can imagine that conversation be like. Oh, I know what I'm gonna find when I get back to this house.

Mm-hmm. Like I'm just, there's an anticipation of, of what they're coming upon. If there were people who were servants of the centurion who maybe didn't know Jesus, hadn't been around him as well, maybe didn't believe in him as much, my guess is there could have been a lot of spec speculation about what they might come across when they go back to this guy's house.

Clearly this servant was very sick. So, you know, what are they gonna find when they get back there? And I think sometimes we can, we can find ourselves in a similar circumstance, not obviously exactly like this, but as we're going throughout our lives, are we living a life of faith? Where I'm not surprised when God interacts with the world around me and interjects himself into my life.

I'm not surprised when opportunities present themselves and, and doors to share the gospel are opened. Or if I've been steeped in prayer, I'm not surprised when something happens as a result of that. Or am I constantly shocked if I come across something like, whoa, where, how'd that happen? You know, uh, I, I, I, I think about these.

People in, uh, verse 10 who were sent back to the house, and, and I wanna be the kind of person who would've been on the way back to the house being like, listen man, we, we all know what we're gonna find here, right? Like, there's no question about what we're gonna find. I mean, Jesus healed this person from afar.

No doubt about it. I, I wanna be that kind of person. I, I wanna be the person who, who goes through this life not wondering. If God is working in this world, but expecting God to work in this world and not being surprised when I see it, but instead recognizing, yes, that's the God I serve. I have full anticipation that he's involved in my life and that he's involved in this world.

And to your point earlier, Jake, that he can do far more than I could ever imagine. One thing that I've, uh, thought of as you were talking there, John, um, is something that I thought of earlier as well as I was looking at this, um, this passage. Uh, you know, from the centurion's standpoint, he knew that he was not in control.

Mm-hmm. Uh, and for us, we know that we're not in control. We come through whatever circumstance in our life knowing that we're not in control, but. We serve the one who is in control. And the centurion knew the power that Jesus had and that's why he knew that he could ask for that. Yep. That's a good segue to, I want to kind of close with the idea.

We've talked a lot about this centurion and rightly so. He is a focal point of this story. But I don't want us to finish our conversation without just a couple of minutes on Jesus. I think there's a, uh, some interesting things that kind of pop up. Know about Jesus that we have seen before. That certainly is striking to me, and we get it kind of at the very beginning of chapter seven.

I I think it's interesting as you, you think about Jesus, how, how he operated in these three years that he's really in that public ministry role and just how busy he was and how wanted, you know he was, and how. Irritated. I would be, you know, sometimes in some of those, you know, in some of those situations, I mean, we get at the very beginning of this in chapter seven and verse one, it says, when he concluded all the sayings in the, in the hearing of the people, he enters Capernaum.

And so he is already had big days, he's done a lot of talking, a lot of speaking. And, and so he, he enters, you know, Capernaum and it's almost immediately. They're like, oh man, we've been looking for you. Right? This guy who you don't know, he's got just the sick guy and really could use your help and, and you know, it's not that Jesus was like, listen.

Alright. You know, snaps his fingers and, you know, again, and heals him because it's on a parlor trick. Right? Or it's not that he says, oh, you know, again, or, you know, every day with this. I mean, he, he just seems to immediately be right. In, of going with them and, and taking care of them. We see this, you know, in other places, you know, I'm always, you know, uh, kind of taken aback by the day that Jesus will be.

And he'll go into a house for the night and people will just press on the house. Mm. And he'll just seemingly. Stay up all night long healing people and casting out demons and, and his love and compassion that he has for people in the moment really is striking to me when it comes to his miracles. He does that in his teaching as well.

But as miracles, it really seems to set apart that he is very much in the moment aware that this is a need that somebody has, that he can do something about. And, um, I, I think there's great application in that even for us. Mm-hmm. But that, that kind of stands out to me here with Jesus. Where he just enters the city and then boom, somebody's on him.

And now he has, he has this kind of weird, you know, thing where people are sent and he is not talked to the guy. And, and all of this thing kind of unfolds, but it, it, it is a striking thing with Jesus and how he interacts, uh, here with this man. Yeah, I'll, I'll just piggyback on that. I, I was thinking, you know, sometimes depending on the week, sometimes Sundays for you and I can be very busy days.

And Jake, I know you're in the middle of one of your busiest seasons at work in the insurance business and, and there are times where if, if there happens to be a Sunday where I teach class and then preach there, there's been Sundays where I teach class, preach, do a podcast, do something here Sunday evening, go do a men's study or something at the end of the day.

I know you've had those days too, and, and Jake, you can relate to, you know, you have those busy days at work where it's just like from start to finish. Mm-hmm. And then you finally finish the last thing for the day and somebody's like, Hey, you got a second. I need to talk to you about something. And you're like, you've got to be kidding me.

Right? I mean of all times. And I mean, we can all relate to to those kinds of moments. Yep. To your point, that was Jesus' life. I mean, that was his entire time in ministry on this Earth was just constantly a crazy busy day. And then finally you get to the end of the day and somebody's like, Hey, I need you real quick.

And all the times where I react poorly to that or even, you know, say like, is is it really important? Can we talk about this another time? Like, I'm, I'm really worn out or whatever. Jesus never does that, ever. He, he makes time for this Roman centurion. Who he's never met before probably. And he, he makes time for people in every circumstance where this happens.

And it's just absolutely amazing to see the endurance that he has for one, but the patience that he has with people and, and, and he just never loses sight of his purpose. And he knows that, uh, he's got a limited time on this earth. And so if there's one more person today that he can help. Then he's gonna do it and, and I need to train myself to, uh, conduct myself more like that.

However long I've got on this earth, I don't know the answer to that question, but however long it is. What is my purpose while I'm here And, and to be more like Jesus means to recognize my purpose is to serve and to help and to show compassion and love whenever I can. And so if somebody needs one more minute from me after a busy day, then one more minute is what they're gonna get.

And I'm gonna try to do it with a better attitude moving forward. And Jesus is gonna be my example of how to do that. Yeah, we see him, like you said, Johnny, he's completely locked in on his mission and his purpose, uh, here, here on this earth. And, and you, I, you know, thinking back to those days that we all have, when we are busy, when we're going from one thing to the next, to the next, to the next, and then we have those one additional things, it's, and oftentimes what I find, at least in, in my personal life is that if it's on something, if someone needs something that.

Hey, I'm interested in it. I'm, I'm ready to go. Hey, man. It's energizing, right? Yeah. Right. And even if it's, you know, physically exhausting, I, I'm excited to do it. I'm willing to do it. Uh, it's when I get distracted with everything else that, uh, things seem to come off the rails. But, uh, but you see Jesus here.

I mean, this is exactly why he was here. This is what he was wanting to be here doing. Yeah. And he was fired up about it. Yeah. I mean, there's a question about that. Well, let's close it right there. We're gonna close with the verse one that we've talked about already a couple of times, but certainly be good for us to read it once more.

Luke chapter seven of verse nine says that when Jesus heard these things, he marveled. Adam 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.

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