David Bahn – Reflections

Matthew 8:5-13

⁵When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶“Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”

⁷Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”

⁸The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹²But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

Fact stated by Centurion: “My servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”

Response of Jesus: “I will go and heal him.”

Two realities revealed:

1. The centurion was a caring man; this was his servant. Perhaps he was valuable because of a skill or he was a needed physical laborer. But the centurion mentions only his plight and pain.
2. Jesus cares about people. His response was simple and immediate; he would go and heal the servant.

But wait, there’s more:

The centurion was a man who understood spiritual realities beyond the obvious. When he informs Jesus that he need not go in order to heal his servant, he reveals a reality of Jesus’ power and being that is not obvious apart from faith. Jesus is in control of all things. His rule and power are not limited by time and space. He can simply say the word and the deed would be done.

But another reality offers itself here: authority is a commodity of the Kingdom of God. The centurion was “under authority” but as such had authority to order those under his authority to do his bidding. He represented someone more powerful than himself. So too with Jesus while on this earth: he represented his Father in heaven. In fact Jesus says he does only what he sees the Father doing (John 5:19).

More often we think of authority as something that we chafe under; we would rather not have to be under anyone’s authority. But there is a freedom that comes from being under God’s authority: we do what he calls us to do and align ourselves with his power and authority. If we are under God’s authority we have authority. We don’t really have any power of our own, but God has all power. He is the final authority. When we are in submission to his authority we can do great tings.

That’s a different way to think about authority isn’t it?