Luke 7:1-15 AMPC
After Jesus had finished all that He had to say in the hearing of the people [on the mountain], He entered Capernaum. [2] Now a centurion had a bondservant who was held in honor and highly valued by him, who was sick and at the point of death. [3] And when the centurion heard of Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to Him, requesting Him to come and make his bondservant well. [4] And when they reached Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying, He is worthy that You should do this for him, [5] For he loves our nation, and he built us our synagogue [at his own expense]. [6] And Jesus went with them. But when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent [some] friends to Him, saying, Lord, do not trouble [Yourself], for I am not sufficiently worthy to have You come under my roof; [7] Neither did I consider myself worthy to come to You. But [just] speak a word, and my servant boy will be healed. [8] For I also am a man [daily] subject to authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my bondservant, Do this, and he does it. [9] Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and He turned and said to the crowd that followed Him, I tell you, not even in [all] Israel have I found such great faith [as this]. [10] And when the messengers who had been sent returned to the house, they found the bond servant who had been ill quite well again. [11] Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a great throng accompanied Him. [12] [Just] as He drew near the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large gathering from the town was accompanying her. [13] And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, Do not weep. [14] And He went forward and touched the funeral bier, and the pallbearers stood still. And He said, Young man, I say to you, arise [from death]! [15] And the man [who was] dead sat up and began to speak. And [Jesus] gave him [back] to his mother.
There are a lot of great narratives that can be gleaned from these two stories of Jesus healing. In the first story Jesus heals a centurion’s valued bondservant, and in the second story, Jesus heals an only son who had died. There is one particular truth that I want to point out that I believe both of these stories are trying to communicate, and that is the “goodness” of God.
The centurion had shown a lot of favor the Jewish people, and when his bondservant became ill, the centurion sent some elders to Jesus, and the elders pleaded with Christ to come and heal the centurion’s bondservant because the centurion was worthy in light of all the favor he had shown to the Jews. At some point on the journey to the centurion’s home, the centurion sent some friends with a totally different message to Jesus. Obviously, the centurion had concluded that the pleading of the Jewish elders concerning his worthiness was totally wrong and that Jesus did not need to come all the way to his house for his bondservant to be healed. All Jesus needed to do was speak the word. “Just “wave your finger” as it were and my bondservant will be healed, not because of my worthiness but because of yours.” The centurion had concluded that it wasn’t hard for Jesus to heal, and Jesus did not need to be pleaded with or manipulated. No carnal sweat was necessary. The only questions were, was Jesus good, and was He able?
In the second story about the son who had died in the city of Nain. There was no faith involved at all, because we have no indication that the mother asked or believed for healing, and certainly the dead son didn’t. Jesus healed the young man because Jesus could and because Jesus was good.
We try so hard to exercise faith perfectly that we even come up with formulas for faith so that things are done a certain way and said a certain way to move Jesus to act. Jesus celebrated the great faith of the centurion once the centurion’s faith became super simple. It wasn’t about the centurion anymore. It was about Jesus. It is always about Jesus and His goodness and His faithfulness. Once we start trying to strong-arm Jesus through manipulation and perfect faith, we actually start moving away from what true faith really is, for true faith always looks away from everything other than Jesus. It is childlike trust that honors Jesus the most, for it is not about our worth, or how worthy our faith is, but it is always about His worth and how good and faithful He is.