Amy C Walters

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant | Luke 7:1-10

In Luke 7, a Roman Centurion sends several groups of people to ask Jesus to heal his servant. This Centurion could have demanded that Jesus come, could have insisted on his rights as a military commander. Instead, he humbly asks for help. This story shows us that amazing faith does not insist on one’s rights.

At first glance, this story seems a little bit complicated. There’s all kinds of characters in it, several groups of people. There’s this thing that the Centurion says towards the end about sending people here, and people coming, and people doing what he says. But I think as we dive in, we’re gonna realize that there’s one central lesson that really shines brightly: what an amazing faith looks like.

Our story starts off with, “When Jesus had finished saying this.” This refers to Jesus’ teaching at the end of Luke 6, the Sermon on the Mount. There’s a group of people following him, listening to him. And then we’re told that there in Capernaum was a Centurion who had a highly valuable servant who was sick and on the point of death.

A Centurion was a Roman soldier who was in charge of a large group of other soldiers, a group called a century. Sometimes it’s 100, sometimes it’s 80 people. This man was a Gentile and was part of the occupying army ruling over Israel. 

As we know from our previous stories and studies, Roman soldiers weren’t particularly liked by the Jewish people. For one thing, they were known to extort money from people. They also enforced Roman law on the Jewish people who wanted their own rule and law. And yet this particular Centurion seems to have a very different kind of reputation and relationship with the Jewish people there in Capernaum. 

This Centurion has this servant who is dying, and he values him very much.So when the Centurion hears about Jesus and about the possibility that Jesus could maybe heal this servant, he sends some people to ask for Jesus to come and help. 

Now, as a Centurion, he’s got a number of soldiers under his authority that he could command to go and get Jesus. In fact, that’s part of what the Centurion says later on in this story, where he calls himself a man under authority, and he has soldiers under him. “I say to this one, go, and he goes, and that one come, and he comes.” So the Centurion could have sent his soldiers to get Jesus and demand that Jesus come back with him. But he doesn’t. 

The Centurion also could have sent servants. We know that he has this one particular servant who is sick, and because of his high rank in the army, he most likely has other servants as well. He says that he can say to his servant, do this, and he does it. But the Centurion does not send servants to insist that Jesus come and serve him. 

Instead, he sends the elders of the Jews to Jesus. This is the first instance in Luke where a Gentile is asking Jesus for help. All of the help that Jesus has provided so far has been to the Jewish people. But here, we have a Gentile.

What does it say about the Centurion that the elders of the Jews are willing to help him? I think it shows us that this man has a very unique and special character, that the Jewish elders are willing to help him. He doesn’t have to insist on their help. He doesn’t have to demand it. They help him willingly.

When the Jewish elders find Jesus, they plead earnestly with him on the Centurion’s behalf. They say, “This man deserves to have you do this because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” They point to the things that the Centurion has done to help them, his good works.

Jesus goes with them. And when he is not far from the house, there’s another group of people that come out to meet him. So we’ve got Jesus and the crowd that’s following him and is probably also eager to see another miracle. You have the Jewish elders that have come on behalf of the Centurion to ask for Jesus’ help. And now you have a group of friends of the Centurions who have come. 

So again, not soldiers to insist that Jesus come, not servants to demand that Jesus come serve, but friends. People who willingly help the Centurion and his servant. And these friends say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself.” They say, on behalf of the Centurion, “Don’t even come into the house, just say the word and it will happen.” 

When Jesus hears the message of the Centurion through these friends, he’s amazed. “And turning to those who were following him, he says, ‘I tell you, I have not seen such faith even in Israel.’” Jesus is amazed at the Centurion’s faith. 

We’re going to look at different aspects of that amazing faith in these next three posts. But in this first one, I want to focus on the key truth that amazing faith does not insist on one’s rights. 

The Centurion had rights based on his position and his power. He could have sent soldiers to compel Jesus to come with him. He could have sent servants to bring Jesus, implying that Jesus was also there to serve him. Instead, the Centurion chose not to use his power and his position for his own benefit. 

As an American, I’m told that I have certain rights and privileges. I am grateful for those rights, and I know that many people fought hard so that I can have them. But if I’m honest, a lot of the things that I think of as rights are really petty things, like when it’s my turn at the stop sign, or my turn in line at the store. 

I still remember a dumb incident at UPS not long ago. I was in line and somebody else cut in line in front of me. I was so frustrated. It was my turn. I was standing there waiting longer than this guy, and now I had to wait even longer because of his rudeness.

And you know what? The next time I went into the store, I thought of that same thing. I was still carrying it with me because that was a right that I wanted to insist on.

So often, it’s those really petty things that we get hung up on that we need to learn to let go of. And the dangerous thing with rights is that they can easily start to bleed over into my relationship with God. “God, you owe me. I’ve done so much for you. So this is something that you should do for me.”

“God, I’m a pastor’s wife, so you should do this for me. I should get what I want here.” 

“God, it’s not fair what that other person did, so it’s okay that I responded to them in that ungracious way.” 

This is why the Centurion’s example is so powerful, because he shows us how to let go of our rights. And the amazing thing is Jesus still takes care of him. 

The Centurion approaches Jesus by asking for help instead of insisting on it. And Jesus does help him. 

Now, I need to tread lightly here, because there are people that we encounter whose serious fundamental rights are trampled on regularly. There are serious situations of injustice in this world. And that is not a situation where we tell them to let go of their rights. Because God does care about justice, and it is important for us to fight against injustice. But this story is not a situation where injustice is involved. This is a situation of whether or not to use power and position to one’s own benefit. 

The mission organization that I used to work for had its short-term missionaries sign a release of rights before their trip. This was not a liability thing. This was something to help them think through what their expectations were, what the things they were used to having were, and to think about how they may not have those things on this trip. There were things like “I release my right to have a shower every day. I released my right to have running hot water. I released my right to eating food that I’m familiar with, my right to my schedule or a comfortable bed or doing things my way.” 

These are things that we may not consciously think of as rights, and yet they are the things that we get hung up on when we don’t get them. They’re the things that we insist on that sometimes we need to let go of. So the release helped the short-term missionaries think of those things and go prepared to serve instead of being served.