A MAN UNDER AUTHORITY

#807                                                           A MAN UNDER AUTHORITY                                                                                  

Luke 7:1-10 NIV                                                                                                                                                     Orig. 11-9-83

                                                                                                                                                                                Rewr. 10-17-90 

Passage:  When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.  There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die.  The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.  When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”  So Jesus went with them.  He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.  That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.  But say the word, and my servant will be healed.  For 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.  When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even Israel.”  Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Purpose: Continuing a Sunday evening series on New Testament characters, here explaining significant characteristics of this unusual man.

Keywords:          Centurion            Man                      Worth                  Christ                    Healer

Timeline/Series:               Sequential/New Testament characters

Introduction

                Public generosity is not a new twist.  It has been around as long as man has tried to live in community.  And, through all of those years, there have been some who gave to get.  Their expression, taken by some to be community concern, was, in fact, nothing more than an advanced payment on expected gratuities.

                It happens every day.  A Louisiana pastor had a wealthy church member come to him.  He needed the pastor to intercede in the church financial records and give a business associate credit for money he claimed on tax records to have given to the church, but in fact, had not done so.

                It happens in small towns and large. It involves payoffs, scams, double-dealing, fraud, etc.  It happens at the university level, and to him who is not smart enough to know that he is being had.

                But the centurion who cared about the religious welfare of the people around him, and built them a synagogue, also had a heart of compassion.  He could certainly stop traffic with his benevolence.  He could also show deep personal feeling for an individual, and go all out to help him.  It is wonderful, indeed, to see public generosity sustained by domestic kindness.

                The centurion, A Man under Authority, also described in Matthew 8:5f, is the object of our search this evening.  We will look at his compassion, complaisance, compromise, composure, and complexity.

I.             First We Look at Compassion.  V2 “And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die.”  Before anything else, we are shown his caring concern for his servant.  Remember, he was Roman.  He was also a high-ranking military officer. Barclay p. 82 calls him “backbone of the Roman army.”  Such men were held in contempt.  Interestingly, those mentioned in the New Testament are spoken of well.

                Lk 23:47. “The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, ‘Surely this was a righteous man.’”

                Acts 10:22.  “The men replied, ‘We have come from Cornelius the centurion.  He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people.’ A holy angel told him to have you [Peter] come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.”

                Acts 22:26.  “When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. ‘What are you going to do?’ he asked. ‘This man [Paul] is a Roman citizen.’”

                Acts 23:17, 24.  “Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, ‘Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him. . . .[The commander said] provide mounts for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix.’”

                The man for whom he shows such concern was a slave (doulos)—a thing possessed.  Usually, they were treated thusly.  Little can be known about the servant.  Was he a Jew?  We do not know.  Was the servant a man of faith? It is not described.  He is said to be “ready to die,” meaning he is at the point of death.  What takes place can be perceived only as physical healing.  The miracle takes place apart from the actual presence of Jesus.

II.            We Come Next to His Complaisance.  V4f The centurion “was worthy . . . for he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.”  The Roman presence expected such complaisance within certain limits.  They were to work with the people as much as possible.  Though they were a military, security presence, they could work in behalf of such local authority.  The Herodians were a party of Rome; the Sadducees were wealthy, intent on salvaging their wealth.  Gibbon, in The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, wrote: “The various modes of religion which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosophers as equally false; by the magistrates as equally useful.” 

                This man gives evidence of a contrite heart toward the religion of his subordinates.  He was probably a much-traveled man. He knew Greek history and the language, and may have served in Egypt and elsewhere.  He likewise shows deep humility in relation to Jesus.  The controversy was not unknown to him. Five times in the last quarter of Acts, it is a centurion who is at the forefront of the controversy around the faith.  It takes a man of real substance to humble himself around subordinates. Augustine said that while [the centurion] counted himself unworthy that Christ should enter his doors, he was counted worthy that Christ should enter his heart  (Lockyer p. 178.)

III.           Then Note a Man Compromised.  V7: “Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: . . .  I also am a man set under authority.”  He knows what it is to command, and to be commanded.  He knows the limits of command, and how often he would have commanded this illness, but it would not.  Being a Roman, it is his right to command these Jews to heed his request.  The word for “sent” is apostelien—to send on mission (willingness).  Jesus to many was only a Jew.  He sends to Jesus “beseeching.”  Different words make such requests: aiteo—a petition from a subordinate; erotao—a petition from/to equals; parakaleo—in Matthew 8:5, to ‘beseech,’ to ask for help. Erotao is the word always used by Jesus in expressions to the Father.

                Not only does he see Jesus as his equal, but of even greater worth than he.

IV.          From the Man Compromised We See a Man Composed.  V9 “I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel.”  His constraint of Jesus is a last hope.  Does he expect Jesus to comply?  An observer reports the transaction to him: I think so.  Remembering the Jewish aversion to entering gentile homes, he sends word. “Say in a word, and my servant will be healed.”  He does not withdraw the request, only the need to come in person. 

In humbling himself, we see the true heart of an upright man.  He asks for no sign. He attributes all power to an absent Christ.  Matthew 8:13 adds “as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.”  Both record his return to wholeness.

V.            A Final View is Gained When We See Him as the Cumulative Man.  V9 “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”  That statement may sound familiar.  Luke 4/Matthew 15 tell us of the Syrophoenician woman. Like this man, also a gentile.  Like him, petitioning for another.  As he does, he believes unerringly that Jesus can meet this need.  It is shown to be a great faith (Laidlaw/Lockyer, p 179): Great coming from a man outside the covenant; great ascribing all/total power to Christ; great making no superfluous request; great in its self-forgetting benevolence.  One other thought is brought to mind:  Here is a non-Jew treated as an equal.  Here is the first opportunity for the gospel to touch gentiles.  Remembering the struggle in the early church, this is an example.  Recognizing that we still have problems with this, he opens the door.

Conclusion

                A medical journal quoted by the Nashville Banner on June 5, 1986, tells of a year old baby falling in a swimming pool.  The mother got her out, not breathing, and dialed emergency. Informed of a strike, she started screaming. A neighbor, who lost both legs in Viet Nam, rolled 80 yards in a wheelchair, crawled up 60 feet and five steps to the pool, and administered CPR.  The baby revived.  “It was God’s hand that saved the baby, not me.”  How long has it been since we were instruments working for the good of someone else?