Authority

 

Matthew 8:5-13 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

 

Today in our church we heard another account of Jesus’ Divine power over the physical realm, performing a miraculous healing with nothing but His word, and this time at the request of an unlikely recipient – a Roman centurion (the commander of a century, a military unit consisting of 100  legionaries) that occupied Jerusalem and had authority. This centurion, obviously had heard of Jesus’ miracles and healing power. His coming to Jesus with a request (not an order) to heal his servant demonstrated that this Roman commander recognized Jesus’ divine authority that was higher than any other on earth. Similarly, in John 3:2, we hear of a Jewish leader of the Pharisees named Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night and saying to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” With the miracles, wonders and signs; evidence was there. 

 

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 55:8-9 saying,  “For My thoughts are

not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” The centurion understood that the supernatural has authority over the natural, the infinite over the finite, the Divine over the earthly and God over man. At this level, everyone realizes that they are unworthy in the presence of the Lord. He had complete and total faith that Jesus was of God and had the godly power to miraculously cure, heal and restore people, but being a Roman soldier understood the power of authority, whether over Creation or over the creature. With authority, a command must be obeyed and executed. Astonishingly, this Roman Superior translated military authority (the Right to command subjects) to Divine authority which only needs to commend in order to execute supernatural works of God. 

 

Psalm 33:6 “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” A sure belief and pure faith in God, and assurance of the absolute authority of God worked together for this centurion to request the Lord to passionately intervene in the life of His servant by merely His word to heal. The Lord stated: “I have not found such great faith” and granted the Centurion’s request.

 

May we have such faith. 

In Christ, Brian