Such Great Faith Not Found Even in Israel (Luke 7:1-10)

“When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, ‘I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!’” (Luke 7:9)

Here we meet a Roman centurion who was dispatched to govern the town of Capernaum in Galilee when our Lord Jesus Christ was ministering His messianic work on the earth in the first century. The centurion was a pagan and yet he honored the Jewish people and maintained peaceable order and even built a synagogue for the Jews. When he paid his respect for the subordinate people he received back in the same manner. What our Lord Jesus says is universally true in the first century and throughout the centuries after centuries.

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38)

We shall not miss to note that this kind of thing had happened in the midst of possibly very tense circumstance in between completely different race and ranks. Traditionally the Roman Regiment was known as infamously and notoriously tough, hard-hearted, and cruel beings. This idea was completely out of picture here. The centurion was kind and generous, treating the people respectfully and truthfully.

Our daily newspapers are full of reports on murders, rapes, terrors, hurts, wounds, struggles, fights, cheatings, scandals, pollutions, and so on. It’s happening everywhere around the world including the civilized and law-abiding cities in America. This is even a cry of the children of light. At times we wonder where our God is, the God of order and justice. It is not difficult to see injustice stubbornly rampant rather than justice prevailing in our midst.

The Scripture asserts that our God does not slumber nor sleep. “He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121:3-4) Our God is watchful and considerate what is going on in heaven and on earth and thus not even a single event or incident will be out of His sight. The episode of centurion in Capernaum shows that our God does not slumber nor sleep.

On behalf of his servant who was ill, the centurion asked his Jewish friends to tell Jesus for healing. On behalf of the centurion, the elders of town willingly and earnestly pleaded Jesus to come over to his house and to heal the servant. It is very unusual for the Jews to dare to ask Jesus, a Jew to visit to a Gentile household because no Jew was allowed to pass the threshold of the Gentile house. Jesus went with them without asking any questions.

It wasn’t far to the centurion’s house. On the way, the centurion sent the message through the friends, saying “Lord, don’t 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.” (Luke 7:6b-7)

It is shown of the man’s tremendous reverence and respect for Jesus. First of all, he didn’t even come forward by himself to Jesus because he considered himself unworthy to come to Him. Hearing the news that Jesus was on the way, he realized that he would be making Jesus violated the traditions of Jews. So, he stopped Jesus not to come over but just to say the word because he thought he did not deserve to have Jesus come under his roof.

Most of all, this marveled our Lord Jesus and said, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” Jesus did not say, “I have found such a great man of faith.” Jesus said he found such great faith, not even in Israel. Firstly, we learn that Jesus sees faith not man. Our Lord wasn’t impressed by the fact that the centurion loved the nation and built a synagogue for them. But our Lord was amazed at the faith of him regardless of the race. Here is the account how the man came to conclude that Jesus did not have to come over but just said the word to heal the sick servant.

“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.” (Luke 7:8)

This is the ground of faith that our Lord Jesus was amazed. His faith did not rely on the physical presence of the Lord but on the word of Jesus. He believed in the authority and power of the word of Jesus beyond the proximity. He was a disciplined and trained solider, frequently receiving and issuing orders from the seniors to the juniors. He learned and understood the power of the word of mouth from the routine activities in life.

He applied the principle to the word of Jesus in which he found the highest superiority above all else. His faith in Jesus Christ the Lord reminds of that of Rahab the prostitute in Jericho who feared God in heaven above and on the earth below more than anything else and dared to risk her life to protect two Israeli spies and under her roof.

“When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” (Joshua 2:11)

Jesus said He had not found such great faith, not even Israel because it is the model faith for anyone to come to the Father, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile. The centurion would be called “Abraham” in the New Testament because his faith was rooted in the word of God.

The result of such great faith was answered by the Father. “Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.” (Luke 7:10)