The Power of Hearing

Luke 7 The Faith of the Centurion (NIV)

‘1 When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." 6So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For 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."
9 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 in Israel." 10Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.’

The above quoted familiar scripture portion is a rich mine full of gold nuggets. It is often used to emphasis the power of faith. However, a careful reading of the text helps us to discern
1. The power of hearing
2. The power of being under authority
3. The power of the spoken word and
4. The power of faith

Each one of them is of great importance though I would like to examine now the first point – the power of hearing.

The power of hearing In the above quoted scripture, let us consider verse 3a “The centurion heard of Jesus”. Obviously most people in Israel had heard of Jesus at one time or the other. Many reacted scoffingly while others responded with eagerness and faith.

This centurion was a roman soldier and a little background information makes it easy for us to understand better, who he was. 2000 years back, Israel as a nation was under the rule of the great Roman Empire. The Romans were known for their high organizational skills and boasted of a highly organized army. The Roman army consisted of a number of legions commanded by legionnaires. A legion consisted of 6000 soldiers. Under every legionnaire, there were 60 captains and under every captain, there were six centurions. Every centurion had 100 soldiers directly reporting to him.

This particular heathen centurion was favorably inclined towards the Jewish nation and for some unrecorded reason had even built them a synagogue.
(It is of particular interest to note here that the Jews are Jehovah’s special chosen people through whom he had vowed to bring redemption to all mankind. God had also promised to bless those who bless His people the Jews and to curse those who curse them. Here we see a member of the oppressor (Roman Empire) showing unmerited favor to the Jews and receiving great blessing directly from the hand of God. In Matthew 15:22 A Canaanite (heathen) woman seeks a miracle for her daughter and Jesus enters into an argument with her as to why he should give children’s bread to dogs. Here the woman’s unusual faith determines her fate. However, in the case of the centurion Jesus enters into no such dialogs. Though outside the old covenant, the centurion was still entitled to receive from Jesus because he had shown favor to God’s chosen people. Let us be reminded of Jesus words “Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward.- Matthew 10.41 The ‘righteous’ are all believers washed in the blood of Jesus. So let us be eager to do good not only to the under-privileged but also to the people of God who have set apart their lives to serve in God’s vineyard.)

During a period of time when neither slaves nor servants were of much value, here is a centurion who valued a servant so much that he was willing to seek favor from the Jews! (Romans considered themselves superior to Jews as the stronger and technologically forward nation. They also sort of despised what they considered as obsession of the Jews with their God. The Jews on the other hand considered themselves as the chosen people of God and expected the arrival of Messiah who would topple the cruel roman empire and rule the earth from Jerusalem. At the other end of the spectrum were the intellectual and sophisticated Greeks who were the most superstitious of the three.)

To return to our study, this particular centurion ‘had heard of Jesus’. He heard of the miracles performed by this strange Jewish rabbi. It was said that he could heal any diseases and raise dead people. He had heard that even nature (wind and the storm) obeyed Jesus’ commands. He did not just hear of such happenings as some interesting news but he gave his full attention to it. He considered the evidence and came to a then unpopular conclusion about what he heard. Unlike most other Romans and a good number of Jewish religious leaders, this centurion came to believe that Jesus was a person of high authority. In his experience, when people with authority spoke those under them obeyed. Here this Jesus evidently had authority over sickness, demons, death and nature. So despite being a Jew (a citizen of the conquered nation) Jesus proved He had more authority than even the centurion’s superiors. Obedience was something the centurion was quite familiar with. He was a man under authority (verse 8) and so implicitly obeyed his superiors’ orders. He also had men under him and they obeyed every word of his.

Therefore, when the centurion’s favorite servant was at his deathbed he pressed in his influential Jewish acquaintances to persuade Jesus to work a miracle on his behalf. Asking a Jewish rabbi to enter a heathen household was high presumption. Jews became ceremonially unclean by entering non-Jewish houses or even by close association. (E.g. The Samaritan woman at the well) This was more true in the cases of Teachers or Rabbis. Hence the Jewish elders ‘pleaded earnestly with [Jesus]’ vs 4. They put Jesus ‘into remembrance’ Isa 43.26 considering the centurion’s works for Israel. However long before Jesus and His entourage reached the centurion’s house he sends some of his friends to meet Jesus. Having realized that Jesus whom he recognized as a person of great authority (even his emperor who was considered, as a god by Romans did not have the same authority as Jesus had over the non-physical realm) was approaching his house in answer to his demand made through the Jewish elders he is smitten by remorse. He becomes deeply aware of his unworthiness to welcome one such as Jesus into his house. Therefore, he entreats Jesus not to trouble himself by coming to his house. However, he makes one of the most powerful statements of faith about Jesus. vs 7b ‘But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For 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." In short, the centurion was saying that ‘Jesus, your physical presence is not necessary. Just your word of command is sufficient. I know and believe that you are so great in authority that your mere word is sufficient to heal my servant and return him from death.’

Jesus recognizes the depth of faith this centurion is exercising and exclaims ‘I have not found such great faith even in Israel’. Jesus is always in search of faith. He can operate only where there is faith. Jesus performed all his healing miracles based on the faith of the people. The Old Testament and the New Testament speaks of God looking for faith. Jesus even made a statement to the effect ‘when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" Luke 18.8 The faith of the centurion was even greater than the faith Jesus had seen among His people, the Jews.

To recap, the centurion heard about Jesus and understood the significance of what he heard and he acted on what he understood. God who is debtor to none healed the servant of the heathen centurion. The only other incident of non-Jewish healing recorded in the NT before Jesus’ resurrection was the healing of the daughter of the Canaanite woman. The woman’s unusual faith was the catalyst to this miracle.

The messiah was send to the nation of Israel. But people like this centurion and the Canaanite woman exercised great ability to discern the Truth of Jesus and thru force of faith availed the children’s bread for themselves. The key that unlocks the kingdom of God is faith and ‘faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.’ Romans 10.17 Therefore let us be always eager to hear the word of God. We can hear it through our personal reading and studying, as well as through other sources. May God open our inner ears to understand the depth of His love for us.