Leading a Rebellion: The Centurion

Leading a Rebellion: The Centurion

Rebel:

-A rebel is a person who resists any authority, control, or tradition.

The Story So Far: Jesus had entered the city of Capernaum, a coastal city on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum’s name literally means “Nahum’s Village,” and was near the home of the apostle Peter. Jesus was ministering in this city when a centurion approached him. A centurion was a professional officer in the Roman army. Centurions were named after the number of men they were in charge of. They were traditionally in charge of 100 people, but in reality most centurions were in charge of 70-80 people. A roman legion consisted of about 6,000 fighting men. Each legion had 60 centurions in charge of their separate groups all working towards the same goal. Just like in today’s military, chain of command was extremely important. If a centurion could not control his 100 men it could not only cost them their lives, but also the lives of the rest of the legion. It also could thwart the entire initiative of the legion’s attempt.

            Before we leave the topic of legions, there are two other mentions of the roman legion in scripture that I want to talk about. When Jesus healed the demon possessed man, He asked him, “What is your name?” and the demons responded, “I am Legion, for we are many.” The man was possessed by upwards of 6,000 demons. Another time when Jesus was going through His passion week, He said, “Do you think that I could not call down a legion of angels to be by my side?” Six thousand angels would be a drop in the bucket to help Jesus.

The Rebellion: Matthew 8:5-13, “When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, ⁶ “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” ⁷ And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. ¹¹ I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, ¹² while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³ And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.”

            There was a time in American football history where there was more than one professional league. There wasn’t just the NFL. In the 60’s they combined two of the leagues, the NFL and the far inferior AFL. Joe Namath, a graduate of the University of Alabama shocked the world when he chose to go play in the AFL instead of the NFL. A lot of cash helped him make that decision. When they combined the leagues, the AFL became the AFC, and the NFL became the NFC, both being a part of the NFL. The best team from the AFC played the best team in the NFC in the Super Bowl. Joe Namath is a Hall of Fame quarterback, known for several things, but mostly known for his prediction that his Jets would beat Johnny Unitas’ much more talented Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. This was considered the most ridiculous thing any cocky kid had ever said, because the Colts were considered the best football team in history. He also made headlines when he donned a full length, white fur coat on the sideline of football games. He was cocky, he was brash, but he was also right. The Jets went on and beat the Colts 17-6.

            The centurion man approached Jesus and humbly said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.” But then he goes on to say something that seems to be very cocky, “but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

            You know the song “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe. The guy is singing about a future encounter with God. He doesn’t know if he will dance or drop to his knees; if he will sing, or fall completely silent. Here we have this man who meets Jesus, who created the entire universe, he is humbled by Jesus, but then he began identifying his authority over his men with Jesus’ authority over all of creation. At first glance that seems awfully cocky, but after you study it more, he recognized Jesus’s authority over him, was willing to submit to Him, and carry out His orders—specifically the order to have his servant heal, he had hoped.

            What did Jesus do when He heard this? He marveled. Every time there was an example of faith taking place, Jesus pointed it out. Every time there was a lack of faith, Jesus rebuked it. So where was the faith? Everybody wanted Jesus to do something for them. Jesus had to touch them, pray over them, or even one woman thought that if she could just touch the hem of His garment she would be healed. It always had to be Jesus doing the healing. This centurion recognized Jesus as the healer, but had faith that all Jesus had to do was say the word and the centurion himself would be able to deliver the healing. Jesus was so impressed and said, “That He had not seen anyone else who had such great faith, not even in Israel among the Jews.”          

So Where is the Rebellion: The centurion was a Roman citizen in a Gentile culture. He was probably raised to worship Caesar and the other roman gods. His superiors most definitely worshiped Caesar and other roman gods. It’s usually considered a good career move to do the things your superiors are doing. The very fact that he recognized Jesus’ power and authority and sought him out, was an act of rebellion. When he did decide to seek after Jesus for help, the centurion was bold, took initiative, and didn’t just wait around for Jesus to show up. Thirdly, he was seeking out a cure for the wellbeing of his faithful servant, not something directly for himself. We don’t often find that. Many times people are only looking out for their own best interest. Honestly, I probably would have said, “Can you heal my servant? And I’ve got two cavities way back in the back. Can you do something about those?” The centurion then took his selflessness a step further and said, “I know you’re a busy man, so just say the word and I’ll go and do it.” It was this faith that stood him apart from not only all of the other Gentiles, but all of the other Jews as well. And doing something differently than everybody else made him a rebel.