"Just Say the Word" 

by Pastor Rich Carlson

"I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith" Matthew 8:10 (NIV).

It’s not a long walk from the "Sermon on the Mount" hill on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee to the city of Capernaum on the north shore (I walked it, I know). As Jesus approached the city, the needs of the city approached Him. Matthew says it was the centurion himself, Luke says it was his friends that came with their request to help a poor sick servant. The friend said he "deserved" the help because the Roman guard loved the Jews and had helped them build their synagogue; but the guard just expressed his need, according to Matthew. And when Jesus said he would come and heal his servant, the centurion objected because he felt unworthy to even have the Master enter his home. "Just say the word, and my servant will be healed" (Matt. 8:8).

I like the attitude of the centurion more than that of his friends! I have a hard time imagining ever going to God and saying, "Do this for me because I deserve it!"

You don’t have to come to my house to heal my servant. Just speak the word and he will be healed. I know. "For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me" (verse 9). That was the clincher for me in this passage because in response to this statement Jesus says, "I have never found such great faith." A centurion was a Roman soldier in charge of 100 soldiers. From Rome, via whoever was over centurions (maybe Millenions? Okay, bad joke!), he received his marching orders and was expected to carry them out. He in turn knew that when he passed on orders to the soldiers under him that his word was all it took for the task to be completed. That’s how the system worked and when everyone understood and cooperated then everything went fine.

It was in response to this system that Jesus said, "I have never found such great faith." And consistent with the system Jesus just "spoke the word" and the servant was healed! So apparently "faith," at least "great faith" as Jesus defined what the centurion possessed, and the system have some correlation.

Here’s my take on it this morning. It appears that the centurion understood the power of authority and the relationship of faith in that authority enough to act on that faith. His was not a passive faith or a theoretical trust; it was an active commitment to not only the Man/God Jesus but also to His authority and power. He didn’t just believe that Jesus could do it; he understood from his own experience that a man with the authority of Jesus could accomplish anything by just "saying the word" because the "soldiers" under Him were the hosts of heavenly angels and the Father God Himself was the omnipotent divine "Caesar!"

Faith equals believing, believing equals trusting, and trusting equals acting on all three of the aforementioned synonyms because I have come through experience to believe that God’s word has the authority it says it does. So if I don’t think I have faith, or enough faith, then the solution to that problem appears to be establishing a confidence in what God says in His word and living my life as if I really do believe what it says.

Jesus said He had never seen such faith because the centurion understood authority and acted in faith on his understanding.

Rich Carlson is campus chaplain at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. “God Is Faithful” is adapted from the email devotionals he writes regularly for the Union College family. Rich enjoys filling his life with God, his family, and especially his five grandchildren.