Amazing Faith – A detailed study

Click here to read Matthew 8:5-13

"...He was amazed..." Matthew 8:10

There are many things that amaze me and when I searched through the gospels I found out that Jesus amazed people in general. I found out people in the countryside were amazed, the people in the synagogues were amazed, the disciples were amazed, the Pharisees and Sadducees were amazed, Pilate was amazed, etc. They were amazed by His teaching; they were amazed at His authority; the miracles He performed were amazing and so on and so forth.

However, when I ran a search on the things that amazed Jesus, I came across only two such occurrences:

1. He was amazed at the Centurion’s faith (Luke 7:9, Matthew 8:10)

2. He was amazed at unbelief of the people in His hometown (Mark 6:6)

It caught my attention that the two things as per my search that amazed Jesus were:

1. Faith

2. The lack of faith.

There are many incidents in the gospels where people have expressed their faith in Jesus which resulted in a miracle. Jesus even commended a woman once and said her “faith was great”, but there is only this one time where it says Jesus was “amazed” at someone’s faith. And so I decided to do a study on the faith that amazed Jesus. Before we start studying about the centurion’s faith, I’d like you to understand a statement Jesus made about faith.

The Bible says in Matthew 17:20, “…For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” I want you to carefully notice the structure of the sentence above. It DOES NOT say “…if you have faith the size of a mustard seed AND you say to this mountain…”It says “…if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you WILL say to this mountain…” So Jesus is NOT saying that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed and you couple it along with speaking to the mountain, it will move. What He is saying is that if you do have faith the size of a mustard seed, speaking to the mountain will be an impulsive reaction born out of that faith. It is like saying if you are thirsty, you will want a drink. Or, if you have some sickness in your body, you will feel uneasy. So, I want to lay a principle here before we study the “amazing” faith the centurion had: You can tell a lot about a man’s faith by his words. Hence by studying the words of the centurion, we can study his faith.

The centurion had a servant who was almost dying and he reports this to Jesus. Jesus offers to come to his house to cure the servant. If I were him, I’d be the happiest person on earth to have Jesus visit my “situation” to solve it. However, the centurion replies: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also 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 slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

Observation #1

If you read about any other miracle that occurred as a result of someone’s faith, you find that the person’s faith rested on what Jesus could do for them. Jesus says, “I’ll come and heal him” If I were to paraphrase the centurion’s reply it would be something like this: “That wouldn’t be necessary, I know who you are. I’m an officer and I get things done by telling the soldiers under me. You could do the same” His faith was not based on what Jesus could do for him, but on Who Jesus was.

Observation # 2

The centurion says, “…I am also a man set under authority…” I want you to take note of two key words in that phrase; i.e. “also” and “under” In the Indian Navy, the officer ranks are as follows, in decreasing order of authority: Admiral, Vice Admiral, Rear Admiral, Commodore, Captain, Commander, Lieutenant Commander, Lieutenant, etc. If you know who you are under, you will know who is under you. For example, if you know you are under the Rear Admiral, i.e. you are the Commodore; you will know the Captain and those below him are under you. The centurion thus acknowledges that the “situation” he is facing is “under” Jesus and hence Jesus has authority over it. His faith was based on the knowledge of the authority of Jesus.

Observation # 3

When the centurion tells one of the soldiers under him “Go”, the soldier goes. This reveals that soldier understands the language of the centurion. India is a country of many languages, and unfortunately (or fortunately) I only understand two of the many. One of the languages I do not understand is Hindi. Now if I get pulled over by a cop who speaks Hindi, I may know who he is (observation #1) and I may acknowledge his authority (observation #2) but if he gives me an instruction in Hindi, I will not comprehend it. Hence the centurion acknowledges that Jesus speaks the “language” of the “situation.” His faith was based on the fact that the “situation” can comprehend what Jesus commands it.

Observation # 4

When the centurion tells one of the soldiers, “Go” or “Come” or “Do this”, the soldier does so. This implies that the soldier is not only capable of comprehending the language of the centurion, but also capable of accomplishing the task given. For example the centurion tells a soldier “Go get that file for me”. If the soldier doesn’t have arms, can he accomplish the given task? No. The centurion says “Go over there”. If the soldier cannot walk, can he go? No. So when the centurion gives a command, he knows the soldier under him is capable of executing his orders. His faith was based on the fact that the “situation” can not only comprehend what Jesus commands it, but is also capable of executing His orders.

Observation # 5

When the centurion gives a command to a soldier below him, does he

a) Doubt the soldier will do it? NO

b) Hope the soldier will do it? NO

c) Believe the soldier will do it? NO

Then?

d) Knows the soldier will do it!:)

There’s a difference between knowing and believing. You see, I believe man has walked on the moon, but I know I haven’t. I don’t believe the fact that “I haven’t walked on the moon”. I know for a fact that “I haven’t walked on the moon” He was as confident of Jesus fixing his “situation” as giving an order to a soldier below him. His faith was based not on what he believed Jesus would do, but on what he knew Jesus would do.

Observation # 6

The centurion says “…speak the word and let my servant be healed…” It was not a request, nor was it a plea, it was a statement. It was almost a command. Was the centurion being rude? No. The centurion even addresses Jesus as Lord. He could have said, “Could you please speak the word...” or “I request you to speak the word…” When I approach a higher authority to meet a need of mine, I usually request. I do not demand. Here we see no request, no plea, no begging. If I were to paraphrase it, the centurion tells Jesus, “don’t trouble yourself by coming home, just do it!” Why is that so? The centurion compared this situation, to him commanding a soldier under him, to execute a need of the centurion and not the need of a soldier. If I approach my boss with a possible solution to my problem, I request. On the other hand, if I approach him with a possible solution to one of his problems, I don’t. In other words, the centurion is telling Jesus “this is how you can solve YOUR problem” His faith was based on the knowledge that Jesus was infinitely more responsible to solve his “situation” that he himself.

Observation # 7

The centurion says, “… if I say to my slave” The keyword here is “my”. He doesn’t say “any” slave, but he says “my” slave. He compares the situation that he is in to him commanding “his own” slave. In other words, he considered the “situation” as something Jesus had personal interest in. His faith was based on the knowledge that Jesus was infinitely more interested and willing to solve his “situation” than he himself.

• His faith was not based on what Jesus could do for him, but on the knowledge of Who Jesus was.

• His faith was based on the knowledge of the authority of Jesus.

• His faith was based on the fact that the “situation” can comprehend what Jesus commands it.

• His faith was based on the fact that the “situation” can not only comprehend what Jesus commands it, but is also capable of executing His orders.

• His faith was based not on what he believed Jesus would do, but on what he knew Jesus would do.

• His faith was based on the knowledge that Jesus was infinitely more responsible to solve his “situation” that he himself.

• His faith was based on the knowledge that Jesus was infinitely more interested and willing to solve his “situation” than he himself.

NO WONDER JESUS WAS AMAZED!!!

I plan on writing practical applications and practices to the 7 observations above. However, I will post a separate one on that as I do not wanted to lengthen this particular article further.