And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.. Matthew 8:11

RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE READING MATTHEW 8  “When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.² And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.³ And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.⁴ And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.⁵ And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,⁶ And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.⁷ And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.⁸ The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.⁹ For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.¹⁰ When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.¹¹ And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.¹² But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.¹³ And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.¹⁴ And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.¹⁵ And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.¹⁶ When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:¹⁷ That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.¹⁸ Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.¹⁹ And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.²⁰ And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.²¹ And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.²² But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.²³ And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.²⁴ And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered withthe waves: but he was asleep.²⁵ And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.²⁶ And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.²⁷ But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!²⁸ And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.²⁹ And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?³⁰ And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.³¹ So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.³² And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.³³ And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.³⁴ And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts..”                                                                                                       COMMENTS: There is a great deal of information and insights in Matthew 8 and didn’t want to exclude any so included most of chapter 8 in today’s reading.  The healing, however, I am focusing on this morning is the story of Jesus healing the Centurion’s servant.  Romans were hated by Jews because they conquered them, they were brutal and ruled harshly.  Families were forced apart, property was taken, heavy taxes were waged, and any resistance or complaints were harshly punished.

But not all Roman soldiers were tyrants and some even listened to and believed Jesus’ teaching and mission. This Centurion had earned his position likely in battle.  We don’t know what he was like before, but the compassion he showed his servant and respect for Jesus indicated he was either a believer or at least a seeker at least convinced Jesus could be trusted to do what He said.   We don’t know what this Centurion was like before he encountered Jesus, nor how he treated those he conquered.  He could have been one of the worst and dramatically changed by Jesus or a decent – fair – compassionate Roman influenced by some family member or even a devout Jew in his past.   We simply don’t know.  What we do know is that he maintained a powerful position in the Roman army as a man of integrity committed to treating servants and subjects and fellow Romans with respect and fairness.   He had gained the respect of those who knew him but was also able to do his job as a Roman soldier.  I can imagine there were times when those over him ordered him to do things his conscience would not allow him to do; if not before his encounter with Christ, certainly afterwards.  But this Centurion impressed Jesus and served as an example of what Jesus was desiring from his disciples and Jewish followers.  This example revealed the faith He was looking for in His followers.  Faith enough to not only believe Jesus could heal but faith enough to give up his opportunity to make sure that healed was accomplished before leaving Jesus.

This soldier shared he knows his orders are carried out waiting to make sure.  He was saying he believed Jesus possessed that kind of authority to know His commands would be carried out without waiting to make sure.   He was not only demonstrating faith but deep respect for Jesus’ authority and power.  For this Centurion to follow Jesus’ instruction without question also revealed the respect he had for Jesus and the position He had.  The position of being God’s Son.  That respect should have been recognized by the Jewish leaders more easily.  The Jews had all the prophecies as evidence He was who He said He was.   They had the evidence of Jesus’ deeds and character and life as evidence.  But their own powerful position and lack of personal relationship with God caused selfish ambition and lust for power and predjustice to blind their minds and spirits.   Most Romans were also blind too but not this Centurion.   He was a minority within Roman soldiers ruling the Jews and a minority among Jesus’ fellow Jews.  

But that would change after Pentecost.   Jesus’ death and resurrection would complete His work and message and mission.  The Holy Spirit would continue and expand the work Jesus had begun in evangelizing His Good News.  New followers would evangelize and win more new followers who would do likewise.   Men and women would quickly become spiritual parents and grandparents and great-grandparents spiritually.   Even teens and children would become spiritual parents and grandparents and great-grandparents to adults as they shared Christ’s Good News of redemption.   I can believe even this Roman Centurion became a believe and maybe had to leave the Roman army after that Easter Sunday or Pentecost Sunday.   Who knows, maybe he became a Paul to his people or more of the Jewish people.  One day we will know and be able to hear his story directly from him.

We love to learn the old stories of how our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents lived and influence they had and work this did and what it was like long ago.  We like to discover their legacy and how that legacy impacted us.   Some of us are able to find details of ancient ancestors with a glimpse of their lives.  Trips to cemetery and old houses they lived in and conversation with living grandparents help rediscover and piece together information on the lives of family from long ago.

But in light of God’s eternity, even 1000 years is a split second in God’s time line.  He values family and legacy family carries on to future generations.  But what about the spiritual family God has called us to build and pass on with His Great Commission given calling us to share His Good News with others.  We are called to create spiritual children by sharing His Good News of forgiveness and redemption to others.   Stop and consider our ancestors spiritually who did this and impacted another who impacted another who impacted another until the one who lead us to Christ was impacted.  WE HAVE A SPIRITUAL FAMILY AND FAMILY TREE JUST AS SIGNIFICANT AND PRECIOUS AS OUR BLOOD FAMILY TREE.   I believe a precious opportunity in heaven will be to not only meet our ancient blood family members but to meet our spiritual family and discover God’s hand and plan as it unfolded and enabled us to hear and receive.  Then to see how God used us to then touch the lives of others going forward.  We are a link in a long chain going from Adam to some future descendant.  NOT A CHAIN OF BONDAGE BUT A CHAIN OF HOPE PULLING THE LOST OUT OF THE PIT OF DESPAIR AND JUDGMENT TO A DESTINATION OF JOY AND TRUE FREEDOM.  TO HEAVEN.   AMEN?  AMEN! 

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