THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever seen something amazing? What was it?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 7:2-10. 2Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death…3When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. 6When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7But say the word, and let my servant be healed…9When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.
It’s hard for me to imagine Jesus being amazed. Jesus lived in Heaven. He created the universe. He is God. So you would think that there’s not much on earth that would make Jesus marvel like verse nine says he did.
What made Jesus marvel? What made him amazed? The faith of the centurion.
Do you know what a centurion was? He was a soldier in the Roman army. Centurion means one hundred. This man was the leader over one hundred other soldiers. He was an important man. He would have been rich and powerful. In fact, he could tell Jesus what to do, boss him around, force him to do things and even arrest him. The Romans didn’t like the Jews, and Jesus was a Jew. It would have been very common for a Roman solider, like the centurion, to be mean to a Jew like Jesus. And they would never ask a Jew for help. Never. But notice how the centurion speaks to Jesus – Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.
This centurion was different from most Roman soldiers in two very important ways. He was humble and he was full of faith.
The centurion was humble when he said that he wasn’t worthy to even have Jesus come to his house. He was right. None of us is worthy to have Jesus be with us. Jesus came to live with us on earth and he comes to live in our hearts because he loves us, not because we are worthy. That’s humility, knowing that you don’t deserve to be saved, but also knowing that God loves us anyway.
Also, the centurion was full of faith. He trusted that Jesus could heal his servant even from far away – say the word, and let my servant be healed. He trusted in Jesus’ power and his kindness, and so must we. We too must believe that Jesus CAN save us from our sin and that he WANTS TO save us from our sin.
Jesus was amazed at the humble faith of the centurion, and we should be too. We should want to have this same kind of humility and faith to trust that Jesus can and will help us, not just in our sickness but in the sickness of our sin and selfishness.
Because of Jesus we can know that God wants to save us.
With Jesus we can humbly trust Jesus, no matter what.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Do a YouTube search of Amazing Parent Saves (videos of parents or dads “saving” their kids). Talk about how the kids couldn’t save themselves and how the parents love their kids enough to “rescue” them.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, like the centurion, I know you can help me and that you want to help me to trust you. Amen.
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