Jesus attracted people like flies on a Bedouin camel. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised after all that I had seen and heard. But there was no way I was ready for the daily barrage of humanity that found its way to the Master everywhere he went. People alone, people with friends; poor people and rich people; hurting people, religious people, important people, scorned people; children, and the elderly – they kept coming and coming. I don’t know how he did it. I don’t know how he always seemed to be ready to do what needed to be done or to say what needed to be said – but he did. I don’t know how he always found room to care. Now don’t get me wrong those same people wore him out and even frustrated him at times. I saw him angry on more than one occasion and there were days he led us in the opposite direction (away from the people) - but he always cared. And the thing was, somehow, he knew each one of them. They came from a hundred different places, each with their own story, their perspective, and their expectation of Jesus and he spoke to them as if he read their minds and knew their hearts – it was incredible to watch.
But I do remember the day that he was, well, he was surprised. No, I would go so far as to say he was astonished and from my experience – that just didn’t happen very often. It was all about a Centurion, of all people, who I never saw and about his servant who, come to think of it, I never saw either. This makes this story a bit unusual because if I remember right, Jesus never saw them either even though he healed the man’s servant who was about to die. I’d better start from the beginning…
We were in Capernaum on a beautiful day and we were heading to the sea but because of this particular ‘barrage of humanity’ we were going nowhere fast. I was impatient, the crowd was getting on my nerves and I was about ready to go find some shade when I noticed the masses around Jesus part like Moses, himself, had waved his staff. This got my attention, you see because the crowd around Jesus only parted for two reasons. One was when someone unclean was beating a path to his feet and the other was when someone important was about to make his presence known. On this day it was the latter as two elders from the synagogue made their way through the throng. Despite my aversion to crowds, I found myself moving a little closer to get within earshot. My experience was that when elders or Pharisees, or the like, arrived – things were about to get interesting.
The elders got to the point right away. They were there on behalf of their friend who just happened to be a Centurion. Yeah, I wasn’t sure I was buying that either but I couldn’t help but want to hear more. This Centurion was good to the Jews, built the local synagogue, and was a man worth helping. But actually, the help was needed for his servant who was deathly ill.
It didn’t surprise me at all that Jesus agreed to go with these men to see the servant - it’s what he did. What surprised me took place on the way. Word went back to the Centurion because when we were not far from his home another entourage came out to greet us and to deliver this message from the man. “I don’t deserve you to come to my home - which is why I didn’t come to see you myself”. “Just say the word and my servant will be healed.” And right after these startling words came the explanation. “I, myself, am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I know what it means to tell someone what to do and to expect them to do it”.
I gotta tell you, it took a while for that to sink in for me. Authority? Do this, do that. Come, go?… But before this even began to make sense Jesus was saying something extraordinary. He turned to the crowd (I swear he was looking right at me) and said, ‘I have found no greater faith in all of Israel than this’. And with one fell swoop a Centurion, of all people, laid claim on the ‘best faith ever’ award. Wow! No wonder Jesus was shaking his head in wonder.
Looking back over the years spent with Jesus, I realized that faith was the most important lesson that He was to teach. I learned that faith comes in all sorts of sizes and shapes. It’s an automatic reaction with some and with others, it comes after months of lessons pounded into the head. It comes in the form of a simple gesture and it comes as the result of a whole perspective change. But faith that is called great - even ‘greater than anything else’ is the understanding that when Jesus controls something, it will do what he says, when he says it. That ‘control’ speaks to his power and his knowledge, but it also speaks to his love and his grace. It doesn’t require my expectations to be met or a set of procedures that need to be followed. But it does require movement, action, or response. And for the faithful Centurion, the response which would turn authority into action was simple... “Just say the word…”
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