Chapter 7, which is on page 863.
And really what I want us to see is the surprise in the chapter.
I wonder if they've ever been surprised coming to church.
! I was talking to a man this week who said that he, I was working in the city in London.
He was a Hindu, a practicing Hindu.
He saw a crowd of people going into church.
He went into church about lunchtime.
He was there for 20 minutes.
He heard somebody preach about the Lord Jesus Christ.
He walked in a Hindu.
And to his own surprise, and certainly his family's surprise,
he walked out a Christian and a believer and a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are times there, even when you've read the Bible as long as I have,
you are greatly surprised.
Maybe there's a surprising claim or something in the Bible
that you stop and you see the surprise of it.
So in Luke's Gospel, it's also familiar, isn't it?
At Christmas time with the nativity scene, you have the shepherds.
But it is surprising, isn't it?
That the lowly, uneducated, poor, irreligious shepherds,
they are the ones that are chosen to be the kind of first tellers of God made man, the incarnation.
It's surprising, isn't it?
At the beginning of Jesus' mind, he isn't worshipped by the scripture-saturated, church-flowing scribes.
The people who know their Bible.
Or any of the expected Jews in Jerusalem.
But instead, he's worshipped by Gentile Magi.
Milton called them star-led wizards.
Who came from hundreds of miles to see him.
Both of those things are surprising.
They're not what you'd expect.
And as you stop and think about them, they are wonderfully surprising.
And they make you love the Bible more.
They make you love the God of the Bible more.
So that's the first place we see surprise.
This kind of stop shock.
But the second one I want to talk about is, well really, let's see the surprise in the passage.
It's a familiar story, it looks like.
The centurion, this man in charge of a hundred soldiers.
And I want to show you what is so thrilling about it.
If you can look at verse 9.
First line is the little letters.
The chapters are the big numbers.
So verse 9, when Jesus heard these things, on page 863, he marveled at him.
He marveled at him.
He was amazed.
To put it another way, Jesus was taken aback.
Jesus was filled with astonishment.
Jesus was shocked.
Or even quite simply, Jesus was surprised.
That's what it means.
By what he just heard.
Now what surprises Jesus?
Have you thought about that?
What surprises Jesus?
It's one of the only places in the Gospels where Jesus is taken aback.
Where he is surprised by what happens.
And the answer is faith.
Faith like this faith surprises him.
But in verse 9 again.
He marveled at him.
Turned to the crowd that followed him.
He said, I tell you, not even Israel have I found such faith.
Now let me ask you another question.
What's so amazing?
What is so astonishing?
What is so surprising to Jesus about this man's faith?
Well, there's a few things that could be surprising.
First of all, was it that he was a Roman soldier?
To put it differently.
This man is a Gentile.
He's somebody who's not a Jew.
And worse than that, from a Jewish perspective, he's a Roman.
Much worse, from a Jewish zealous perspective, he's a Roman centurion.
He symbolises all of Rome's authority.
He has a hundred soldiers in his charge.
And this man in the ancient world is a powerful man.
He's wearing the wrong uniform for the Jews.
He's on the wrong eye of the religious schemeer.
He was a Roman enemy officer.
And is that what surprises Jesus?
That a man like this has faith?
Well, perhaps.
But actually, I'm not sure about that.
I'm not sure Jesus was surprised that this Gentile had faith.
He'd already encountered Gentiles, non-Jews, who'd believed in him.
So he mentioned to me the Magi.
Those wizards that had come from hundreds of miles away to worship him.
Surely somebody would have told him that story when he was a boy.
I said, perhaps.
Because it wouldn't have surprised him that Gentiles, people who were non-Jews, had come to faith.
Because in his Bible, in the Old Testament, it's spoken about that all the time.
Hosea said, those who are not my people, I will call my people.
Those who are not my beloved, I will call beloved.
Isaiah, of course, he had his voice.
God spoke through Isaiah and said that Gentiles would bind themselves to the Lord.
And they would serve him and they would love him.
They would love the name of the Lord.
Isaiah spoke that God's house would be a house of prayer for all the nations.
Do you remember Simeon?
When Jesus was a little boy at the temple.
He said, now let your servant depart in peace according to your word.
For my eyes have seen your salvation.
My eyes have seen your salvation.
You've prepared in the sight of all the peoples.
A light of revelation to the Gentiles.
And glory to your people Israel.
In Jesus, non-Jews like you and me would find their salvation, their rescue.
And I think Jesus knew that.
So I don't think he was any more surprised that this centurion has come to faith.
Than the centurion we found in Acts chapter 10, certainly.
Because the Holy Spirit was opening the eyes of the Gentiles.
Even mighty military men.
Okay then, what surprised Jesus?
Was it that this Roman soldier worked with the Jews to ask for Jesus for help?
Or perhaps?
Possibly isn't it?
It's surprising to me.
At least when I read verses 3 to 5.
The centurion adhered with Jesus.
And so he sent some of the elders of the Jews to him.
To ask Jesus to come and help his servants.
And when they come to Jesus, they plead earnestly with him.
They say, this man, this centurion, deserves you to have you do this.
Because this man loves our nation.
He's Roman, yes.
But he loves our nation.
And he helped us build the synagogue.
Now as you read the Gospels, you find that the Jews and the Romans working together
was unheard of for something good.
For something in favour of Jesus.
So as we read that, it should take us a back.
Are you telling me that the Roman centurion, that he called on the Jews,
those prominent social and religious leaders,
to see if they would go and see Jesus?
And see if he would come back and be his servant?
Are they friends?
So if you can go through the Gospels and all that,
they're not normally friends, are they?
Jews do not normally like Romans,
and Romans do not normally like Jews.
Well, it seems like they're friends here, isn't it?
And the reason they're friends is given to us in the passage.
Can you look at the end of verse 5?
This thing to me, he loves our nation,
and he's the one who built us our synagogue.
Or he helped build it.
He either funded it,
or he supplied people to help build it.
So either he's a God-fearing,
a God-fearing Gentile,
that is a convert to Judaism,
or at least he's somebody who's sympathetic,
of those he oversees,
of those whom he polices,
those he guards.
Well, maybe.
Maybe he's both.
Whatever it is, Jesus actually doesn't seem very surprised
by the Jews and the Gentiles working together.
So that's our question.
What takes Jesus aback?
Why is Jesus surprised?
Was it that the Roman soldier,
the Roman centurion,
wanted Jesus' help on behalf of his servant?
Look at verses 1 and 2.
After he'd finished all his sayings,
and that is the Sermon on the Plain,
the little sayings of Jesus,
like I love your enemies,
he entered Capernaum.
And now a centurion had a servant who was sick,
and at the point of death,
who was highly valued by him.
Isn't that an interesting phrase?
Highly valued.
How was he highly valued?
Ask that question.
In which sense?
The servant might have been highly valued,
in that he was useful.
A good servant is hard to find, I'm told.
Or he might be highly valued,
in that centurion loved him.
Like he loved one of his own children.
He probably valued him in both those ways.
He was a useful servant,
and he was also a servant who was more like a son to him.
Now what is potentially surprising,
is if we lived in the Greco-Roman world,
if we lived in the world that Jesus lived,
the average slave owner had very little time in regard for slaves.
He treated them like animals.
So in his book Ethics,
the philosopher Aristotle said,
there should be no friendship between inanimate things,
such as a horse or an ox,
or a slave.
Roman writers,
Zavira or Ketel,
said the only difference between a slave and a beast,
and a cart,
was that the slave talked.
Do you see the surprise?
Once he put it in his historical setting,
it is surprising, isn't it?
But this high-powered soldier,
this mighty soldier of the establishment,
cared about a lonely slave.
Let the slave die, acquire another one.
Or at the very least,
don't humiliate yourself in front of everyone,
by begging to this Jesus,
a man of little social consequence.
But even though the centurion
is asking for his servant to be healed,
I don't think that surprises Jesus at all.
If anyone
was a high-ranking person,
well, it is Jesus, isn't it?
God incarnate is as high as he can,
I'd argue.
And yet he cared for the poor
and the suffering people.
I don't think Jesus is surprised by this.
So what was it?
What was it that surprised Jesus
about this man's faith?
Was it that this powerful man
humbly trusted in Jesus' absolute authority?
Was it that this powerful man
trusted absolutely and humbly
in Jesus' authority?
And the answer is yes.
Yes.
Yes, what is so surprising
is that this powerful man
humbly trusted in Jesus,
not just a little bit,
but all of his absolute authority.
Every word that the Roman centurion
says in verses 6 to 9,
it's important.
You can have to line it.
You can star it.
You can mark it.
You can kiss it if you want.
Just listen to what he says in verse 6.
And Jesus went with them.
When he was not far from the house,
he said to him,
and said to him,
Lord, do not trouble yourself,
for I am not worthy to come,
for you to come under my roof.
Therefore I do not presume
to come to you,
but say the word,
and let my servant be healed,
for I too am a man under authority,
with soldiers under me.
Come and he comes,
and to my servant do this,
and he does it.
Notice four things, okay?
First notice that the centurion
sent friends to Jesus
to relay the message.
And so the centurion at this point
has never met him.
The centurion has never met Jesus.
He's only heard about him.
He hears about Jesus
earlier on in the passage,
and he responds in faith.
It is as if,
as Paul said later on in the New Testament,
faith comes by hearing.
Faith comes through hearing.
So do not underestimate
what we're doing this morning.
And what we do every Sunday,
what we're doing right now,
that I am preaching to you,
and Lord willing,
you are listening, hopefully.
And that is according to the Bible,
how faith gets into you.
Through your ears.
Ears, as you might say.
So open that.
The second thing to notice
is the first word he says.
Can you see what the first word is?
What's the first word he says?
What is the title he uses?
He uses the title Lord.
He calls Jesus Lord.
The Greek word for Lord is Kyrios.
And it's the same word that is found
in the Greek Saturagia,
the way that the Greeks
would translate the Old Testament.
Whenever they translated Lord God,
they translated it as Lord.
Now even if this Gentile
is speaking better than he knows,
either way,
that title is significant, isn't it?
It is symbolically significant.
Here is a centurion
who is officially under the lordship
of who?
Of Caesar.
To the Romans.
Caesar, not Jesus,
is called Kyrios,
called Lord.
And so this title for Jesus
in the Gospels,
well, it's the most common way
believers talk about him, isn't it?
How do believers talk about Jesus?
They call Jesus Lord.
Unbelievers have other titles.
They're respectful titles.
They call him Rabbi
or they call him Teacher.
In Luke 7 verse 40,
the Pharisee Simon calls Jesus Teacher.
Teacher is a tame title for Jesus.
But the Gospels teach you
that Jesus is more than a carpenter.
And he's more than a teacher.
He is, as the centurion put it,
he is Lord.
Third thing we notice
is that the centurion is humble,
isn't it?
After it, he says,
don't trouble yourself.
Do not trouble yourself,
for I am not worthy
for you to come
under my roof.
Just glance at verse 4.
What do the Jews say about him?
Can you notice this?
What's the word they use
in verse 4?
They say,
he is worthy.
He's worthy
to have you come
to do this for him.
This guy,
this Roman centurion,
he really deserves you
to do something for him,
Jesus.
But then glance
at verse 7.
At verse 6, I mean.
Lord, do not tell me yourself,
for I am not worthy.
The Jews say,
hey, this man is worthy,
so lend him your ears.
Do what he says,
he is servant.
But here the worthy man
says to himself,
I am not worthy.
I love it.
Jesus loves it too.
Jesus eats up humility.
God opposes the proud,
but he gives grace
for the humble.
Listen, it is surprising
that Jesus actually
starts to walk
towards this man.
And he's seemingly
very welcome to enter it,
isn't he?
Listen, I was a Gentile.
Jews do not knock
on Gentile doors,
and they certainly
don't cross the threshold
of the house,
because in the house
there might be,
well, there might not
be kosher foods.
They might not have
had a ceremony
of cleansing.
It's a dangerous thing
to do,
and yet Jesus,
he is willing to do it.
But more surprising
is that this military man
won't even let him do it
because of his own sinfulness.
He sees himself
as too unworthy
and too beneath Jesus.
And that is surprising,
isn't it?
Because in Luke chapter 9
and verse 58,
Jesus will save himself.
I've got nowhere
to lay my head.
I've got no roof
over my head.
I've got no home
that I can call my own.
So you see,
what is so worthy
about Jesus,
what is so worthy
about this homeless Jew,
you see humility there,
don't you,
from the centurion.
A Gentile military leader
who commands
a large number of soldiers,
who is wealthy,
who earned a nice salary
as a Roman centurion,
who funds a major
building project
for the Jews
and the synagogue,
who very likely
as a household of slaves,
he thinks that Jesus
is so worthy
that it's unthinkable
that the Lord
should enter
into his house.
It's interesting,
it's amazing,
it's surprising.
So notice the hearing,
through hearing alone,
he has faith alone
in Christ alone.
Notice the word
that he calls Jesus,
he calls him Lord.
Notice the humility
and fourthly and finally,
notice that this powerful man
humbly trusted in Jesus,
absolute authority.
Listen again to verse 7 and 8.
Therefore,
I do not presume
to come to you,
but say the word
and let my servant be healed.
For I, too,
am a man under authority
with soldiers under me
and I say to one girl
and he goes
and I say to another
come and he comes.
The centurion,
he knows how authority works.
If he told one of his soldiers
to go,
he went.
If he told one of his soldiers
to fight,
he fought.
If he told one of his soldiers
to stand and intentionally,
he did it.
I had a rugby coach
when I was a teenager
and if he told you to stop
and drop to the floor
and do 20 press-ups,
he did it immediately.
And if he said,
I do 20 star jumps,
he did it.
If he said,
go on that line
and run to that line
and run back,
he did it.
He had absolute authority.
As a parent,
if I tell my children
to get up,
get dressed,
brush their teeth,
brush their hair
and get ready for church,
then they immediately do it.
No.
That's said with the rugby
field children.
In the gym
or on the training pitch,
he was a man
of absolute authority.
If I say jump,
you say how high.
Now,
whatever authority
illustration works for you,
you use it.
This man,
he knew how authority worked.
He was a man
of authority.
He was a man
of great authority.
There's an interesting story
about King David
in 2 Samuel 23.
David and his men
are fighting
against the Philistines.
They're hiding out
in a cave
and they're waiting there
for the right time
to attack
the enemy army.
The enemy army
has made their stronghold
in the city of Bethlehem
in David's hometown.
David,
where David was born
and raised.
And as they were waiting
for the right time
to attack,
David says out loud,
oh,
I'd love someone
to get me a drink
from the well
that is in Bethlehem
by the gates.
It's like we say,
I'd love a can of Coke
from the shop
on the corner.
Now,
he might have been thirsty,
but actually David
wasn't serious
I would think
in that passage.
I don't think David
was giving an order.
I think David
there is voicing
a frustration,
there's a military frustration,
oh,
I wish I could go
to my hometown,
to my home well
and get the water
that I love.
Oh,
I've drank all my life.
But he couldn't
because it was occupied
by the enemy.
Anyway,
the interesting thing
is there's a few soldiers,
three of them
hear what he said
and they take it
as a command.
And off they went.
It's absurd,
this absurd
kind of life
endangered error.
But somehow
it's successful.
We read about it,
these three mighty
men of David,
they break through
the Philistine ranks,
they draw water
over the well,
which was by the gate,
and they carry it
and they bring it
back to David.
Mission accomplished.
It's an incredible
thing to do.
That story's got
a very odd ending,
I won't give it to you,
but you can read it
this afternoon.
But it demonstrates
this,
it shows you and I
this,
it demonstrates
the supreme authority
of a word
spoken by God's
anointed king.
I'm thirsty.
I want water.
Your water,
sir.
I mean Lord.
And as Christians,
as those who may
be reading Luke's
gospel,
if you have,
you will know
that Jesus is
the son of David,
who's a far
greater king
than David.
And we know
that he has
all authority
in heaven and earth.
And we know
that he spoke
creation into existence.
And we know
that Jesus is divine,
he's the second person
of the Holy Trinity.
But think about this,
what did the
centurion know?
What did the
centurion know
about Jesus?
Well actually,
not very much.
What he did know
is that Jesus
had authority.
And Jesus
had authority
over death
and disease.
He didn't
hear that much
about it
through news
of Jesus'
miracles.
He knew
that Jesus
had almighty
authority
to do
what the
centurion
was asking
to do.
With just
one command.
As I order
my troops
to go from
here to there,
I want you,
Jesus,
to stop death.
And I believe
death will
stop now
because you
say.
Now as I
study this
passage this week,
there's a question
that keeps coming
up in my mind.
That I thought
Jesus would
respond differently.
I thought
Jesus would
respond differently.
Something like,
hey, Mr.
Centurion,
hey, Mr.
Finkshot,
you cannot
make a
theological
presumption.
You can't
think that I
work in the
same way that
you do in
your job.
You can't
make a
theological
assumption
based on
your occupational
experience.
In other
words,
just because
you are the
people around
Mr.
Centurion,
and they do
what you say
they should do,
that doesn't
mean how I
work.
That's not
how my
miracles
work.
They don't
work on
your
terms.
But of
course,
that's not
what Jesus
says yet.
Aren't we
glad that
Jesus said
Jesus are
not me to
save us
from our
sins?
Because he
is compassionate.
I'm
simply pointing
out to you
that Jesus
is kind.
He's kind,
and it
seems that
as you
read the
kind of
miracle
stories,
that everyone
who comes
to him in
faith,
they might
be a little
bit
superstitious.
They might
ask for
things they
shouldn't
ask for.
They might
want miracles
done on
their own
chairs,
whatever.
But the
point is,
whoever comes
to faith
in Jesus,
Jesus is
willing to
work at
their level.
Mustard seed
faith?
No problem.
Big and
bold faith
like this?
Fantastic.
Just say a
word,
that'll work.
First
time tells
the tale,
doesn't it?
It's a
true story.
That speaking
the word
thing worked.
It was no
big deal to
Jesus.
And when
those who
had been
sent returned
to the
house,
they found
the servant
well.
Let me
read that
again.
When those
who had been
sent returned
to the house,
they found
the servant
well.
One
commentator
writes this,
a greater
miracle of
healing than
this is
nowhere
recorded in
the
gospels.
Without
even seeing
the sufferer,
without a
touch of the
hand or a
look in the
eye, the
Lord restores
strength to
this dying
man, or
he might
be a
boy, by
a single
word.
He speaks
and the
sick man
is cured.
He commands
and the
disease
departs.
So let
me put it
this way.
Jesus'
power in
Luke 7
reminds me
a lot of
God's
power.
In
Genesis 1.
It's the
same word,
isn't it?
God said,
let there be
light, and
there was
light.
God said,
let there be
life, and
there was
life.
A one-word
miracle from
a distance.
Not a
problem.
Not a
big deal
for Jesus.
What is a
big deal, and
what Jesus
makes a big
deal of, is
this man's
faith.
Jesus marvels
at it.
Surprise,
surprise,
surprise.
It's the
whole point of
the passage.
So let
me ask you
this, wouldn't
it be great
to live a
life, a
life of
faith, that
Jesus would
be taken
aback by?
To live a
life of
faith that
Jesus would
be amazed
at?
Wouldn't it
be great to
have the
sincerity,
sensitivity,
humility,
love, depth
of faith as
this Gentile
soldier?
To have
unlimited
confidence in
Jesus'
absolute
authority?
Wouldn't it
be great to
humbly trust
in Jesus?
This miracle
was not
written to
teach you
that any
time you
need a
miracle, just
ask and
Jesus will
give it.
They weren't
written for
that purpose.
The miracles
were written
to show you
the gospel,
to show us
the gospel in
parable form.
So for
example, Jesus
healed the
paralytic.
Do you
remember the
story?
He demonstrated
that he had
the power to
heal.
Well, yeah.
But what is
the point?
He has the
power to
forgive sins.
The power to
forgive sins.
And when
Jesus healed
Jairus'
dead daughter
and this
centurion's
dead servant,
dying servant,
what is the
point?
It shows he
has authority
over death
and that he
can forgive
sins.
He has
authority over
death.
And when we
see the
centurion,
this Gentile
who needed a
Jewish Messiah,
this mighty
man who
desperately
needed help,
this worthy
man who
was so
unworthy
before Jesus,
this commander
of words who
knew that only
Jesus' word
would work,
when we see
the centurion,
we see faith.
We see the
face of faith.
This is what
saving faith
looks like.
It looks like
this.
And it's what
our faith should
look like.
It's a story of
salvation.
salvation is
not given to
us based on
our ethnic
background.
If you're a
Jew, great.
If you're not
a Jew, not
so great.
If you're
Welsh, terrific.
Anything else,
not so much.
It's not based
on our ethnic
background.
It's not based
on your generosity
and charity.
You give money
away for the
temple, marvellous.
You give money
away for charity,
good.
But it won't
get you into the
kingdom of heaven.
Salvation is
not based on
your moral
worth.
Are you a
person who's
praised for
being worthy?
For your
good works,
wonderful, but
it's not so
wonderful that
it'll get you
into heaven.
The only
ground, the
only basis of
salvation is
faith.
What kind
of faith?
This kind
of faith.
A faith that
abandons trust
in ourselves
and totally
and without
reservation
relies on the
person of
Christ and
the authority
of his word.
Do you have
this kind of
faith?
Do you?
I know where
to get it.
It's right here,
isn't it?
It's right here in
this story, in
story form in the
Bible.
And I know where
else to find it.
It is right there
in heaven for the
asking.
And ask
Jesus
right now
even to speak
a word.
To speak a word
into your hearts.
And he will do it.
Let's bow our heads
in prayer.
Let's pray.