Reading: Matthew chapter 8 verses 5 to 13:
Ill:
The Canadians tell this story about their American neighbours.
• When NASA first started sending up astronauts,
• They quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity.
• To combat the problem,
• NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity,
• It also upside down, underwater,
• on almost any surface including glass;
• And at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300 C.
• The Russians overcame the problem by using a pencil.
The Americans are considered to be the most powerful nation in the world;
• 2,000 years ago that title went to the Romans.
• They ruled the world and had the greatest army on planet earth!
The central character in this story:
• Was a Roman soldier.
• I want to point out 4 things about him.
(1). He was a centurion (vs 6a):
“When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.”
• As soon as you speak the word centurion you here the word century in it,
• A centurion commanded a 'cen-tur-i-a', which was up to a hundred men in his company.
• A centurion was the equivalent of a regimental sergeant-major;
• And the centurions were the backbone of the Roman army.
Ill:
• Centurions carried out specialised duties:
• For example quelling riots that had broken out in a city.
• They performed various police duties.
• And later in Matthew’s Gospel they would be in charge of the crucifixion.
QUOTE: Polybius, the historian, describes their qualifications.
• “They must be not so much" seekers after danger as men who can command,
• Steady in action, and reliable;
• They ought not to be over anxious to rush into the fight;
• But when hard pressed they must be ready to hold their ground and die at their posts. "
Centurion's had the reputation for being notoriously harsh and merciless men:
• Just as regimental sergeant-major today;
• Are not known as pussy cats (soft walk over);
• Neither were the Roman centurions,
• That's why they were the backbone of this great army.
• Yet strangely in the New Testament the Roman Centurions are always spoken of well;
• Four centurions are mentioned - Luke 23: 47; Matthew 27:54 .Acts 10, and Acts 27: 43).
Quote: F D Gealy,
• Notes that they were probably the most important single position of authority;
• Within the Roman fighting machine because
• ‘The discipline and efficiency as a fighting unit depended on them’
The point I want to make is this:
• This soldier would normally have been self-sufficient.
• His men came to him for answers he need not go to anyone else.
• For him to approach Jesus;
• Meant he had to swallow his pride.
(a).
• Because he would have to come to Jesus publicly;
• In front of Jewish onlookers – reputation would be shot!
(b).
• He could also be very easily rejected by Jesus;
• He was an enemy soldier occupying the people & land of Jesus!
Ill:
• In his book, “The Applause of Heaven”,
• Max Lucado tells the sad story of a man he came to know through a friend.
• The man’s name was Anibal.
• Anibal was a tough man.
• Max Lucado said that his tattooed anchor on his forearm symbolized his personality;
• Cast-iron. His broad chest stretched his shirt.
• The slightest movement of his arm bulged his biceps.
• This was no meek man.
• This was a man who was tough in every sense of the word.
• But he was also a man in a prison cell condemned for murder.
• As Max spoke with Anibal, they began to talk about becoming a Christian.
• They talked about guilt, and forgiveness.
Max wrote that,
“The eyes of the murderer softened at the thought that the one who knows him best loves him most. His heart was touched as we discussed heaven, a hope that no executioner could take from him.”
• But as the conversation moved toward the conversion,
• Anibal’s face began to harden.
• Anibal didn’t like the statement;
• That the first step in coming to God is an admission of guilt.
• He was uneasy with words like “I’ve been wrong” and “forgive me.”
• Saying “I’m sorry” was out of character for him.
• He had never backed down before any man, and he wasn’t about to do it now
• Even if the man were God.
• I think this centurion was a bit like that;
• Only he learnt to swallow his pride.
• Good job:
• “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble”.
(2). HE was kind (vs 6b):
“When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.
Lord, he said, my servant lies at home paralysed and in terrible suffering.”
• In Roman law a slave; was defined as a living tool;
• He had no rights; a master could ill-treat him and even kill him if he chose.
QUOTE:
"A Roman writer on estate management recommends the farmer to examine his implements every year and to throw out those which are old and broken,
and to do the same with his slaves.”
• Normally when a slave was past his work he was thrown out to die.
• The attitude of this centurion to his slave was quite unusual.
Ill:
• You have probably never heard of Leo Durocher;
• Unless your into American Baseball.
• His nickname was "Leo the Lip",
• And he was one of the greatest ever managers in Major League Baseball.
• One of "Leo the Lip’s" best known sayings was;
• “Nice guys finish last”
ill:
Maybe Leo had never met Henry Pearce of Australia;
• He was competing in the single scull rowing event at the 1928 Olympics.
• He was leading when a duck and her string of ducklings came into view up ahead.
• They were on a collision course and Pearce reckoned that his scull;
• Would cut the string in two and sink a few ducklings in the process,
• So to every ones astonishment he pulled in his oars.
• And patiently waited until the ducks had passed,
• Pearce again bent his back to the task.
• As no doubt you’ve guessed there is a happy ending to the story. Pearce won!
• "Leo the Lip’s" best known sayings was; “Nice guys finish last”
• Don’t you believe it!
Verse 6 tells us: "He was paralysed and suffering terribly".
• We don't know for certain what the relationship was between the two of them. Was;
• Many scholars have guessed but it's only speculation.
• e.g. It could be that the slave had helped raise him, been like a father to him through the years,
• e.g. Or if he is younger, grown up together like his own brother or a son.
The tough Roman soldier:
• Who had seen many a man die;
• It came with the job!
• Just could not sit back and watch some he cared for die.
• But what can he do?
• He could command his men but not this illness to go away!
• When face to face with death it brings home exactly how helpless we are.
Quote:
“Typical Inscription on a Roman Grave in New Testament days:
I was not
I became
I am not
I care not”
Quote:
• You've got a day, you've got a time and you've got a place and your name is on it.
• People keep that appointment every day,
• Three every second, 180 people every minute keep that appointment,
• 11,000 people every hour keep that appointment,
• 260,000 today kept that appointment.
• This year 95 million people will keep this appointment.
• You cannot delay it
• And you cannot deny it.
• This centurion was going to do his best to do both;
• To delay and to deny it!
• So he approaches Jesus;
• Who spoilt every funeral he ever went to (even his own!)
(3). He was humble (vs 1-9).
“Jesus said to him, I will go and heal him.
8 The centurion replied, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it.”
The Roman centurion was humble:
• He is showing delicacy of feeling,
• To spare Jesus any possible embarrassment.
• He knew quite well from his Jewish friends,
• That a strict Jew was forbidden by the law to enter the house of a gentile
ill:
• Peter in Acts 10: 28 told another centurion called Cornelius:
• "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit”.
This soldier is not just blinded by his own personnel circumstances:
• But tactfully and thoughtfully he is also very concerned,
• For the reputation and the possible embarrassing situation Jesus would find himself in.
Ill:
• British statesman and financier Cecil Rhodes,
• Whose fortune was used to endow the world-famous Rhodes Scholarships,
• Was a stickler for correct dress;
• But apparently not at the expense of someone else’s feelings.
• A young man invited to dine with Rhodes arrived by train;
• And had to go directly to Rhodes’s home in his travel-stained clothes.
• Once there he was appalled to find the other guests already assembled,
• Wearing full evening dress.
• After what seemed a long time Rhodes appeared,
• In a shabby old blue suit.
• Later the young man learned that his host had been dressed in evening clothes,
• But put on the old suit when he heard of his young guest’s dilemma.
This centurion:
• Is both tactful and thoughtful;
• For the reputation and the possible embarrassing situation Jesus would find himself in.
Note:
• Worth noting Jesus had accepted the invitation:
• He was willing to go to the centurions house,
• He would put his reputation on the line;
• He only cared about what God thought of him and not man.
• This once again illustrates the radical nature of his ministry.
• Jesus is prepared to go where others (including his own followers) so often will not!
(4). HE Was A MAN OF FAITH (vs 9).
“When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”
• The whole of this little story builds up;
• To this conversation between Jesus and the centurion.
• Even the miracle itself takes second place;
• To this conversation.
The key word to note is faith (verse 11 & ‘believe’ in verse 13):
• Notice that this centurions faith was not blind;
• This soldier's faith is based on the soundest argument.
• Quote: Some one has said:
• “He argued from the here and now to the there and then.”
• He argued from his own experience
• Which had taught him that words of command are expected to be obeyed.
• When he told a soldier to jump;
• It was never question, the soldier obeyed or said; “How high!”
ILL:
• If you and I walked out on the side of the road and put our hand up to a car to stop,
• Chances are it would carry straight on.
• If you had a policeman's uniform on,
• The majority of cars would pull over and stop.
• That uniform gives you authority,
• It also gives you the ability to back up your request with force if necessary.
This Roman soldier knew:
• (1). His uniform (Roman Soldier)
• (2). His position (Centurion) gave him the authority to give orders.
• (3). His Army:
He had the might of the Roman army to back up his words,
His commands, were not just words, they had a power to enforce them.
THIS CENTURIONS LOGIC IS SIMPLE:
• If his authority produced the results it did,
• How much more must that of Jesus? (authority of heaven behind his words).
• He was part of a chain of command,
• And so was Jesus.
QUOTE: Harry Foster verse 9: "I myself' or "I also am a man under authority"
"He (the centurion) took for granted the fact that the Lord derived his spiritual power from his implicit obedience to the will of the God which was of course the case. ]t took the cross and the resurrection to convince the disciples that all authority in heaven and on earth had been committed to the Lord Jesus, but Good soldier realized it from the first".
• What his own people (especially it's leaders) had failed to grasp,
• That Jesus came with all the authority of God.
• This Gentile, this heathen soldier realised!
• And this was what Jesus called great faith:
End of the story (recorded by Luke not Matthew):
• Was exactly as Jesus had said;
• When they got back to the mans house,
• They found the slave was completely healed.
• Faith rewarded!
Ill:
In 1859 Charles Blondin, the French acrobat, walked across a tightrope suspended across Niagara Falls.
One day, thousands watched him as he pushed a bag of cement in a wheelbarrow along the wire, fifty metres above the raging waters, There was a great cheer when he reached the other side,
Then, Blondin challenged a nearby reporter: ‘Do you believe I can do anything on a tightrope?’
‘Oh yes, Mr Blondin,’ said the reporter. ‘After what I’ve seen today, I believe it. You can do anything,’ However, the reporter melted into the crowd when he was invited to put his trust to the test and get into the wheelbarrow,
But, there was a person there who did trust Blondin with his life, He got into the wheelbarrow and was pushed across the wire, As Blondin made his way high above the falls, people quickly placed bets on the outcome. It looked like any other easy conquest. Rut, when they were half way across the 566 metre journey of trust, a man with a heavy bet against Blondin’s success, crept across and cut one of the guy ropes.
Suddenly, the tightrope pitched crazily back and forth. Blondin fought for his balance, only seconds away from death, For, when the rim of the wheelbarrow came off the wire, they could both be pitched into the churning water. Blondin spoke, cutting through the terror of his passenger. ‘Stand up!’ he ordered. ‘Stand up and grab my shoulders.’
The man sat there paralysed.
‘Let go and stand up! Let go of the wheelbarrow! Do it or die!’
Somehow the man managed to stand up and step out of the swaying wheelbarrow.
‘Your arms ... put them around my neck! Now, your legs round my waist!’ said Blondin.
Again the man obeyed, clinging to Blondin. The wheel-barrow fell, disappearing into the frothy turmoil far below. The aerialist stood there, using all his years of experience and every trained muscle to stay on the wire until the pitching subsided a little. Then, inch by inch, he made his way across, carrying the man like a child. Finally, he deposited him safely on the other side.
