36 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
36 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Luke 7:1–10"
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date = "2022-11-14"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk7.1-10)
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Some time after giving the sermon, Jesus returns to Capernaum. When word gets
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around that He is back, He is approached by some Jewish elders with a request
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for healing. What's unusual is that the request isn't for themselves or for
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someone they are close to, but for a Roman centurion's slave. Even more unusual
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is that the request comes from the centurion himself, and he also has a good
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enough relationship with these community leaders to have them ask Jesus for
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help on his behalf. To put this in perspective, imagine a British Empire army
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captain asking for an Indian guru to help his butler.
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Jesus agrees to go with them, but on the way, some more of the centurion's
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friends stop Him, saying that the man's house is not worthy to have Jesus under
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its roof. But the centurion also sent word that he knew if Jesus just said so,
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his slave would be healed, because he understands how authority and the chain
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of command work. His faith in Jesus is so great that he knows Jesus can heal
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from a distance, because Jesus has authority over the disease. Jesus is amazed
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at the centurion's faith, and says it is greater than any He has seen in
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Israel. He goes on His way and the slave is healed.
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We don't know how or why this centurion came to have such great faith, but his
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example is certainly one we should strive to emulate. Notice also how humble he
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was: he didn't order Jesus to see him, even though he probably had the civil
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authority to do so. He didn't ask Jesus to come into his house because that
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would have made Him ritually unclean (though maybe that's a Pharisaical
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tradition).
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* * *
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Give us great faith and humility, for we love You with our whole lives.
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