At the church where I serve we
are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Invite”. During this series we
are going to look at several events from history where Jesus engaged and
invited those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with
Him. During this series, we are going to discover what Jesus said to invite
those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him.
During this series, we are going to discover how Jesus said what He said to
invite those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with
Him.
And as we go through this series,
our hope and prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in
our heads, hearts, and hands in a way that equips and empowers us to follow the example of Jesus when it comes to inviting
those who are far from Jesus to follow Jesus and live in relationship with
Jesus. Now maybe you do not buy the
whole Jesus, Bible, church thing. Maybe you are not sure about whether or not
there is a God, let alone whether you should follow Him or live for Him.
If I have just described you, I
am so glad that you are reading this, because here’s the thing. What you will
discover during this series is that there is a reason why followers of Jesus
are commanded by Jesus to invite you to follow Jesus. And there is a way that
followers of Jesus are supposed to invite you to follow Jesus. And my hope for
you is that you would see what Jesus calls His followers to do when it comes to
inviting you to follow Jesus so that you can see how Jesus feels about you and
what He calls His followers to do, and what Jesus calls His followers not to
do, when it comes to engaging you and inviting you to follow Jesus.
This week I would like for us to look at an event from history that is
recorded in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in
the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. And it
is in a section of the gospel of Matthew that we see Matthew give us a front
row seat to how Jesus engaged and invited someone who was far from Him to
follow Him. So let’s take that front row seat together, beginning in Matthew
8:5-6:
And when Jesus
entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6 and
saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully
tormented."
Now to fully understand what is happening in this event
from history, we first need to understand the context in which this event from
history took place. Just prior to this event from history, Jesus had just
finished preaching perhaps His most famous sermon, which we know today as the
Sermon on the Mount. After concluding His sermon, Jesus encountered a leper who
asked Jesus to heal him of the disease that had plagued his body. Jesus
responded to the leper’s request by miraculously healing the leper.
And it is in this context, as Jesus finished traveling
from the place where He had preached His famous sermon to arrive at the city of
Capernaum, that Matthew gives us a front row seat to this event from history by
explaining that a Roman Centurion came to Jesus. Now a Roman Centurion was an
officer in the Roman Army who commanded 100 men. At this time in history, the
Roman Empire was the dominant military and political power in the known world
and had conquered the Jewish people. And as a result of conquering the Jewish
people, the Roman Empire had military forces that occupied the Jewish nation to
ensure control of the nation. So this Roman Centurion was a military leader of
a conquering army, of a different ethnicity, who had the responsibility for
leading the 100 men in his unit.
Matthew explained that this Roman Centurion came to Jesus
imploring Him and saying "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home,
fearfully tormented." When the centurion used the word Lord, he was
proclaiming that he viewed Jesus as one who had a position of authority. In
other words, this centurion, who was in position of power and authority, wanted
Jesus to understand that he recognized that Jesus was someone who had a higher
authority than even he possessed. This conquering military leader, who was in a
position of authority and in a position to give orders to anyone, instead pleaded
with Jesus by making a strong request.
And the request that this Centurion made to Jesus was to
help his servant, who was in a paralyzed condition at his home. Most likely,
the servant was the centurion’s closest assistant or armor bearer. However, his
close assistant found himself in severe distress as a result of a disease that
left him paralyzed and in terrible suffering. And as the Centurion watched his
closest assistant suffering at the hands of a terrifying and debilitating
disease, the centurion recognized that, for all his authority; for all the
might and resources that he had at his disposal, there was nothing that he was
able to do to help his servant. Helpless to help his servant, this commanding
officer of the conquering enemy who was very different from Jesus ethnically,
came to Jesus and strongly pleaded with Jesus to do something for him that no
one else was able to do.
Now a natural question that could arise here would be
“Well how did this centurion even know about Jesus?” We discover the answer to
that question in a section of another account of Jesus life that is recorded
for us in the Bible, called the gospel of Luke. In Luke 7, we see Luke gives us
some additional details about this event from history. And in those details, we
discover that this Roman Centurion was not the stereotypical centurion of Jesus
day. Unlike most military leaders of the conquering Roman Army, this centurion
cared for those under his leadership and he cared deeply for his servant who
was suffering terribly. In addition, this centurion also cared for the people
who he was occupying as a conquering military leader.
As a matter of fact, this centurion was so well respected
by the Jewish people of Capernaum that a group of Jewish religious leaders came
to Jesus to plead that Jesus would help the centurion. This centurion was
viewed by the Jewish people of Capernaum as a God-fearing Gentile. In other
words, even though the centurion was not ethnically Jewish, Jewish people
viewed him as a person who worshiped the One True God of the Jews. The
centurion’s faith and worship of God was demonstrated by the reality that he
gave of his own money to help build the synagogue that was located in the city
of Capernaum.
As a Roman military leader responsible for keeping the
peace, this centurion would have been responsible for knowing about any
potential leaders that could threaten the peace and quiet of the region. And
word on the street had most likely reached this centurion regarding Jesus and
the large crowds that were beginning to follow Jesus and His recent activity of
healing a man who suffered from leprosy. And now helpless to help his closest
and most valuable servant, this commanding officer of the conquering enemy who
was very different from Jesus ethnically, came to Jesus and strongly pleaded
with Jesus to do something for him that no one else was able to do. Matthew
records Jesus response to the Centurion’s request in verse 7:
Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal
him."
Now what is so interesting about
Jesus response here is that Jesus is just as much asking a question as He is
making a statement. Jesus response, if communicated in the language we use in
our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “You want me, as a
Jew, to come under your roof, since you are a Gentile? You want me as a Jew to
come touch and heal your servant, who is a Gentile? If you are asking me to do
that, I will do that, but are you sure you want to ask me to do that?”
You see, under the Jewish Law and
customs of the day, for Jewish person to enter the home of a Gentile would have
been a cultural taboo. Jewish people believed that they would defile, or
corrupt themselves, if they had such contact with a person who was not Jewish.
Up to this point in the life of Jesus, Jesus had never entered into the home of
a Gentile. But now a military leader who was in a position of authority was
strongly requesting Jesus to violate a cultural taboo of the day and come to
heal his servant.
Or so it seemed. Because as
Matthew continues to give us a front row seat to this event from history, as
Jesus demonstrated His willingness to meet the request by the centurion and
violate a cultural taboo of the day, we see the centurion’s response in verse 8.
Tomorrow we will look at his response…
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