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Army Officer Asks Help for His Servant
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another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he
does it.”
“As I represent the power of Rome and my soldiers recognize
my authority, so You represent the power of the Infinite God, and
all created things obey Your word. You can command the disease
to leave, and it will obey. You can call heavenly messengers to give
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healing power. Just speak the word, and my servant will be healed.”
“When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned
around and said to the crowd that followed Him, ‘I say to you, I have
not found such great faith, not even in Israel!’” And He said to the
centurion, “‘As you have believed, so let it be done for you.’ And
his servant was healed that same hour.”
In their self-righteousness, the Jewish elders recommended the
centurion because of the favor he had shown to “our nation.” But the
centurion said of himself, “I am not worthy.” He did not trust to his
own goodness. His faith fastened onto Christ in His true character,
the Friend and Savior of mankind.
When Satan tells you that you are a sinner, tell him that Christ
came into the world to save sinners. The plea that we may urge
now and always is our completely helpless condition that makes His
redeeming power necessary.
In my hand no price I bring;
Simply to Thy cross I cling.
The Jews saw nothing to be desired in Jesus. But the centurion,
educated in the idolatry of Rome, seemingly cut off from spiritual
life by education and surroundings and shut out by the bigotry of the
Jews—this man understood truth to which the children of Abraham
were blind. The “Light which gives light to every man who comes
into the world” (
John 1:9
) had been shining on him, and he had
recognized the glory of the Son of God. To Jesus, this was an
advance assurance of the gathering of souls from all nations to His
kingdom.
A Dead Man Raised to Life
Jesus next made His way to Nain, a village more than twenty
miles from Capernaum. All along the way the people came, bringing