It Was the Father's Word

I've been thinking again, this time about all that transpired in the story of the Roman centurion and his sick servant that's found in Luke 7:2-10. Somehow the centurion heard of Jesus and sent some Jewish elders to request that He come and heal him. The elders evidently thought he was more than just another Roman soldier to them, and as such they begged Jesus to come, telling Him that this centurion was worthy of Jesus doing this for him.

Jesus didn't hesitate and started walking with them to where the centurion lived; but before they arrived at the house, the centurion sent some more friends to Jesus with this message … "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you under my roof, neither did I consider myself worthy to come to you."

One thing I find interesting is how this Roman centurion had the Jewish elders in their summons of Jesus address Him as … Lord. One would think that this soldier, as most Romans did, would have believed in many gods, but this one must have been different, a good man, one with integrity and character, a proven friend to the Jewish people since he even built them a synagogue.

This centurion evidently believed what he had heard about Jesus and His power to heal or he wouldn't have thought Jesus could heal his servant. The Holy Spirit may have been working on this Roman by showing him who Jesus really was, and perhaps put a conviction in his heart that he was a sinner. His statement … "I am not worthy" … might refer to his personal feeling of unworthiness; a feeling that he was so unlike the Savior, that he was not suitable for the Son of God to come under his roof.

A second reason the centurion may have felt Jesus might not want to come inside his home was knowing that the Jews didn't like to enter a gentile's house; so not wanting to take the chance that Jesus would hesitate and not come, he gave Him a way out by adding … "just say in a word, and my servant shall be healed."

We don't know exactly what Jesus said, the actual words spoken. It really doesn't matter what He said, it was enough, and the servant was made whole. But we do know that the words of the centurion … "say in a word" … really means … "to command by a word alone."

Notice the centurion does not ask Jesus to pray for healing. There's nothing wrong with prayer. He only asked Jesus to … "command it done and it shall be done." We should learn a lesson from this. We must acknowledge our need of God's mercy and grace, and our own inability to help ourselves.

I also noticed as far as we can learn from scripture, Jesus didn't even know this Roman centurion nor had they ever met before. I can't remember anyone ever asking Jesus to heal from a distance like this before now.

Could this be one of the reasons or the reason Jesus said of him … "I have not found such great faith in all of Israel."

Usually Jesus was able to look into the eyes of those He healed, speaking words of life and healing into their bodies or lay His hands on them and with just a touch healing was imparted. But here Jesus did none of these things. He never made it all the way there; He was stopped on the road before He arrived.

This should give us hope. Even though Jesus is seated at the right hand of God which is undoubtedly a great distance from us; the distance doesn't matter to God. We ask, He responds and sends His healing word.

As far as we can tell, the centurion, his servant and Jesus never did meet in person. The scripture leads us to believe that Jesus just passed right on by on His way to the next town, by referring only to those who were sent to Jesus as the ones who returned back to the centurion's house to find the servant healed.

Have you ever felt as though God Himself was talking to you?

Some time ago, I had been praying for several months asking the Lord to heal a young child that had cancer. I felt like the Lord was telling me, that He was looking … no that's not the right word … He was waiting for someone with the same type of faith as this centurion had, the kind of faith that for some reason you just believe and ask Jesus to come and heal. Day after day the Lord spoke to my spirit, "Why do you think I am telling you this? Why don't you step up and become the centurion I'm waiting for?" But Lord … why me?

So now here I am … I'm asking the Lord Jesus Himself … to send His word just like He did for the centurion's servant. I've taken on the role, what else could I do? A couple of days later, while I'm mowing my yard, God shows up … not the Lord, not Jesus … I mean God Almighty Himself.

I have felt the anointing of the Holy Spirit before. I have also felt the presence of Jesus with me before. But this day was different … this was God Himself calling on me. As He started talking to me I felt the "weight" not only of His presence but His words. You talk about heavy … I didn't know what heavy was; it was as if some of my strength was taken to make room for His words.

He told me that I was asking … "the wrong one" … to send the Word. I had been asking Jesus. "But the centurion asked Jesus" was going to be my reply, but I didn't get that far. God the Father, very lovingly said the centurion asked Jesus because Jesus was there in person to show and do the "will" of the Father. Everything Jesus said and did was the will of the one who sent Him.

It was "the Father's will" that sent Jesus, the living Word to earth in the first place. In Heaven before He became flesh, Jesus was The Word of God. That's what that means … Jesus was the spoken words of God.

Now here is where it got real heavy for me. Since Jesus was doing the "will" of the Father on earth, it was the Father's "will" that the centurion's servant should be healed; and because Jesus … "IS" … the Word of God, the "word" that Jesus spoke to heal the centurion's servant … CAME FROM THE FATHER … not Jesus. It was only spoken through Jesus, who was speaking and doing what His Father told Him. In fact, Jesus said that … He came in His Father's name, representing His Father, Almighty God.

So when God spoke to me and said, "You are asking the wrong One" … in less than ten seconds total time He explained it all to me. That very hour I started asking God the Father to send to this child with cancer … the same healing Word that He sent thru Jesus to restore the centurion's servant.

I remember that Jesus told His disciples the same thing when He said something like … "after He goes to Heaven; they were to ask Him nothing; they would have to ask the Father in His name." (My translation)

Am I splitting hairs about who to ask? Maybe, but I don't think so.

I felt like I had to be obedient. That's the only thing I learned through this whole confrontation with God … to be obedient no matter what. What I am unsure of is whether or not I ever arrived at the same level of faith that the centurion had.

The child died two days later … and I'm still at a loss.

And yes, I do know God's voice.


Comments welcome.