The Adventures of Jesus Christ
Episodes from the Life of Jesus for Young Readers
by Vincent Cheung
[ Contents ]
Chapter 15. Jesus Praised a Centurion
I HAVE NEVER SEEN FAITH LIKE THIS
One day, Jesus went to the town of Capernaum. As he entered the town, a Roman centurion came to him. At the time, the Jewish people were under Roman rule. A centurion was an officer in the Roman army who was in charge of many soldiers. This centurion was a good man. Even though he was not Jewish, he cared about the people and helped them build a synagogue.
The centurion had a servant that he valued very much. The servant had become so sick that he could not even move, and he was in terrible suffering. So the centurion pleaded with Jesus to heal his servant. And Jesus decided, “I will come and heal him.”
As Jesus went toward his home, the centurion said, “Lord, you do not need to come to my place. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. Like you, I am a man who has authority. I have soldiers under me. I tell one to go, and he goes. I tell one to come, and he comes. I tell another to do something, and he does it.”
It was as if the centurion thought, “I believe that this is also how your authority works. You can say something should be done, and it will happen. But your authority is beyond mine. It is like God’s authority that can command diseases and nature.”
Jesus had demonstrated that he could heal at a distance by speaking the word. He would dismiss someone who came for help, and the person would believe what he said. This time, however, the centurion actively said that Jesus did not need to come.
He showed that his faith was based on more than an acceptance of what Jesus said, which would be admirable enough. His faith was also based on an actual understanding of what position Jesus had before God and the world. This kind of faith is likely to be stronger and unshakable.
Jesus was amazed when he heard this. He turned to those who followed him and said, “I tell you the truth, I have not found great faith like this in Israel.” Then he added something that ought to make us stop and think.
He said, “Many people will come from all over the world and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but those who are assumed to be in the kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness.”
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were people of faith in the past, and the Jews were their children and descendants. The Jews assumed that they had naturally inherited the spiritual blessings of their ancestors, and they belonged in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus denied this. Just because Abraham was their relative did not guarantee them anything with God.
The only thing that matters to God is individual faith. It does not matter who your parents are or whether they believe God. Do you believe? Do you have faith? If you have faith, then you will join the people of faith like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The centurion was not a Jew, but he was more like Abraham than any Jew that Jesus had met. He belonged in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” The centurion’s faith even decided how the miracle happened. And at that very moment, the centurion’s servant was healed.
People want to say that everything is God’s decision so they do not have to believe. But with God, what you believe is what you will get. These people do not believe anything, so they get nothing. And then they say that is God’s decision. Do you see how silly this is?
God welcomes anyone who has faith. It does not matter where you are from, whether you are male or female, or who your friends and relative are. If your parents believe, it does not mean that God favors you. And if your parents do not believe, it does not mean that God rejects you. If you believe, then you are in direct contact with God, and you belong in the kingdom of heaven.
The ones who have faith might not be the ones you expect. You might assume that the people at your church have great faith, but perhaps most of them do not have any faith. They might think that they are very spiritual, but if they do not in fact have faith, then Jesus said they will be thrown out into the darkness.
You might assume that the pastor is the most spiritual person you know, but if you listen closely, you might find out that he is teaching everybody to be faithless like him. You will discover that some of the most religious people are also the most faithless. Someone might know more Bible verses. He might have read more books. He might have been to seminary, or Bible school. None of that matters if they do not believe God.
Then you see someone who does not come from a church, or at least not from your church, but whatever he learns from the Bible, he believes and obeys. He is better than those faithless people in your church, and he belongs in the kingdom of heaven.
Of course, some people in the church have true faith, but the point is that you cannot assume what a person is like until you talk to him and find out if he believes God. A person might not look like you or speak like you. He might not be from where you are from, and he might not belong to your church or tradition. None of that matters. If he has faith, even if he is not someone like you in other ways, God welcomes him.