A belief that marvels Christ

Matthew 8:5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but l only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with n no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

What does it mean to believe in Jesus? I am definitely not the scholastic authority on this, but this passage makes a couple of huge points about Faith that pleases and marvels Christ. It is critical to note that this passage occurs immediately after the sermon on the mount. In this sermon Jesus lovingly says, you can not please God in your actions so enter the kingdom through the narrow gate and build your house on the rock -ME!

With the fact that only Christ's life is pleasing to our father acting as our lens to look through, we can then easily appropriate the huge truths about True Faith and Belief. The first thing we see in the centurion is that he addresses Christ and says "Lord I am not worthy to have you under my roof". The centurion has an appropriate view of both himself and Christ. he is unworthy but Christ is the ultimate worth. The centurion's belief started with a correct understanding of his Holy inadequacy and Christ's over flowing Holiness. In verse 9 we find a second key point about this faith that pleases Christ. The man understands the authority, power and capabilities of Christ. He understands that Christ has complete dominion as He says- you just have to say a word Jesus. You don't have to go to my house physically. You don't have to go do some ceremony Jesus- just speak a word and your complete dominance over all will show itself.

Jesus marvels at the centurion. Stop and think about that - this same Jesus just preached a sermon about the near impossibility of truly pleasing God. This sermon on the narrow gate and the wideness of human depravity that will not squeeze through it, and he goes to Capernaum and a gentile centurion has appropriated a faith that demands Christ as the centerpiece. Jesus is pleased by this man's belief......it is the belief that is mentioned in John 3:16.

We must remember that even the devil knows of Christ's Holy authority. The acknowledgement of Holy Authority must be intertwined with a total submission to Him, based on a complete understanding of our inability to be Holy outside of Him. It is only when we allow the Christ's Cross to crucify our flesh and impart the spirit that Christ's fruitful life walks in our shoes.

This type of faith avoided me for much of my life. My belief was that God was Good and I needed to try to be as much like Him as I could. I was trying to do what only Jesus could do -live a life pleasing to God. I was miserably failing and my faith was in me and my attempts, not in Christ Alone. I had no true belief that just as the sky is blue, I was incapable of pleasing God. Like the centurion, I now understand that no matter how much I tried to be good apart from Christ, I had nothing good to give and the only way for Him to work in my life was to fall at His feet permanently not as an emotional, semi-frequent, half hearted religious routine. As my worship of Christ has intensified, His way is made known through my life...I pray that I please Him.