Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

Don’t you get tired of people who always seem to throw themselves a pity party? They’re always moping around, expecting others to feel sorry for them. It’s annoying! And it’s especially annoying when everyone else is having a good time, and they go off by themselves and expect someone to come cheer them up, but then, when you go to cheer them up, they won’t let you cheer them up! I just want to tell them, “Get over it! We’re trying to have a party here, and you’re set on ruining our good time!”

It’s kind of like that character on Saturday Night Live named “Debbie Downer” who always finds something negative to say to bring everyone down. It’s so annoying, right?

And yet there are always problems in the world. And not only are there always problems in the world, we always have problems in our own lives. We have sin! We’re not worthy of God’s favor!

How can we possibly have joy in life even while we have a constant awareness of our problems and pain? And how can we possibly experience God’s favor when we’re not worthy of it?

We can turn to Christ. He alone can heal our pain. And He alone makes us worthy by His body and blood.

Read Luke 7:1-10

This story takes place after Jesus finished the sermon on the mount. Jesus came down the mountain, and entered Capernaum. Now, this was a place that Jesus frequently came back to. The people in Capernaum were quite familiar with Jesus. This was where Jesus healed the paralyzed man who was brought to him by friends. This was where Jesus healed Simon’s mother in law. This was where all who had any who who were sick with various diseases were brought to Jesus, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.

So Capernaum knew that Jesus was able to heal! They must have been excited! They must have been eager to hear Jesus again! And everyone in Capernaum must have been rushing out of their homes to see Jesus.

Except, apparently, this centurion. You might call him the Debbie Downer of this story (v. 2-3).

The centurion had a problem. His servant was sick, so sick that he was going to die. And this wasn’t just any servant. This was a highly valued servant. The centurion thought, “I really need this servant of mine! He’s been extremely helpful, he’s a hard worker, and I’d hate to lose him!”

So the centurion had this huge problem. But when the centurion heard that Jesus was coming to town, he just knew he had found the answer.

But he actually went about it all wrong.

Instead of going to Jesus, he just sits back, and sends the elders of the Jews for him to ask Jesus to come to him. He didn’t personally go to Jesus. He wasn’t going to humble himself like that. So I know Jesus eventually points to the centurion as having such great faith, but I’ve just never been too impressed with this guy. I mean, it just seems like he’s kind of full of himself, doesn’t he? And he’s bossy, and manipulative.

And why shouldn’t he be? A centurion was a commander of armies. This was a powerful person. This was a person used to getting what he wanted. It seems to me that the centurion was thinking, “I know this Jewish guy can heal, and I want my servant healed, so I’m going to send some elders of the Jews, who are highly respected, so that this Jew will come and heal my servant!”

So the elders of the Jews go to Jesus, and say this, “He is worthy to have you do this for him!” Now stop there a second. Was the centurion worthy to have Jesus do this for him? No. He wasn’t worthy. None of us are worthy of having Jesus do anything for us. That’s what the sermon on the mount was all about! We break the law. We’re not perfect. We’re blessed by God not because we’ve done anything to earn God’s favor, but because God is merciful. Because Jesus is the good tree. Because Jesus is the rock, and we’re blessed only because He’s our firm foundation.

So anyway, Jesus goes with them, but before Jesus gets to the centurion’s house, the centurion sent some of his friends to Jesus, who relayed a new message to Him (v. 6b). Well, he got that part right. But look at his rationale (v. 8). Even while he’s supposedly humbling himself before Jesus, he’s still talking about how important he himself is. So, which is it, Mr. Centurion? Are you worthy, or not? Do you want Jesus to come, or not?

There’s so much wrong with this story. This centurion wasn’t a Jew, and yet the Jews looked up to him. He was a man of authority, yet he seemed so indecisive regarding whether he wanted Jesus to come or not. I mean, I don’t know if I’m supposed to be impressed with this guy, or disgusted by him. He tells Jesus to come, then tells Jesus to stay away. The Jews say he’s worthy, then he says he’s not worthy, but then proceeds to give his resume concerning how worthy he is. He’s supposed to be a man of authority, but when Jesus is coming to town, he just seems like such a Debbie Downer. And he never even made a clear declaration of faith, and yet Jesus marveled at his faith. All this guy did was eventually come to the realization that he was unworthy of Jesus, and acknowledged the authority of Jesus.

But wait, isn’t that what faith is? At least in part? And yet, we often do neither of those things. So often, we say we’re unworthy of salvation, but we act like we’ve earned it, or we act like maybe still earning it, by going to church, or by reading the Bible, or by praying. But the centurion didn’t go to church, and he didn’t go to Jesus, and then didn’t even want Jesus to come to him, yet Jesus marveled at his faith.

It’s like, this guy had about as much faith as a mustard seed.

And when it comes to authority, we call Jesus ‘Lord’, but often don’t do what he tells us to do. So we definitely can’t boast as if we’re all that great. And yet, the centurion, even while boasting in his own authority, recognized that Jesus had an even greater power: the power to heal.

You see, maybe my problem with the centurion is also my problem with myself. Maybe I’m often so impressed with myself that even while I repent, I’m impressed with my repentance. Maybe, even when I think I’m being a good Christian because I’m praying, I’m really just being bossy with God. “Give me this! Do it my way!” And so even when we think we’re impressing God, the reality is that all we can really do is cry out to Jesus for help, to save us, unworthy sinners, because we can’t save ourselves, and because Jesus alone has the authority to save us. And even while we cry out to Jesus, we do so imperfectly, because that’s really the only way we can do anything, because God alone is good and perfect.

So maybe the point of this passage isn’t that we be impressed with the faith of the centurion, but that we be thankful for Jesus, who marvels at our faith even when it’s not all that impressive. We, too, must truly realize that we’re unworthy of Jesus. We’ve sinned. And there’s nothing we can do to make ourselves worthy of salvation. And so we simply acknowledge Christ. His power. His authority. We look to Jesus, and what He can do, and what He has done. He went to the cross, and His body was broken for us. And His blood was shed for us.