The Pharisees side-stepped the question of the authority of Jesus; however, the Centurion recognized and embraced His obvious authority. “Speak the word…you don’t need to come.” There appears an unexpected divergence during the ministry of Jesus. The people expected to receive Jesus rejected him; the heathens and sinners accepted him. This is our warning. The antichrist will capture many. You can bet your socks a delusion sent by God will be good.
***
Chapter 20: Jesus Heals The Centurion’s Servant
JESUS went to Capernaum after he had delivered the Sermon on the Mount. A centurion, a Roman military officer, came to him and said:
“Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.”
Jesus replies:
“I will come and heal him.”
Thereupon the centurion said:
“Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my rood. But, speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having sholdiers under me; and I say to this man, ‘Go,’ and he goeth; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he cometh; and to my servant, ‘Do this’, and he doeth it.”
When Jesus heard these words, revealing the great faith of the centurion, he was deeply impressed and said to those who followed him:
“Verily, I say unto you, ‘I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.’ And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus said to the centurion:
“Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.”
The servant was healed at that exact moment.
***
Scriptures: Matthew 8:1; Mark 5:13; Luke 7:1-10