When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”
Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!
This story really intrigued me. The Roman soldier had a tremendous amount of faith that Jesus could heal his servant and that he could do it from where they stood. However, there is something else that I see in this story that really makes me stop and think. This man was a Roman soldier. Roman emperors were considered gods and Roman soldiers were to pay homage to their god and their god alone. It was against the law to to worship any god but the Roman gods. Jesus was going around telling people that he was God! This Roman soldier had a lot of courage to go before Jesus and ask for His help. He could have been jailed or even killed.
It makes me ask myself, "Would I risk my life to spend a moment with Jesus?"
I am very fortunate to live in The United States of America. I have the freedom to not only choose to follow Jesus, but I can even write about it in this blog. However, even I get scared by the things I'm not supposed to say or do. I work in the apartment industry and a very common term is "Fair Housing". Fair Housing was created for equal housing opportunities to all Americans and it prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, and familial status. I do agree with Fair Housing laws and the reason they were created. However, every Fair Housing seminar I attend goes over all the things we can't say or do in the chance that we may offend someone. We can't have community Christmas parties because a person of another religion may feel excluded. We can put up eggs and bunnies in our offices for Easter, but don't mention Jesus dying on the cross. We are reminded over and over that, if a person files a fair housing complaint, it's not just against the property, but against ME personally. They can not only take my job, but they can sue me for everything I have. I will have residents who come into my office telling me that a loved one just died, or they lost their job, or they are having a hard time with their kids. I so badly want to tell them that I will pray for them. But that "Fair Housing" poster hanging in my office is looming over me. What if this person isn't a Christian and is offending by me telling them that I would pray for them? So I say nothing and my fear stops me from spending a moment with Jesus.
The thing I have to remember is that it wasn't the faith of the servant that Jesus admired so much. It was the faith of the Roman soldier who was courageous enough ask Jesus for help. The servant may not have even been a Christian, but that didn't matter. Jesus was looking at the courageous faith of the Roman soldier. How can I be courageous like this Roman soldier? There is verse after verse in the Bible where God tells us to be courageous.
Deuteronomy 31:6, 7, & 23 says, "Be Strong & Courageous!"
Joshua 1:6, 7, 9, & 18 says, "Be Strong & Courageous!"
Joshua 10:25 says, "Be Strong & Courageous!"
Do you think that God is telling me something? I am to have courage, like that Roman soldier. If I see a need that only God can fix, I need to go to God instead of being fearful. It doesn't matter if the person standing in my office is a Christian. My prayers will be heard by the only God that matters and the only God that can help them. If I am courageous, he will use my faith for His good works!
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