Tuesday, 27 April 2021
Title: A Centurion’s Extraordinary Faith
By: Cecilia Tan 陈俊芳

Matthew 8:10 “When Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those following Him, ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.’”

There are only two instances of faith which was described as “great” by our Lord Jesus, both of which were demonstrated by Gentiles – firstly, that of the Roman centurion whose servant was healed by Jesus and secondly, that of the Canaanite woman whose demon-possessed daughter was also healed by Jesus (Matthew 15:28).

A centurion was a key officer in the armies of ancient Rome who was responsible for 100 soldiers – a man of substantial authority and power. Jesus’ miraculous healing of a centurion’s servant is recorded in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. What stands out in both accounts is the centurion’s exceptional humility. He did not even view himself as worthy enough to speak directly with Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews and at a later stage, his friends, to ask Jesus to come and heal his paralysed servant.

When Jesus approached the centurion’s house, the centurion himself pleaded with Jesus, “Lord, I do not deserve to have You come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed” (Matthew 8:8). These words were probably some of the most humble and moving words ever spoken by a Roman to a Jew in those days. This was a powerful Roman centurion, speaking to a simple Jewish carpenter’s son, calling Him “Lord”!

Yet another praiseworthy trait of the centurion was his deep respect for Jesus’ authority. As a man of authority, the centurion believed that disease had to obey Christ’s bidding just as he had to obey his superior officers in the military hierarchy and those under his authority had to obey him. This centurion seemed blessed with spiritual discernment and recognized Jesus as one in possession of great spiritual authority who would be able to accomplish miraculous deeds by merely speaking the word!

This centurion was friendly to the Jews and had even built a synagogue for them. Possibly, the Jews had shared with him many stories about Jesus. Obviously he had heard much about how the miracles had been performed. And there seemed to be a recurring theme in all the miracles – the power of Jesus’ words!

The centurion would have heard: that in the calming of the storm, Jesus had said, “Quiet! Be still!” and the storm ceased (Mark 4:35-41); that in the healing of the demon-possessed man, Jesus had said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!” and the evil spirit was cast out from the demoniac (Mark 1:23-28); that in the healing of the leper, Jesus had merely touched him and said, “Be clean!” and the leper was cleansed (Matthew 8:1-4); that in the raising of the dead son of the widow of Nain, Jesus had said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” And the dead man sat up and began to talk! (Luke 7:11-17)

And so the seed of faith in the centurion must have been planted and stirred up by his having heard the stories of so many miraculous acts accomplished by a simple word of command from Jesus.

Why did Jesus describe that spark of faith as “great”? Firstly, it was great when we consider in whom this faith was found. This Gentile’s faith was more perceptive and sensitive than any that Jesus had seen in Israel. In Luke 7:3, it is mentioned that when the centurion “heard” about Jesus, he had already believed that Jesus had power to heal his servant. Hence he sent to Jesus, elders of the Jews asking Jesus to come and heal his servant. The Jews, on the other hand, had witnessed countless miracles of Jesus with their own eyes, yet all they did was to wonder who Jesus was! Worse, some had accused Him of casting out demons by the power of the devil! (Matthew 12:24)

Secondly, the centurion’s faith is great because he believed healing could take place without Jesus having to be bodily present, thus surpassing the faith even of Martha and Mary who thought Jesus had to be present to heal their brother Lazarus (John 11:21,32). Because God is omnipresent, there is no such thing as distance when it comes to God. Since Jesus is God, distance is no barrier to Him. So when He said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would”, the servant was healed even as Jesus spoke the words!

Immediately after speaking the healing words, Jesus issued a stern warning to the Jews. In Matthew 8:11-12, He warned them about the belief at that time that they were right with God simply because they were born Jews, since Jews were the chosen people of God. Jesus told the Jews that many will come from the east and west (i.e. outside the Jewish nation of Israel) and they will have a place in the kingdom of heaven, while those trusting in their ancestry will be cast into outer darkness.

Ancestry has nothing to do with salvation. The kingdom of heaven is for those who have personally put their faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. It is hoped that when the time comes for us to be judged, Jesus the righteous Judge of the world will commend us as people of SUCH GREAT FAITH!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we praise You for You are our God who has dominion over diseases, demons, nature and even death. Many of us have heard about You and have decided to follow You. Some of us, however, have heard and have yet to decide to trust in You as Lord and Saviour. Whatever the category we belong to, we all know how much money we have in the bank, but none of us knows how much time we have left on this earth. May Your Spirit enable us, in the time that we still have, to be men and women of great faith, following the example of the centurion. Thank You for hearing our prayer, Amen.

每日灵粮
星期二，2021年4月27日
标题：百夫长非凡的信心
作者：陈俊芳姐妹
翻译：陈晓佩姐妹

马太福音 8:10耶稣听见就希奇，对跟从的人说：“我实在告诉你们，这么大的信心，就是在以色列中，我也没有遇见过。”

只有两个实例被我们的主耶稣描述为 “这么大” 的信心，而两个都是外邦人所展示 – 第一个是罗马百夫长，他的仆人被耶稣医治了；第二个则是迦南妇人，她的女儿被鬼附也被耶稣医治了(马太福音15:28)。

百夫长是古罗马军队里主要的军官，他负责100名士兵 – 一个拥有实质权威和权力的人。耶稣治好百夫长仆人的神迹，记载在马太福音8:5-13和路加7:1-10里。这两个记载突显了百夫长异常的谦卑。他甚至认为自己不配与耶稣直接交谈，托了几个犹太人的长老，而后又托了几个朋友，求耶稣医治他瘫痪的仆人。

当耶稣离百夫长的家不远时，百夫长亲自求耶稣：“主啊，你到我舍下，我不敢当；只要你说一句话，我的仆人就必好了”(马太福音8:8)。这些话可能是当时罗马人对犹太人说过的最谦卑、最感人的话。这是一个有权威的罗马百夫长向一个普通犹太木匠的儿子说话，称祂为 “主”！

这位百夫长的另一个值得赞赏的特点是他对耶稣的权威有着深深的敬意。百夫长身为一个有权威的人，他相信疾病必须要服从基督的吩咐就像他必须服从军队等级里的高官一样，那些在他权威下的人必须服从他。这位百夫长似乎拥有属灵洞察力，认出耶稣是那位拥有伟大属灵权威的人，只要说一句话就能成就神迹！

这位百夫长对犹太人友善，甚至为他们建了会堂。也许，犹太人与他分享了许多关于耶稣的故事。显然，他已听了许多关于神迹是如何发生的；而在所有的神迹中似乎都有一个反复出现的主题 – 耶稣话语的力量！

百夫长会听过：在平静风浪的神迹里，耶稣说：“住了吧！静了吧！” 风就止住 （马可福音4:35-41）；在医治被污鬼附的人的神迹里，耶稣说：“不要作声！从这人身上出来吧！” 邪灵就从被污鬼附着的人身上驱逐出来（马可福音1:23-28）；在医治长大麻风的神迹里，耶稣只是摸他说：“你洁净了吧！” 那长大麻风的就洁净了（马太福音8:1-4）；使拿因城寡妇的儿子复活的神迹里，耶稣说：“少年人，我吩咐你起来！” 死人就坐起，并且说话！（路加福音7:11-17）

因此，百夫长信心的种子一定是在他听过耶稣一句命令就完成了这么多神迹的事件而种下并激发起来的。

为什么耶稣形容那信心的星火为 “这么大” 呢？首先，当我们思想是谁有这信心的时候，便可见这信心是大的。相对于耶稣在以色列所见过的，这外邦人的信心是更具洞察力且更敏锐。在路加福音7:3里提到，当百夫长 “风闻” 关于耶稣的事，他就已经相信耶稣有能力医治他的仆人。于是他托犹太人长老求耶稣来医治他的仆人。另一方面，犹太人亲眼见证了耶稣无数的神迹，但他们只是想知道耶稣到底是谁！更糟糕的是，有人指控祂靠着魔鬼的力量赶鬼！（马太福音12:24)

第二，百夫长的信心是大的，因为他相信治愈可以在耶稣不在场的情况下发生，从而超越了马大和马利亚的信心，她们以为耶稣必须在场才能治愈她们的兄弟拉撒路(约翰福音11:21，32)。
因为上帝无处不在，所以在上帝没有距离这回事。因着耶稣是上帝，距离对祂来说不是障碍。所以当祂对百夫长说：“你回去吧。照你的信心，给你成全了。” 就在耶稣说这话的时候，仆人就好了。

耶稣刚说完治愈的话，紧接着就向犹太人发出严厉的警告。在马太福音8:11-12，祂警告他们要提防当时的信念，即仅因他们天生是犹太人，他们与上帝就有和好的关系，因为犹太人是上帝所拣选的子民。耶稣告诉犹太人，许多人将从东从西(即以色列犹太民族之外)而来，他们将在天国占有一席之地，而那些信赖自己祖辈血统的人将被赶到外边黑暗里去。

血统与救恩无关。天国是给那些相信耶稣是主和救主的人。所盼望的是当到了我们被审判的时候，世界公义的审判官耶稣将会称赞我们为有 大信心 的人。

祈祷：
主耶稣，我们赞美祢，因为祢是我们的上帝，掌控疾病、污鬼、自然，甚至死亡。我们当中有许多人都听闻过祢并决定跟随祢。然而，我们当中的一些人已经听说了，但还没有决定信靠祢是主和救主。无论我们是属于哪一类的人，我们都知道我们的银行里有多少钱，但是我们谁也不知道还剩多少时间留在这地球上。愿祢的灵使我们在尚有的时间里，效法百夫长的榜样，成为有大信心的人。谢谢祢垂听我们的祷告，阿们。