The account of the faith-filled centurion is in the Bible to increase our faith and trust that Jesus can heal us of any affliction. I want to examine this account more closely in this post.

In my last post, I talked about the significance of Jesus healing lepers. In this post, I want to talk about faith, and what it did for a certain Gentile centurion.

I don’t want to go through the motions of looking at these accounts is healing in the New Testament without understanding the theology behind them. This powerful account of the faith-filled centurion teaches us about faith and how it works.

His faith will impress Jesus because He has not seen such faith among believers in Israel. It shows that our faith has a lot of power and Jesus can use our faith to make things happen. It’s not that Jesus can heal without faith but that you see faith exercised most of the time in His healings. This account takes place in two Gospels, Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10.

Faith for a New Thing

As we look at the account of the faith-filled centurion, I want to focus on faith and its importance for seeing your healing happen. The centurion shows his faith and understanding of Jesus’s power. He knows his place and has probably made a career of knowing it.

Jesus expects to do what he has done Israel ever since He began healing people. They expect Him to come to the person who is sick and personally interact with them. I think Jesus knew the level of faith in the centurion and was not as surprised as He appears.

The faith-filled centurion have the faith to believe in a new way. He did not the man the same way He has been healing so far. He understood that just because he was a commander of Roman armies that he can demand Jesus have his attention. He didn’t even think he was worthy for Jesus to come to his house.

The Power of Faith

We believe in Jesus’s ability to heal us without being physically present with us. Indeed, in this new era of faith, the Holy Spirit works with our faith to bring God’s power into our lives. We trust in His power without His physical presence.

But when Jesus was ministering and walking on the earth, people expected Him to come to them, sometimes touch them for healing, and do what they have seen Him do before. These accounts of healing, and when we see healing done today by Jesus through the Holy Spirit, increase our faith to believe He can heal us too.

The Gospels attest that faith has great power as it did for the faith-filled centurion. Our ability to put I trust in Jesus to do the impossible opens our hearts to receive His healing. But sometimes Jesus heals people in spite of their lack of faith. We will see this in the Gospels as well as we continue to study healing.

The Faith-Filled Centurion’s Request

This is unusual in the Gospels because the centurion is a Roman soldier, a Gentile, coming to Jesus for the help of healing for his servant. The servant must have been special to him for the centurion to ask Jesus.

The Romans certainly did not trust the Jew but this centurion came to Jesus anyway. That already shows a higher level of faith. The servant was paralyzed, another miracle Jesus has performed before. He could not serve the centurion in such a condition.

Notice the centurion presented the request but did not ask Jesus to heal the servant. Jesus understood this was why the centurion came to Him. He knew Jesus was a healer. I wonder how he found out about Jesus in the first place.

The request was all Jesus needed. Coming to Him was a sign of the centurion’s faith already. Jesus says He will come and heal the servant. The word used for “heal” in this account is the same word we use for cure or therapy.

It’s the reaction of the centurion that impresses Jesus. It only impresses Him because He has not seen such faith among God’s people Israel, let alone from a Gentile who barely understands who Jesus is.

The faith-filled centurion may not realize exactly who Jesus is as the Messiah and the Son of God who has the power to do much more than heal, but he at least realizes that even he as a trained and accomplished Roman soldier is still not worthy to even host Jesus in his house.

He voices this truth I telling Jesus he is not worthy for Jesus to come under his roof. But it’s more than just realizing his proper place. It’s that he has the faith to trust that Jesus can heal without being physically in the room.

The Faith-Filled Centurion Understood Authority

The centurion was in charge of roughly 80 Roman soldiers. He did not just lead in battle but led his men in the other responsibilities of Roman soldiers. They built roads, bridges, and forts. They served in the Army for an average of 18-25 years before they retired.

This was the life of the centurion. The second understanding he had besides realizing he was unworthy of Jesus was that of authority. As a leader of men, he understood how authority works. He told Jesus that when he gave a command, he expected it to be followed to the letter.

He doesn’t strike me as a micromanager. He would deal with dissension or disobedience against his authority if it arose. But the life of this trained soldier taught him that authority was all that was necessary. The details would work themselves out under the command.

Just as he did not have to be physically present to watch every order he made carried out the way it should have been, he expected his authority to be recognized and obeyed. He saw Jesus the same way, One who could issue a command of healing and it be done no matter how far away Jesus was physically from the sick person.

Jesus told the faith-filled centurion to go back to his house and that it would be done for him according to his faith. I love the last sentence of this passage. The centurion’s servant was healed at the very moment Jesus spoke.

Believing in Jesus’s power to heal your body opens the door to miracles the mind cannot conceive but the heart longs for. Faith is the start of God doing the impossible for you. This false teachers can abuse the truth, but even they cannot undermine it.

Praying for Your Healing

My the Lord Jesus, I and my brother and sister in You call upon You to move our mountains of afflictions. Like the disciples, we cry out, “Increase our FAITH!” We long to see Your healing power transform these lowly bodies so we can proclaim the report that goes against the doctors’ analysis and prognoses. We currently but confidently put ourselves in Your hands by faith. It is all we can do but it is more than enough. Thank You for Your healing power and what You are doing in us. In Your mighty name, Amen.

Up Next

We have seen how faith can change the life of a servant because a Roman soldier had it. Next, we will look at Jesus changing the lives of paralyzed people.