“When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!’ » (Matthew 8:10).
If we read a little Roman history, we will see that the centurion was someone who had 100 men in his command, men who obeyed him. He also obeyed orders. He was familiar with protocols and hierarchies.
He knew the people of Israel with all their customs and he valued them. He believed in God and believed that Jesus’s teaching satisfied the soul. He seemed to understand everything much better than the Jews themselves did!
When they learned of His arrival, the elders spoke of hierarchies protocols, explaining the merits of this man (as if Jesus cared about those things). Jesus went to see him, not because he was important, but because he was one of the people He had come to rescue.
The centurion proved to have so much faith in Jesus that Jesus did not need to go to his house. Jesus was not used to this treatment. His fellow countrymen had been very different. However, this man was willing to obey as the waves and demons would obey. Jesus marveled, something that is not said very often about him.
The centurion, «born in heathenism, educated in the idolatry of imperial Rome, trained as a soldier, seemingly cut off from spiritual life by his education and surroundings, and still further shut out by the bigotry of the Jews, and by the contempt of his own countrymen for the people of Israel,— this man perceived the truth to which the children of Abraham were blinded. He did not wait to see whether the Jews themselves would receive the One who claimed to be their Messiah» (The Desire of Ages, ch. 32, p. 317).
How many lessons we can draw from this brief but very powerful encounter! Let us not wait to see if the people around us are going to receive Jesus, even within a religious setting.
Let us love our neighbor with such concern and dedication as this important man loved his servant. Let us trust in the power and commands of Jesus and, as we are exposed to the light of His glory, let us show that understand our condition before Him. Let us lead others to Jesus, not cause of their merits, but because of their need.
You can put all these things into practice now, but if you are in your professional training stage, make a covenant to imitate this man when you have people in your charge. They are qualities worthy of imitation in leadership.
