Luke 7:9

Verse of the Day Devotion Luke 7:9 

“Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” – Luke 7:9   

After Jesus finished His discourse with the Pharisees, He left and went to Capernaum.  And when He arrived, he is informed of the critical illness of a valuable servant of a centurion, one who was close to death.  As a note, a centurion in the Roman army was an officer in charge of one hundred men. And six centurions and their men served under a tribune. In this instance the centurion was not serving in a direct Roman military capacity because Roman soldiers were not stationed in Capernaum. As a result he may have been in the service of Herod Antipas, who used non-Jewish soldiers. Also, Roman centurions were typically persons of economic means, and the use of their means for civic projects played an important role in their appointment and promotion to the upper ranks of Roman military and political life.

Now, we next read, “And when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. And when they had come to Jesus, they earnestly entreated Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue.” Luke 7:3-5. Now we see that when this centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they asked Jesus, they said he was worthy of having his servant healed because he loved the Jews and had built a synagogue for them.  So because of this, it was not improper to show him kindness.

So, Jesus agreed to go to him.  “Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Luke 7:6-7. In these verses, we see humility in the centurion. Where the elders said he was worthy of him coming and granting this request, the centurion said he was not worthy of Him coming to his place, therefore do not take the time to come. Also, notice how he addresses Jesus.  He calls Him Lord.

Now, this is where it gets interesting.  Note verse eight. “For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Luke 7:8.  At the very  end of verse seven we read, “You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Luke 7:7b.  Then he explains what he means in the next verse.    What is interesting is that He compares Jesus’ authority to his own.  He stated those under himself obey him in all ways. And just as his soldiers do what he says, the sickness will obey Jesus and leave his slave.  And all He has to do is declare it, and it will happen.  He does not need to be there, just to declare the healing.

Now, Jesus totally understood what he was saying.  “Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.” Luke 7:9-10. The centurion’s understanding of Jesus’ spiritual authority made Jesus marvel. His simple confidence in the ability of Jesus’ mere words to heal showed a faith that was free of superstitious reliance on merely external things.   True faith realizes that God can heal apart from rituals, special ointments, touch, or monetary gifts to the healer. The centurion recognized that all Jesus needed to say was a single word. His faith in Jesus was absolute and unlimited. Even a single word from the Lord spoken at a distance could heal his servant, for the Spirit of the Lord was present with Jesus to heal.

This is true faith.  The centurion had come to understand that Jesus was not limited at all by distance and could do anything.  I now ask the question; do we have this type of faith?  God has shown us through His word, and with some, experiences of His miraculous abilities.  Jesus marveled at the faith this man had. He expressed here that He had not seen Faith like this in all of Israel, God’s people.  This is sad because they claimed faith in God.  But was their faith real, or simply tradition.  It is important that we look at our faith to see if ours is real or simply tradition.  And then go to God as we see where we fall short.  This is essential and will help us have the faith we ought to have in such a wonderful and powerful God who loves us.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

Mark 8:34

Verse of the Day Devotion:  Mark 8:34  

“And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” – Mark 8:34

Jesus here is speaking to the disciples and the crowd that was there with them about what was going to take place.  “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Mark 8:31.  He told them the Jewish leadership would get Him killed, however He would rise from the grave in three days.  After He clearly states this, Peter pulls Him aside and literally rebukes Him.  What is interesting is that, knowing who He was, he felt it necessary to rebuke the Son of God.  “But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Mark 8:33.  The reason for this rebuke is that Peter was minimizing the will of the God and usurping it with his own will.  This shows Peter still did not fully understand Jesus’ purpose here. 

So, in our focus verse, Jesus summoned them all together and told them what He required from His followers.  “And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” Mark 8:34.  Now, these words of Jesus were similar to the principal qualities required of a proselyte to Judaism. 

The first principal being that proselytes must embrace the Jewish religion voluntarily, and that neither force or influence has anything to do with this decision (if anyone wishes to come after me). 

Second, they must completely renounce and separate themselves from  their former religion and its beliefs and ways (he must deny himself).  He must deny his former life and be reborn.  “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Third, he must submit to the yoke of the Jewish law (he must take up his cross).  However, instead of the yolk of the law.  Jesus speaks of the yoke of His teachings.  “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30.  His teachings are less burdensome and onerous then the Jewish yoke of the Law of Moses. 

And lastly, he must solemnly and honestly engage to continue in the Jewish faith (and follow me).  This condition Christ also requires; and it is comprised in this word, ‘let him Follow me’.  In following Him, they agree to adopt the teachings and ways of Christ. 

One other idea within this verse is that they are putting their lives on the line by following Him.  Note here the phrase, ‘he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.’  No matter any danger that may come as a result of them following Christ, they must continue with Him.  He must put Christ ahead of himself and if required, take up the cross and sacrifice himself.  Following Jesus requires continuing and non-stop determination to stick to the chosen path. 

To follow Christ can be a difficult task, but it is following the truth.  In the first century it was a dangerous decision due to the Jewish leadership and the Roman government.  And we are beginning to see similar situations in our world today.  There is definitely movement to seriously restrict Christians in their beliefs and even in their speech.  So, as Jesus spoke to the crown around Him, so He speaks to us today.  “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”  Mark 8:35-38.    

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.