In Luke 7 a Roman officer had a sick servant and he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. The Jewish elders begged Jesus to come and help this man because of everything he had done for them. Jesus agreed and went with them. As they were getting close to the man’s house they were greeted by some of his friends who had a message from the Roman officer,
“Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. 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 the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.”
When Jesus said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” it wasn’t a compliment to the Israelites. It’s interesting to look at where the Roman’s faith came from. It came from his understanding and experience as one in authority and under authority. His faith came from what he understood, not from what he didn’t understand. His faith was based off of what he knew, not what he didn’t know.
The Roman officer’s goal was to help his sick servant. His faith expressed in action initiated the healing for someone else. What could our faith expressed in action bring about?
Think about it!