His Love Frees

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

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. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

(Matthew 8:5-13)

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I remember standing at the front of a church meeting years ago, responding to a call to receive prayer for healing. I didn’t know what would happen but I just knew that healing lies in the heart of God and decided to respond. So I got out of my seat and walked up to the prayer team. 

“Do you have faith that you will be healed?” asked one of the prayer warriors, with the best of intentions. 

I was confused by the question. How did I know whether I had the ‘faith’ this man talked about? I knew that I had left my seat and walked to the front – but wasn’t that enough? Didn’t Jesus mention once that all you need is the faith of a mustard seed? But this man, and I know he meant well, seemed to be asking more from me. And I didn’t want to examine whether or not I had the ‘faith.’ I just wanted to be healed because I knew that Jesus heals people. 

I can’t remember how the effect of the prayer turned out. But here I am all these years later, still here. So it must have had a good effect alongside other prayers. But don’t we overcomplicate things? People can spend so much time in church ministry judging each other on their levels of faith. And yet Christ himself said that all you need is that faith of a small seed! 

A seed that grows, of course, into a large tree with the right nurturing, watering and light.  

The centurion understood that God doesn’t want us to make it complicated. I believe that all God wants us to do is trust him for the outcome of any situation, ask him to “say the Word” and leave it all to him. That’s what this soldier did. He understood the authority of Jesus and he didn’t waste time questioning it, or pondering about his own levels of faith. In effect, he just says to Jesus, “Here I am. Here’s my servant and he’s ill. Please say he’s healed and it will be done, according to your own decision.” 

It was childlike, trusting and simple – and amazed Jesus! 

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