Recognizing True Authority

Luke 7:1 – 10

 

Authority is an interesting thing. Many folks crave it for all the wrong reasons, have you ever had a bad, egotistical boss? Many folks are given authority without ever having had it before and seemingly no qualifications to have it, ever had an incompetent boss?

 

I think of the political joke about the “post turtle,” do y’all know what a post turtle is? Like many incompetent leaders, a post turtle sits on top of a post. It was unable to get up there under its own merits or strength, it did nothing to get up there. It doesn’t know how to get down from there and it has no clue what it’s doing up there or what to do up there.

 

There’s a common theme on dairies when it comes to recognizing the bosses. Whether you’re an employee trying to hide from the boss or a salesman looking to score some commission, you look for the nice, usually clean, and relatively new truck. That’s often how the patron, the bossman, the decision maker, and the ranking authority is recognized on a dairy farm.

 

Which cracks me up because my dad drove jalopies that were constantly on the brink of falling apart! And I know it wasn’t to hide from salesmen, it’s just because he was really, really cheap! I mean in my lifetime he went through four 78/79 Chevy pickups in a row. One even ran on propane.

 

The last one I called Frankenstein because it ended up with body parts from the two previous ones, which were two different two tone colored trucks, one yellow and white the other brown and white.

 

The last truck that he owned and drove until his passing was a green 94 Chevy Silverado, single cab short bed, and believe me, no one who didn’t already know him would see him dressed as shabby as he was driving that truck and assume he was the boss.

 

But he was, and he had all the authority that came with being the owner, with being the patron. All too often, people don’t recognize authority if it’s not spelled out for them, and even then, they miss it.

Last week, as Jesus finished His Sermon on the Plain, He confronted disciples whose profession of faith and obedience didn’t always match. This week, as the setting changes, we’re introduced to an unlikely man whose understanding of Jesus’ authority produced the kind of faith that Jesus had just been calling for. So let’s read God’s Word together: Luke 7:1 – 10.

 

Jesus ended His Sermon on the Plain by asking His disciples, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” This came after telling them how they should live as disciples and then He concluded by calling His disciples to build their lives upon Him through obedient faith.

 

And after He finished saying all of these things to His disciples in the hearing of the larger crowd around them, He entered Capernaum. In Capernaum we meet a living example of what that kind of faith looks like. But this passage isn’t about great faith itself, it’s about recognizing just who Jesus is.

 

Now, as soon as Jesus enters Capernaum, we learn about the dying servant of a centurion. A centurion in the Roman army was an officer in charge of a hundred men. While this particular centurion probably wasn’t directly serving Rome (he was likely serving Herod Antipas in support of Rome since history tells us that no Roman forces were stationed in Galilee until A.D. 44), he was most certainly a Gentile.

 

Here’s a man with great wealth, tremendous influence, and authority over a hundred soldiers. Yet he’s also an outsider, a Gentile, and by the time Luke writes this Gospel, a living reminder of Roman oppression.

 

And yet he cares tremendously for this sick servant that he values so highly. The Greek entimos means precious, honored, esteemed. But despite all his authority, he can’t command sickness. He can’t stop death. You see, human authority always has its limits.

 

Growing up on the dairy, my dad had a saying about hired help. He’d say, “If I sit down, they’ll stop. If I stop, they’ll lie down. If I lay down, they’ll take off.” Human authority has limits. You can supervise people. You can even command people. But there are some things that no amount of human authority can accomplish.

The centurion understood those limitations better than anyone. He could command soldiers, but he couldn’t command disease. He could direct men, but he couldn’t stop death. He had reached the end of what earthly authority could accomplish.

 

That’s what makes v.3 so significant, underline it. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. Now you gotta pause here and let this picture take shape in your mind to appreciate fully what’s going on here.

 

A Gentile centurion, representing the oppressive power of Rome, hears about Jesus. We’re not told what exactly he heard, but Jesus had already been making His away around Galilee, with Capernaum as His base of operations, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, making the lame walk again, and driving out demons.

 

Jesus Christ, full of the Spirit, one with the Father was already known by His work around Galilee, and word of Him had reached this Gentile military commander. He hears, and faith comes from hearing, just as Romans 10:17 says. So, faced with losing his servant and friend, this Gentile centurion sends to Jesus a delegation of Jewish elders to ask Jesus for help.

 

This story just gets stranger from here. It’s hard to figure out what’s weirder here. That Jewish elders honored the request of a Gentile commander representing Roman rule over them, or that those Jewish elders agreed to not only speak to, but to plead with Jesus, who many didn’t like, to help this guy?

 

It really is quite a sight to see, and it clearly demonstrates this guy’s humility before Jesus and his own respectability with the Jews. But more than that it shows just how much social capital this guy expended, how far he was willing to go to save his servant.

 

And so when the Jewish elders get to Jesus, they plead with Him earnestly. They passionately make their case as for why Jesus should go and help this Gentile centurion by healing his servant. Not because they think the servant is worth saving, but because they operate by the world’s standard of reciprocity. They want Jesus to honor the centurions request because of all that the guy has done for them.

 

The Jewish elders say that the centurion is a kind man who has been good to the Jewish people in and around Capernaum. They tell Jesus that this guy loves the Jewish people and he built their synagogue in Capernaum, likely the very same synagogue that Jesus had already been teaching in and drove out a demon from a guy in back in chp.4.

 

It’s truly fascinating. The theology of the Jewish elders is essentially “this guy deserves your help.” Their appeal rests on merit. They say he’s earned it.

 

But notice what they don’t say. They don’t speak of or recognize Jesus’ authority. They don’t mention faith. They don’t even mention God’s mercy. They present credentials. The irony here is beautiful.

 

This Gentile centurion, who had never met Jesus and wasn’t a disciple of Jesus, was living out what Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Plain. This representative of Rome, had wonderfully demonstrated what it means to love your enemies.

 

And because of all of this, the Jewish elders say to Jesus, “He is worthy.” How many of you have felt that way when struggling or suffering or losing a loved one? How often have you heard people say, “oh they didn’t deserve that.”

 

Sometimes there is just no earthly explanation for suffering and struggles that we sometimes experience. Sometimes there is just no earthly explanation for death, especially what we feel is untimely death.

 

There is no sufficient explanation for cancer. There is no good explanation for heart attacks in completely healthy people. There are no understandable explanations for tragic accidents and suicide.

 

There are no explanations other than we live in a fallen world, twisted by sin and full of suffering, that even when it doesn’t feel like it, it truly is temporary. And why not us? Why should any of us be spared from suffering and death if our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ wasn’t?

 

But nonetheless, in our sinful human nature we always seem to drift toward measuring what someone deserves based on a merit scale. And while human merit looks like it offers the solution for the centurion here, that doesn’t change the truth that human merit is never enough.

But Jesus goes with them anyway. As Jesus was nearing the house, another delegation from the centurion reaches Jesus. unlike the Jewish elders who spoke for the commander, this second group are called his friends and they deliver the centurion’s own words to Jesus.

 

His first words to Jesus flips everything the Jewish elders had said upside down. Mark these, they said, “He is worthy.” He says, “I am not worthy.” And he calls Jesus “Lord.” The centurion merely heard about the things Jesus had done, and already he calls Him Lord. Wow.

 

The Jewish leaders see merit while the centurion sees grace. His statement isn’t false humility, rather it reflects a genuine self-understanding. He even says, “I did not presume to come to you.” And then, the centurion says to Jesus, “But say the word, and let my servant be healed.” This guy’s humility just keeps deepening.

 

Throughout the Gospel, those who come closest to the kingdom of God usually become more aware of their unworthiness. Think of Peter when Jesus demonstrated His authority over creation with the miraculous catch of fish in Luke 5, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

 

Think ahead to the sinful woman later in this chapter wetting Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair, think of the tax collector standing at the back of the temple in Luke 18, beating his breast and asking God for mercy. True recognition of Christ, of His greatness, of who He is, consistently produces humility.

 

The centurion recognizes Jesus because he understands authority. He lives within a chain of command, just look at v.8. But he recognizes something remarkable. Jesus’ authority isn’t like his. Earthly authority often depends on physical presence. Jesus’ authority doesn’t.

 

The comparison isn’t between soldiers and sickness, rather it’s between earthly authority and divine authority. When God spoke, His creation came into existence, so when Jesus speaks, His creation obeys.

 

 He recognizes that Jesus possesses an authority unlike any earthly authority. His authority isn’t limited by distance. His authority isn’t limited by disease. His authority isn’t limited by circumstances. The centurion recognizes that Jesus is in a position of authority over creation itself.

The Jewish elders say, “He is worthy.” The Gentile centurion says, “I am not worthy.” The elders say, “Come to the house.” The centurion says, “I don’t deserve to be in your presence, you don’t need to come.” The elders say, “Look at his good work, look at what he’s done.” The centurion says, “Look at who You are.” Everything depends on who Jesus really is.

 

This Gentile understands something extraordinary about who Jesus really is. He recognizes the truth that our passage today reveals, that Jesus is the Christ who possesses divine authority.

 

You must recognize Jesus’ divine authority so that you trust and submit to Him.

 

Who is Jesus that you should trust in His finished work on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins? Who is Jesus that you should submit your whole life to Him? Who is Jesus that you should believe in Him as the Christ, the Son of God, the risen Savior and Lord?

 

Genuine faith recognizes who Jesus truly is, it recognizes Christ’s divine authority, and trusts in and submits to Him. Just look at how Jesus responds to the centurion’s message beginning in v.9.

 

Jesus marveled, think about that. Only twice in the Gospels is Jesus said to marvel. In one instance in the Gospel of Mark, He marvels at the unbelief of those in His hometown. Here He marvels at a Gentile’s faith. Let that sink in. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, the one who holds all authority in heaven and on earth, was amazed by this man’s faith.

 

And He lets the crowd know, He wants everyone to hear what He’s about to say, this is for them. He turns to the crowd following Him an says: “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

 

That is a stunning statement. Israel, God’s chosen people, the ones who had the Scriptures, the prophets, the promises, the temple, did not produce this kind of faith. But a Gentile soldier, an outsider, and enemy occupier, did.

 

The scandal of this story is that the one who had every reason to be excluded is the one who gets it right. And the ones who had every advantage, the religious insiders, missed it completely.

That’s the scandal of the gospel, that when you are dead in your sin, completely helpless to save yourself, utterly unworthy to stand in the presence of a holy God, you are made clean by the blood of Christ, justified before God by faith in Jesus Christ alone when you repent of your sin and turn and submit your life to Jesus.

 

And if you want evidence of who Christ is and His authority over sin and death, His authority to save, just look at what happened to the centurion’s servant. When the delegations that had been sent to Jesus returned to the centurion’s house, they found the servant well.

 

He was healed. Not because the centurion earned it. Not because he built a synagogue. Not because he was worthy. But because he trusted the authority of Christ’s word, he trusted Christ. Jesus is exactly who the centurion confessed Him to be.

 

So today, the first thing I want you to do is I want you to see Jesus for who He truly is. The centurion’s faith didn’t begin with extraordinary trust. It began with an extraordinary view of Jesus.

 

Before we have an obedience problem we have a Christology problem. We’ve simply settled for a smaller Jesus. We’ve shrunk Jesus down until He’s merely someone who helps us accomplish our plans instead of the sovereign Christ who rules over every part of our lives.

 

So spend time in God’s Word, not just looking for information, but looking to see Christ more clearly. Spend time with Christ’s people, His church, not because you have nothing better to do, but to see Him.

 

Next, I want you to surrender one area of your life to Christ today. The centurion understood chains of command. He knew what it meant to live under authority.

 

Many Christians gladly confess Jesus as Savior while quietly holding back certain areas of life where they insist on being the final authority. Marriage, money, entertainment, bitterness, your schedule, your ambitions.

 

The issue isn’t whether Jesus has authority over those things, He does. The issue is whether you’ve acknowledged it. Every act of disobedience, every sin, is choosing our own authority over His.

So ask God this week to reveal to you where you’re resisting Christ’s authority. Odds are you already know where, so be honest with yourself, name it, and then surrender that area to Him in faith.

 

Lastly, come to Christ empty, not worthy. The Jewish elders came saying, “He is worthy.” The centurion came saying, “I am not.” Yet, the centurion was the one who truly understood Jesus.

 

That is how every Christian comes to Christ. Never because we’ve earned His favor, but always because He is worthy. The gospel frees us from trying to impress Christ and calls us to depend upon Him.

 

So when you fail this week, don’t run from Christ. Run to Him. When you sin, confess it and repent. Remember that your confidence before the throne of grace never rested in your performance, it has always rested in your Savior.

 

A powerful Gentile officer understood something that many in Israel missed. He came in humility rather than claiming worthiness. He recognized the true authority of Jesus. He trusted in His word. He submitted to His authority. That ought to be the life of every disciple.

 

The clearer you see Christ, the more naturally you’ll trust His Word and submit to His will.

 

Because when you truly recognize Jesus as the Christ who possesses divine authority, trusting Him, submitting to Him, and coming to Him in humble faith are no longer burdensome duties, they are the joyful response of a heart that has seen the King.