Note: While our study on Luke is interrupted this week for Spring Vacation, I am posting a journal entry looking ahead into chapter 7. Next week we will return with a consideration of the "Triumphal Entry" from chapter 19 which is only appropriate since it will be Palm Sunday.
S = 7:4-6,9 “And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, ‘He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.’ …the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof…When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”
O = What can I observe about this man, the centurion? It says that he valued or esteemed his servant, loved Israel as a nation or people, built the synagogue in Capernaum through his giving, was well respected by Jewish elders, and had friends that could be trusted. He understood authority as one who was also under authority himself. He recognized that Jesus’ speaking with authority (that we saw in Ch. 4) was true authority even over sickness. He, the centurion, was very perceptive. The elders said he was worthy, but he knew that he wasn’t worthy, for he saw his own internal spiritual condition—and in that confession of unworthiness and faith he actually became marvelous to Jesus…as the greatest display of faith that he had seen. Faith in Jesus starts with the claim of my unworthiness. Christ is the worthiness of God on my behalf!
A = Do people look at my life and think I am worthy because of my attitudes and actions? I hope so. But do I know that inside I am actually not worthy of demanding anything from God? I hope so, yet do I know Jesus’ character well enough to ask in faith expecting he is more than capable of meeting any need? I hope so! How can I live into that expectation this week?
P = O Lord Jesus, may I never stoop to believing my own press reports, but rather discern the truth of my own need and the truth of your ability and desire to meet that need. May my faith in you lead me to become more relational, and more connected in community with your people, all the time. Help me to see the value in others more and more and that I would learn to love your people more than myself more consistently. Amen.
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