In this lesson we will meet two personalities: one of faith,
one of doubt. The interesting thing about the pair is that they are not whom
you might expect. The man of faith is a Roman centurion, not even a Jew. The
man of doubt? John the Baptist.
The Centurion
Matthew 8:5-13 NASB And when
Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him,
imploring Him, (6) and saying, "Lord, my servant is
lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented." (7)
Jesus *said to him, "I will come and heal him." (8)
But the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy for
You to come under my roof, but just say the word,
and my servant will be healed. (9) "For I also 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." (10) Now when Jesus heard this, He
marveled and said to those who were following,
"Truly I say to you, I have not found such great
faith with anyone in Israel. (11) "I say to you that
many will come from east and west, and recline at
the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the
kingdom of heaven; (12) but the sons of the kingdom
will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that
place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
(13) And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go; it shall
be done for you as you have believed." And the
servant was healed that very moment.
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Luke 7:1-10 NASB When He had
completed all His discourse in the hearing of the
people, He went to Capernaum. (2) And a centurion's
slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and
about to die. (3) When he heard about Jesus, he sent
some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the
life of his slave. (4) When they came to Jesus, they
earnestly implored Him, saying, "He is worthy for
You to grant this to him; (5) for he loves our
nation and it was he who built us our synagogue."
(6) Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when
He was 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; (7) 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. (8)
"For I also am a man placed 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." (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." (10) When those who had been sent
returned to the house, they found the slave in good
health.
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It is well for us to consider the centurion. He is a
military man, approximating a captain in the army we have today, for he
commanded a hundred men. As such, he had a number of disadvantages with respect
to faith. Indeed, one might reasonably ask how such a man could have come to so
great a faith, given these facts:
- He is not even Jewish. He is Roman, and Roman during a
time when the Jewish belief was almost universally despised throughout the
Roman Empire. Jews were viewed as bigots, those who claimed that only the
Jew could possibly benefit from God -- all others were automatically
destined to hell. Jewish dietary laws were ridiculed. Jews in general were
viewed with suspicion, distrust and a sense that there was something
fundamentally wrong with their minds.
- Worse, he is a conqueror. What worse could be said -- from
the point of view of the conquered? This man is the commander of the local
company of the conquering army. This is a tremendous social barrier. How
did this man ever acquire such a faith?
He does, however, possess certain advantages. We would do
well to study these, as they overcame the barriers we listed above.
- He is a man who knows the nature of power, and is
comfortable with his place in the power structure. He is not a petty
tyrant, but a man who would understand Churchill's comment that
"power, rightly understood, is a blessing."
- Politically, he is very astute. It may be that he built
the synagogue for the Jews out of piety -- but the elders who spoke for
him must have at least respected him and considered him worth.
- Most important, he is a seeker after God. That a Roman
could be said to "love our nation" could only arise from this
search for the true God.
The centurion, like any good soldier, is a man of action.
The novelist will tell you that character is not so much described as
portrayed. What can we learn from his actions?
- He acknowledges his place. He does not consider himself
important enough to disturb the prophet (I doubt he knew much more than
that) or teacher, but also he knows that he need not. He therefore
balances his own lack of importance with his need -- and sends those whom
he considers will be heard more readily. Only as Jesus approaches does he
speak directly -- and then only to indicate that it is not necessary that
Jesus come.
- He intercedes. He does not do this for himself but for his
slave. In that, he imitates the prophets, priests and kings of the Old
Testament. He puts himself, humbly, in between God and man.
- He does so on behalf of a slave. Please note the
expression that the slave is "highly valued." A slave in the
Roman Empire is nothing more than a living tool; the slave master could
legally have him killed at a whim. And to what trouble does our centurion
go?
Jesus comments on none of this. He commends the man for his
faith (and grants his request). But it would seem that one who knows his own
place and then intercedes for others, no matter how lowly, may be an example of
great faith.
We must now go over to the other side, and see doubt -- and
how Christ handles it.
John the Baptist
Matthew 11:2-15 NASB Now when
John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of
Christ, he sent word by his disciples (3) and said
to Him, "Are You the Expected One, or shall we look
for someone else?" (4) Jesus answered and said to
them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see:
(5) the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are
raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO
THEM. (6) "And blessed is he who does not take
offense at Me." (7) As these men were going away,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, "What
did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed
shaken by the wind? (8) "But what did you go out to
see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear
soft clothing are in kings' palaces! (9) "But what
did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you,
and one who is more than a prophet. (10) "This is
the one about whom it is written, 'BEHOLD, I SEND MY
MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY
BEFORE YOU.' (11) "Truly I say to you, among those
born of women there has not arisen anyone greater
than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in
the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (12) "From
the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom
of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it
by force. (13) "For all the prophets and the Law
prophesied until John. (14) "And if you are willing
to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to
come. (15) "He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
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Luke 7:18-30 NASB The
disciples of John reported to him about all these
things. (19) Summoning two of his disciples, John
sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are You the Expected
One, or do we look for someone else?" (20) When the
men came to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has
sent us to You, to ask, 'Are You the Expected One,
or do we look for someone else?'" (21) At that very
time He cured many people of diseases and
afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to
many who were blind. (22) And He answered and said
to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen
and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead
are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO
THEM. (23) "Blessed is he who does not take offense
at Me." (24) When the messengers of John had left,
He began to speak to the crowds about John, "What
did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed
shaken by the wind? (25) "But what did you go out to
see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who are
splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in
royal palaces! (26) "But what did you go out to see?
A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more
than a prophet. (27) "This is the one about whom it
is written, 'BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF
YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.' (28) "I
say to you, among those born of women there is no
one greater than John; yet he who is least in the
kingdom of God is greater than he." (29) When all
the people and the tax collectors heard this, they
acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized
with the baptism of John. (30) But the Pharisees and
the lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves,
not having been baptized by John.
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It is surprising to some that John the Baptist is here
portrayed as being in doubt as to who Jesus is. Indeed, some commentators
indicate that John did this only to strengthen his disciples. This seems
unlikely to me. So we must ask ourselves what happened? Like the centurion,
John had his disadvantages and advantages:
- John is in jail. This is a most depressing place, far
worse than the brightly lit and sanitary prisons of our day. You must
remember that only in the late 19th century did anyone consider that a
jail should have anything but the worst possible conditions. The objective
was to make the cell as miserable as possible, so as to reduce the man in
it to the most pitiful state as soon as possible. We are all creatures of
our circumstance.
- He is in jail for opening his big mouth. He has challenged
Herod's marriage to Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. There is
always the thought in such circumstances that "perhaps I should have
been a bit more diplomatic." For most of us, we tend to see suffering
as sometimes the punishment of God (and sometimes it is); I suspect John
was wondering if this whole thing wasn't a mistake.
- In short, John's focus is on John, not on others. He needs
help, and sends to get it.
As for his advantages, they are listed in the Scripture
above. It is interesting that Jesus does not condemn John's doubt; rather, He
pronounces what might be taken as his eulogy. We may learn something from
John's predicament. It is interesting too that his is not the only case of
doubt among the heroes: you might also consider
- Job (Job 30:20-21)
- David (Psalm 22:2, which is prophetic as well of Jesus)
- Moses (Exodus 4:10) , a man who was sure God had picked
the wrong man.
- Elijah (1 Kings 19:13-18) calls fire down from heaven --
and then runs from Jezebel. The complaint is interesting.
- Jeremiah (Jeremiah 15:18) wants to know if God lied to
him.
- Abraham (Genesis 12:12-13) tries to pass of his wife as
his sister to keep from being killed.
- Peter can't seem to stay above water (Matthew 14:29-31)
Why are we like this?
- Often, as with Elijah, our emotions triumph over our
reason. We tend to think of faith as being an emotional thing ("I
feel it in my heart") but forget that the Scripture portrays it as
entirely rational.
- Our lack of faith is usually a reflection of ourselves. We
ourselves know that no one is completely trustworthy; all are sinners --
and therefore we put our complete trust in no one. This is accurate --
until we paste that mental image of untrustworthiness onto God.
- Sin itself can be a barrier. The process is complex, but I
may simplify it with a quotation from a brother-in-law who is now a true
brother. "I wanted to sleep with ...., therefore there is no
God."
Cure for Doubt
There are many things we can use as "cure for
doubt." Here are some suggested by the evidence given here:
- Unlike John, we should stay in the community of believers.
We are social animals, and we are affected by the attitudes around us. It
is harder to stay faithful when you're in solitary confinement. It is also
hard to stay faithful when your only contact with your fellow Christians
is on Sunday.
- We need to focus on the problems of others, not on our own
needs. If God is using us to deal with the troubles of others, we will
have no thought to spare to create problems of our own.
- We may indeed use Jesus own defense: look at the evidence.
Remember that faith is not an emotion but a rational response to the
facts. It is well that we do so.
- Like the centurion, we need to seek God -- not to seek his
absence. This involves obedience and care for others, but starts in the
human heart as a quest: who is this God?
There is one other cure for doubt. You probably have not
thought of it in the context of doubt versus faith, but I submit that these two
episodes are next to each other for a reason: that you may see that curing
doubt is not an injection but a lifestyle: a lifestyle which turns not on the
self but on others. John inquired for himself; the centurion interceded for the
lowest of the low.
Intercession
The opposite of doubt is faith; faith without works is dead;
and I submit the highest of works is to intercede for others. This is shown in
the fact that intercession is nothing less than boldness based on faith. In
intercession, the Christian takes his courage in his hand and steps up to the
throne of grace to ask the king of kings and Lord of Lords for a favor -- for
someone else.
Does this seem too much for you? After all, the first
principle of intercession is this: by definition, the strong intercede for the
weak, not the other way around. Indeed, in the Scripture we are assured that
such intercession is made for us
- by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26-27)
- by Christ Himself, as our High Priest (Hebrews 7:5)
In the Old Testament, intercession was the function of
prophets, priests and kings. Clearly, then, we see intercession as something
the mighty do for the weak.
But we also see that intercession is commanded to the
Christian!
- First, for our brothers in Christ (1 John 5:16)
- But also, for all those in authority over us! (1 Timothy
2:12)
Imagine that! We, the strong and mighty, are commanded to
pray for Bill Clinton, the weak. And not for him only, but for all in
authority. We are the strong, interceding for the weak who run this world.
How can this be? The answer (as always) is found in the
Scripture:
(Gal 3:26-27 NIV) You are all sons of God through faith in
Christ Jesus, {27} for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed
yourselves with Christ.
Think of it this way: we, the disciples of Christ, were
clothed with Christ at baptism. We are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. How then,
does God the Father view our prayers when we are in His will? He looks down and
sees the face of His Son Jesus. No longer the weak and puny I but the mighty
one, the King of Kings, now intercedes at the throne of heaven. Who on earth
stands with more power before that throne? No wonder I am commanded!
Therefore, throw away the doubt which comes from looking at
yourself as nothing but man -- and take up the faith and confidence of one who
is clothed with Christ.
(Heb 4:16 KJV) Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne
of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Faith is not accomplished by half measures.