by Rebekah Harvey
How would you like to hear that Jesus was amazed by your faith? I think this would be one of the greatest things to hear Him say other than, “well done, my good and faithful servant”.

In Matthew 8:5 we read, “Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” 7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 “For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” The NLT says, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!

This centurion understood how authority works and that being submitted to authority would bring about good things for him and those that he had authority over. It seems this centurion who was responsible for a group of about one hundred men had compassion at work in him, he went to Jesus and was pleading with Him. It wasn’t just a casual ask “if you get a chance could you stop by?” The torment that his servant was suffering bothered him enough to go to Jesus and plead on his behalf.

The centurion who was a Gentile and not a Jew understood that he was not worthy to have Jesus come and care for the situation out of his own merit or goodness. This man was able to recognize that Jesus was a man that had great authority when he explained how his chain of command worked with his men under him. He was able to perceive that if Jesus would simply, “speak a word, his servant would be healed”. This is solid faith! When the centurion finished speaking to Jesus, it left Jesus astonished at his great faith.

The centurion and his servant were blessed as he yielded himself to authority. I think in society today we often resist yielding. We want to be in charge of everything and all the details, but this can land us in trouble. If we will yield to Jesus and trust that His authority is what is good for us, then He will be able to do great things in us. When we resist it is like we are fighting against Him and what He wants to do for us.

Do you need to submit to the authority of Jesus in a greater way? Jesus wants to work in each of us. He won’t push His way in though, He will not force Himself on you. I encourage you to yield to His authority and put your faith in Him.