Matthew 8:5-13

This past Sunday we had twelve people baptized in Bowler pond. Some of them said to me that they never imagined a few years ago that they would ever be in church or be baptized publically as they were.

I’ve noticed something about newer believers. Older believers are often surprised by their enthusiasm, their courage and their faith. As we mature in the Lord, the things of God become commonplace. Every once in a while someone or something stands out and we are shaken to the core.

Some of you may know Charlie Martz from South Hope. His brother, Hayden Martz, lived in Danbury, NH where my step-father was a pastor. Hayden was tall, rugged looking, successful businessman in that town. He sold snowmobiles and had snowmobile trails that went through the backwoods and stretched to our home, which was right beside School Pond. He was the last person in our community that anyone thought would ever come to Christ.

One afternoon, Charlie Martz shows up and asks my step-father to go up with him to talk to Hayden about Jesus. My step-father reluctantly agreed and the two of them went to his home. That afternoon, Hayden and his wife became believers in Jesus Christ.

The change was instant and tremendous. He stopped drinking, swearing and started attending church. He opened his home for our youth group and we often were able to take rides on snowmobiles as part of our activities. He visited this church once years ago and was still walking with the Lord. People in town could not believe that Hayden had become a religious man, a Christian. But they saw how his life was cleaned up, how he changed and they could not deny that he was a new man.

We can be surprised by faith. We can see someone take great leaps of faith and be amazed that they did. Perhaps some of you have had others say that of you. They say, “I can’t believe the change that has come over you. I can’t believe how strong your faith in Jesus is…” You might have heard it.

Jesus was surprised by faith in this text. We look at this story and we get a glimpse of what great faith looks like. When we hear the story, what might pass us, but I don’t want us to miss this, is that Jesus was amazed at this man’s faith. It takes quite a bit to impress Jesus. But he was impressed. The KJV uses the word “marveled.” Let’s read this.

5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.” 7 Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.” 8 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. 9 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.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 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. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour. (Matthew 8:5-13, NIV).

So what makes faith so great?

First, great faith is preceded by great humility.

This man comes to Jesus and asks for healing for his servant. Jesus said he would go and heal him. The man says, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof…”

Why not? Because he was a boss. He was an order-giver. He was someone who told other people what to do. Because he could boss people around, he knew that he was not worthy to boss Jesus around.

This man was a leader and had great respect for authority. He understood his own power. He also understood the limits of that power.

Do you know your own power? We have in this church many different kinds of power-people. They may not view themselves that way, but they are. In the church we have pastors, elders, deacons, trustees, and other leaders. Each one has power over a certain area of ministry in the church.

We also have people with power in business. Some of you own your company or are in a supervisory role within a business.

We have people who have power in the community. You are teachers, important members of town organizations, town officials. You are people who have a degree of power.

We have parents in this church. You parents are power people. Children are ordered to obey you.

With our power must come great humility. We have been given responsibility by God and must show ourselves faithful to the task before us. Using our power to gain perks, to put others down, to make life easy for ourselves is unchristian.

We are to constantly understand that all authority has been given to Jesus. We are not worthy to tell God what to do, where to go, and how to do what he does. We come to Jesus and bow down before him, we do not make Jesus bow down to us.

This spirit of humility precedes great faith. It takes responsibility for what it can do and comes to God to ask for what it cannot do.

Second, great faith asks for the improbable.

Long distance healing is improbable. Imagine calling your doctor and saying, “I am paralyzed from the neck down. Would you say a word for me? Don’t’ come to my house, just speak so I can be healed.” We would never say that. We would call 911 or rush the person to the hospital. We would take them to the physician so he could see them, touch them and help them. This man asks for the improbable.

Someone might ask, “Why didn’t you say impossible?” Because most of us believe that anything is possible with God, but not everything is probable. This man asks for something to be done that God can do, but most would be skeptical if he did do it.

This is what makes faith great. It’s asking for the improbable.

Why did he do this? The man loved his servant. He didn’t want him in pain and suffering. He respected Jesus too much to ask him to go out of his way. So he asked Jesus the improbable. “Do a long distance healing of my servant.”

This is why my own faith is not a great faith. I tend to live in the realm of praying for what I believe God will do. By the way, don’t feel bad if you don’t have great faith, not everyone has it. If so, we would not have great faith, all our faith would be the same.

Some people ask for the improbable and receive it. When a loved one is on their deathbed, they pray and sometimes God hears. Some are in the worst situation one could imagine and they pray and ask God to lift the burden, to help them in our out of the situation. Everyone around them thinks it is improbable, but God does it.

Third, great faith is seen beside lesser faith.

Matthew is writing this book sometime before 70 AD. Jesus died about 33AD so it is between ten and thirty years after the death of Jesus. He takes the material about Jesus’ life and he gives it to his readers with a purpose in mind. He does not make up stories or fabricate what happened. However, when he thinks about what Jesus said, he gives these stories with a point in mind.

The reason he includes this dialogue is to show that Jesus predicted that Gentiles would be believers. Verse 11 tells us that they would come from the east and the west. Those who come are Gentiles. The Jewish people though that they would be the only one at the banquet. Jesus says, “No, the Gentiles will be there and many of those who were born into the nation of Israel will be thrown out because they did not put their faith in the Messiah, Jesus.

If anyone should have believed in Jesus, it should have been the Jewish people. The Old Testament is full of prophecies about the Messiah. Jesus fulfilled them all. He lived in their presence. They saw the miracles and heard the teaching. They should have believed.

But who shows the greater faith? A Gentile. We debate the influx of people from Asia, Mexico, Europe, Africa and other places as they come into the United States of America. But many who come have a greater appreciation of the freedoms we have than those of us who grew up with them.

In the same way, some of the most likely candidates, people that you know and like, people who are good neighbors, will be the first to reject Christ. And those you think least likely are apt to come forward with a greater faith.