Faith at a Distance: Matthew 8:5-13
In these verses, Matthew
continues to put on display for us the magnificent power of Jesus Christ. We saw it last week in his healing of a leper
– a disease which was then considered incurable and little short of a death
sentence. But the Evangelist is also
doing other things. He is also showing
us the compassion and mercy of Jesus Christ, for he did not come to heal the
rich and the famous – he came to heal those who were excluded from
society. Some, like the leper, were
excluded because of their physical identity.
Others, like the Gentiles, were excluded because of their racial
identity. Our Lord healed them all.
In our text, our Lord heals the
servant of a Gentile soldier. This man
was not a Jew, although he was probably a soldier in the army of Herod Antipas
and therefore a recruit from one of the surrounding regions, probably from
Lebanon or Syria.[1] In our day, we would call this man an
officer, because he commanded a number of men.
We don’t know how many, but the number could have been anywhere between
80 to 200 men. Luke gives us the further
information (Luke 7:1-10) that this centurion was a friend of the Jews and that
he had even built a synagogue for them.
In fact, he was probably the same type of man as Cornelius in the book
of Acts, a Gentile who had not fully converted to Judaism, but who was known as
a “God-fearer,” a Gentile sympathizer to the Jewish faith. Luke tells us that it was the elders of the
Jews that came “beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant” (Luke
7:3).
Now at this point, many people
find a problem in the story because Matthew seems to say that it was the
centurion himself who came to Jesus, whereas Luke, who is obviously telling the
same story, says that it was the elders of the Jews who came to Jesus in the
behalf of the centurion. I remember as a
young man sitting in a Bible study where one man made the suggestion that Luke
was wrong because he was not there, but had got his information garbled in the
process of writing his gospel. However,
there is no need to say that either was wrong.
As we’ve already noted, Matthew has the propensity to take stories about
Jesus and whittle them down in order to accentuate a point he is trying to
make. He leaves out the details about
the Jewish elders mediating because – I think – Matthew wants to accentuate the
fact that Jesus is reaching out to a Gentile here. As D. A. Carson puts it, “one reason Matthew
says nothing of the intermediaries may be because they were Jews, and he does
not want to blur the racial distinction.”[2] But this does not mean that Matthew has now
garbled the story. He is telling the
truth. For the Jewish elders were
intermediaries, which means they were acting for the centurion, so that what
they said was the same as if the centurion himself had said it. And later, when the centurion sent other
friends to intercept Jesus to tell him he is not worthy for the Lord to enter
into his house – the friends again are just repeating the words of the
centurion (Luke 7:6). In either case, it
is the centurion who is speaking through others. Matthew therefore has not got his information
wrong; he has just eliminated some details because they are not important to
his purpose.
And Matthew’s purpose here is to
point out that our Lord is reaching out to a Gentile. This was important to Matthew because he
understood perhaps more than others the breadth of the gospel scope and the
grace that it conveyed. For he himself
was a member of a part of society that was scorned by the respectable – he was
a tax-collector, collecting taxes for a foreign overlord and suspected of
taking advantage of his fellow countrymen.
And yet Jesus came and called him, just as he healed other outcasts like
the leper and a Gentile soldier. And as
we move through this gospel, we will see that no one who came to Jesus in true
faith was ever cast away. As our Lord
himself put it on another occasion, “All that the Father giveth to me shall
come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (Jn. 6:37).
It’s not race that is important,
nor society’s opinion of you that is important.
It doesn’t matter what your skin color is or what country you are from,
whether you are rich or poor, educated or ignorant. What is
important is whether or not you have faith in Christ. As we pointed out last time, we all need to
be healed – not from a physical disease but from our selfishness and sinfulness
that has ostracized us from God most of all, and from our fellow man as a
consequence of that. And Jesus is the
only one who can heal us. He is the only
one who can put us right. He is the
Great Physician, and we need to look to him for our healing.
And the centurion had faith. Not just a generic faith nor faith in
yourself that our culture celebrates.
No, this man had faith in Jesus Christ, that he was able to heal his
servant. But it is worth our while this
morning to consider the faith of the centurion, because the text says that our
Lord’s response to it was that “he marveled” (ver. 10). Now it is something for the Lord of glory to
marvel – to be astonished – over something.
But he was astonished by this man’s faith. It was unlike anything that he had seen up to
that time: “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”
How was this man’s faith so
great? First of all, it was great
because of the illness that he wanted Christ to heal. We are told in verse 6 that the servant was
“sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.”
We don’t know exactly what this man’s condition was, but it was
obviously bad. The doctors couldn’t do
anything for the man, and so when the centurion heard that Jesus had come back
to Capernaum, he immediately called for him.
He wasn’t coming to Jesus for something that he could do, or anyone else,
for that matter. As in the case of the
leper, this man could only be helped by a supernatural power.
Second, this man’s faith was
great because he recognized that Jesus was able to heal at a distance (ver. 8). We noted last time that when the leper came
to Jesus, he reached out and touched him and then he was healed. In this case, Jesus never even enters the
man’s house. Physicists talk about
“action at a distance” as in gravity and electromagnetism, when two objects act
upon one another at a distance without touching. In this case, we might say that this is faith at a distance. For the centurion somehow grasped the fact
that all Jesus had to do was to speak the word and his servant would be healed.
Third, this man’s faith was great
because he understood who Jesus was. In
verse 9, he says, “For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me:
and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh;
and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.”
This is given as the reason why Jesus need only speak a word for the
servant to be healed. The reason is
this: just as the centurion is under others and must obey their orders, and
just as he has authority so that those under him must obey his orders, even so
Jesus has authority so that even diseases must depart when he speaks the word.
Now consider how great this man’s
faith was. Here was a Gentile, not even
privileged with the word of God as part of his culture. And here he was at the beginning of the
ministry of Jesus, when even most of his own disciples didn’t fully grasp who
he was. And yet this centurion was able
to see that this man Jesus Christ had such authority that he needed only to
speak a word and an incurable disease would depart. Later, when Jesus was on a boat in the Sea of
Galilee in the middle of a storm, his disciples would themselves be astonished
at the power of Jesus, saying, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds
and the sea obey him!” (ver. 27). They hadn’t figured it out yet. But this Gentile soldier had. He knew that Jesus Christ was more than just
a prophet, more than a magician. He knew
that this was a man clothed with such authority that he had only to speak and
all creation would bow before him.
Now this should encourage every
one of us. We live in a day when faith
in Christ seems to be declining in our country.
I saw map the other day which showed the rate of the growth of
evangelical Christianity in the world.
In most places, it is outpacing the population growth. But here in the United States, even though
evangelical Christianity is growing, it is growing at a slower rate than the
population – which obviously means that if this trend continues,
Bible-believing Christians will become more and more a minority in this
country. And all around us, we can see
this trend happening before our very eyes as the U.S. is becoming more and more
secular. However, we should not despair! God can make faith, even great faith, appear
in places and people where we would have never expected it. He did it then, and he can do it now.
However, we need not only to
admire this man’s faith, but also to emulate it. It is not enough to have spiritual
privileges, as our Lord’s next words show.
Turning to those following him, he said, “And I say unto you, That many
shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac,
and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But
the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (ver. 11-12).
The “children of the kingdom” was a reference to the Jews. They had spiritual privileges, but many of
them rejected the Messiah and were cast into outer darkness. However, Gentiles from the east and west,
despite the poverty of their spiritual privileges, would flood into the kingdom
of heaven. Now, the point of this is not
that Jews are bad and Gentiles are good.
To say such a thing is to completely miss the point of the passage! Rather, the point is that having God’s word
and truth is not enough. We Gentiles can
make the same mistake as the Jews did – in fact, the apostle Paul warns us of
this very possibility in Romans 11. We
should beware of unbelief. Rather, let
us believe God’s word and his Son just as this centurion did.
The importance of faith is
highlighted everywhere in this Gospel, and seems to be one of the themes that
Matthew picks up on again and again. We
see it in verse 13: “And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done
unto thee. And his servant was healed in
the selfsame hour.” In other words, it
was in response to this man’s faith that Jesus exercised his power. And this is the take-away for us: God
responds to faith in his Son. As the
psalmist put it: “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act”
(Ps. 37:5, ESV).
Of course, we have to be careful
here. “As thou hast believed” should not be interpreted to mean “in proportion
to your faith” or, “so much miracle for so much faith.” Rather, the “as” is referring to the content
of faith: “as you have believed that I could heal your servant, let your
servant be healed.” Sometimes Jesus
rewards even the faintest movement of faith in his children. And sometimes God in his sovereignty moves in
his power when there is no faith at all.
For example, in Matt. 8:23-27, Jesus rebukes the wind and the sea in
response to the “little faith” of his disciples (cf. ver. 26). They had faith enough to seek the help of
Jesus, but not faith enough to be free from fear and to completely trust in
their Master. They were
“little-faiths.” And then in Matt. 8:28-34,
we have the story of the Gadarene demoniac.
Far from possessing any faith, this man was possessed with a legion of
devils! Far from seeking Jesus for help,
the demons in the man cried out, “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son
of God?” And yet, Jesus cast out the
demons, restored the man’s sanity, and called him to be an evangelist for the
Christ (cf. Mark 5:19). Thank God that
he is not tied to our faith. God is
sovereign. And yet, neither should we
diminish the obvious Biblical truth that God often does respond to the faith of
his people, and that sometimes God does not act precisely because of unbelief.
Let’s consider the statement that
God sometimes does not act because of unbelief.
In Matthew 13:58, we have what I think is one of the saddest statements
in all the Bible. Jesus is back in his
hometown, and the people there reject him because, despite all the miracles,
they just can’t believe that a carpenter’s son could be the Messiah. The story ends sadly, in this way: “And they
were offended in him. But Jesus said
unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his
own house. And he did not many mighty
works there because of their unbelief.”
In the parallel passage in Mark, we read that “he could there do no
might work, save that he laid his hand upon a few sick fold, and healed them. And he marveled [same word as in Matt. 8:10]
because of their unbelief” (Mk 6:5-6).
In chapter 14 of Matthew, we have
the story of Peter walking on the water to go to Jesus (14:22-33). And yet, even though Peter had faith to get
out of the boat, when he saw the waves and the wind, his unbelief got the
better of him, and he began to sink (ver. 30).
Jesus rescued him, with the rebuke, “O thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt?” (ver. 31). In other
words, it was Peter’s doubt that caused him to sink. Even so, when we doubt God, we can expect to
inevitably sink in the rough seas of life, though we are thankful that we have
a watchful Savior who will never let his people drown.
God is not honored by unbelief
and so God will not honor unbelief with his power. Another example of this in the Gospel of
Matthew is given in chapter 17 in the story of the demon possessed child that
could not be healed by the disciples. Jesus
has to heal him, and he is not pleased: “Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless
and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer
you? Bring him to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed
out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and
said, Why could not we cast them out?
And Jesus said unto them, Because
of your unbelief” (17:17-20).
Unbelief is a failure to trust in
God and to believe his promises. It is
rooted in sinful self-reliance, which is just another form of idolatry. And it is clear that God is grieved by
unbelief, especially when it is in his children. He will not bless our unbelief when it so
signally fails to honor him with the love and trust that he really deserves. And this is especially true when it comes to
prayer. We are to pray “nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like a
wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall
receive anything of the Lord” (Jam. 1:6-7).
On the other hand, we see faith
rewarded again and again in Scripture.
This is the premise of the entire chapter of the eleventh chapter of the
book of Hebrews: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. For by it the elders
obtained a good report. . . . But without faith it is impossible to please him
[God]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 1:1-2, 6). And it is highlighted in Matthew’s gospel.
In chapter 9, we see it on three
different occasions. In verse 2, Jesus
looked at the friends who carried their palsied friend through the roof to be
healed and “seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good
cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.” Then,
in verse 22, in response to the woman who had an issue of blood (ver. 20), and
was healed by touching his garment, he said, “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy
faith hath made thee whole.” In verse
29, in response to the plea of the two blind men, Jesus touched their eyes,
saying, According to your faith be it unto you.” [Note the question Jesus asks the men in
verse 28!]
And then we have this great
example in chapter 15 of the faith of a Gentile woman whose daughter was
“grievously vexed by a devil” (ver. 22).
Jesus at first did not respond to her entreaties, and even tried to put
her off, by saying, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast
it to dogs” (ver. 26). In amazing faith
and humility, she responded, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which
fall from their master’s table” (ver. 27).
Jesus’ reaction? “Then Jesus
answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even
as thou wilt” (ver. 28). This woman’s
faith enabled her to persevere through great difficulties and to obtain her
request.
Our Lord himself sought to teach
his disciples the importance of faith by an object lesson. In 20:18-22, we have the story of the fig
tree that Jesus cursed. The whole point
of this lesson is given to them in verses 21-22, that “if ye have faith, and
doubt not, ye shall not only do this to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say
unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be
done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall
ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
This lesson is not meant to teach that the disciple has a blank check
when it comes to prayer. But it does
teach that we cannot expect our prayers to be effective – even when our aims
are holy and good – if they are riddled with unbelief in God’s power and
promises. Prayer must be mingled with
faith if it is to be effective and powerful.
Now if faith is so important,
surely the question we should be asking ourselves is this: Do I have this kind
of faith? And how do I measure if I do
have faith in the power and promises of God?
We have to be careful. It is not
measured by a feeling of confidence that “something is going to happen.” Rather, it is measured by our acquiescence in
the will of God. How willing are you to
let God’s will and way be done in your life?
That is the measure. Otherwise,
“faith” just becomes another way to manipulate God to serve our own selfish and
sinful habits. In Psalm 37, trusting in
God (ver. 3) is the same thing as delighting oneself in him (ver. 4) and
committing one’s way to him (ver. 5).
For those who trust and delight in God and who commit their ways to him,
God will act: “He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your
justice as the noonday” (ver. 6).
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