Luke 7:1-10, “How should powerful people approach Jesus?” A Bible Study Devotion.

Luke 7:1-10, “How should powerful people approach Jesus?” A Bible Study Devotion.

Read Luke 7:1-10

The Bible is filled with examples of poor people, sick people, and lower people on the totem of society approaching Jesus in humility and begging for his grace. They come with a humble heart, acknowledging Jesus’ greatness and their un-greatness. There are examples of them coming for the sake of others. This is how the poor and lowly approach Jesus, but how should the healthy, wealthy, and powerful people approach Jesus? Let’s look to scripture.

Jump all the way to verse 9 to see what Jesus says about this man, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Wow! That’s pretty high praise. What did the man do to deserve such and accolade from the creator of the world? He showed three things that we can learn from; reverence, humility, and compassion.

• Reverence: In verse 8 the centurion says, “for I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this on ‘Go’ and he goes; and that on ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘do this,’ and he does it.” At the end of verse 7 he says, “…But say the word and my servant will be healed.” Here the man is comparing his authority over his soldiers to Jesus’ authority over all the Earth. Remember that he is asking Jesus to heal a man who is going to die. He calls Jesus “Lord.” He knows that God spoke the world into existence, and he can speak a man to be healed. He is saying, you are God and you have authority over all things, even eminent death.

• Humility: In verse 6 and 7 the centurion says, “…Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you…” This is a powerful man in society. He has many people who listen to his orders. He has workers, soldiers, servants, and as we see in verse 3; Jewish elders follow his orders. Even the Jewish elders, (who hated the Roman intrusion over their county) stepped up to speak for the centurion. They said, “He deserves this, he loves our nation and built our synagogue.” Even though he has friendlies and hostiles who speak highly of him and listen to his authority, the centurion knows that he is not worthy of Jesus.

• Compassion: Remember the power and position that this man has on Earth. He has many people under his command. Yet in verse 2 we see that the centurion’s servant was “valued highly” by his master. This does not mean that he valued the servant’s work highly. If the man dies, the centurion can certainly go to the market place and get another servant. He is valued because he is a person that God created. The centurion knows that even though the servant works for him, they are both just people under God’s authority. If you are a boss, or business owner, or in some position of authority, learn a lesson from this man…

This is a great way to approach God with your issues: “You are God, I am not, please help my friend…” Do you have a friend who does not know Jesus? …I know the answer to that… This would be a good approach, “You are God, I am not, please help my friend…” This man told Jesus that he knew all he had to do was speak it and the servant would be healed; the servant who was dying. You have friends that are dying too. Dying a spiritual death without the saving grace of Jesus. Pray that God would speak the word and show them their sin, so they can repent…

Written by Chris Vasecka

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