THE CHIEF PHYSICIAN AND THE CENTURION’S SERVANT – Charles Spurgeon
THE CHIEF PHYSICIAN AND THE CENTURION’S SERVANT
“Jesus said unto him, I will come and heal him.” — Matthew 8:7.
“And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go your way; and as you have believed, so be it done unto you.” — Matthew 8:13.
The Centurion’s Example
The centurion of Capernaum offers a powerful example to us, especially as it pertains to the collection appointed for today, which, as you know, is for hospitals. This good soldier demonstrated genuine care for the sick and was deeply concerned about the recovery of his servant who was paralyzed. Every employer should take a sympathetic interest in their employees when they are ill. Unfortunately, in some cases, this is not often the case. The attitude that “if they cannot work, they must go” is all too common. In such cases, workers are often dismissed as soon as they are unwell. I do not mean to suggest that all masters and mistresses are cruel, but I do fear that some of them fail to show kindness.
Among religious people, kindness towards others should be as evident as piety towards God. The centurion had shown kindness not only through religious acts but also through genuine care for the physical well-being of his servant. He had already done much to benefit his community, as evidenced by the elders of the Jews, who stated, “He loves our nation and he has built us a synagogue.” However, his compassion extended beyond spiritual matters. He also showed a sincere desire for the welfare of the body, particularly in caring for his servant.
The Body and Soul Connection
God has united body and soul, and they should not be separated in our acts of charity. The centurion’s concern for his servant was not just verbal sympathy but was translated into practical action. He did not simply express his sympathy and then turn away. Instead, he took steps to address the problem—he gathered the elders of the city and friends, reaching out to the best physician of his time. This indicates that we must not only focus on the spiritual well-being of others but also on their physical health. The centurion reminds us that while it is vital to find preachers for our people, we must also find surgeons and establish hospitals. We should never forget that the soul resides in a body that is vulnerable to illness.
While we must not lose sight of the spiritual aspect of life, we should also remember that our bodies, like our souls, need care. If we become overly spiritual, we might lose the essence of Christianity, which is rooted in love for humanity. God grant us the grace to be as tender and considerate of suffering humanity as the centurion was. We will likely succeed in this if we possess the same faith and humility that he demonstrated.
Jesus as the Healer
In our text, our Lord also sets an example that advocates for the importance of hospitals and healing today. Though Jesus was on a divine mission for the redemption of mankind, He did not consider it beneath His purpose to heal diseases. For three years, He lived among the sick, healing all manners of ailments. As He walked through the streets, healing the sick and performing miracles, He demonstrated that His mission was not limited to the soul but encompassed the body as well.
“I will come and heal him,” He said, signaling His readiness to heal, for He was a physician in constant practice. He went about doing good, teaching people that His work was to restore both the body and the soul. Though sickness still affects our bodies today, Jesus’ healing miracles foreshadow the resurrection, when we will be raised perfectly healed. Every healed wound, every restored limb, and every opened eye speaks of Christ’s love for our physical bodies and reminds us of the glory to come when we are fully restored.
Christianity’s Legacy of Compassion
As Christ’s followers, we too are called to show deep compassion for the suffering of others, both physically and spiritually. It is one of the greatest glories of Christianity that it has given rise to institutions like hospitals and asylums, which were unknown in heathen societies. The genius of Christianity is its capacity for pity and care for both the sinful and the suffering. The Church must embody this characteristic, imitating Christ in her efforts to alleviate suffering. Even if we cannot perform miracles as He did, we can contribute to alleviating pain and poverty.
Following Christ’s Example
As Christ was sent by the Father, so are we sent into the world to continue His work. Though we cannot heal the sick with a word or touch, we can support those who devote their lives to helping the sick. Let us not be like misers when the blind, the crippled, and the lame cry out for help. We are all called to be as compassionate as Christ was, ensuring that we do all we can for the physical and spiritual well-being of others.
The Growth of the Centurion’s Faith
Now, let us reflect on the development of the centurion’s faith. His belief in Jesus grew as he observed Christ’s power. Initially, he must have heard of Jesus and believed Him to be the Messiah. The healing of the ruler’s child likely confirmed for him that Jesus had the power to heal. As a man who had built a synagogue, it is likely that he attended regularly, learning of the Coming One, as foretold by the prophets. His belief that Jesus had the power to heal his servant was the first step in the journey of his growing faith.
A Humble Request
The centurion’s first request was for Jesus to come and heal his servant. He believed that if Jesus were present, His healing touch would restore his servant to health. However, as his faith deepened, he recognized his own unworthiness and humbly sent word to Jesus, asking Him not to come. His faith grew even stronger as he expressed his belief that Jesus could heal his servant without even being physically present. This was a remarkable display of humility and faith.
Jesus’ Response
Jesus responded to the centurion’s faith by saying, “I will come and heal him,” signifying His willingness to answer the centurion’s prayer. The centurion, however, in his humility, asked Jesus to stay where He was and simply speak the word. Jesus, impressed by the centurion’s faith, granted his request, demonstrating that faith is not limited by physical distance.
The Power of Jesus
In that moment, Jesus displayed His power, healing the servant without ever stepping foot in the house. This miracle was a testament to His authority and power, proving that He can heal and restore life by His mere will. The centurion’s faith was honored, and his servant was healed, proving that faith in Jesus’ power brings about miraculous results.
Jesus’ Authority in the Physical World
The centurion’s statement, “I also am a man under authority,” beautifully illustrates his understanding of Christ’s power and authority. He recognized that just as he commanded his soldiers with authority, so too did Jesus have authority over all creation. Jesus accepted this comparison, acknowledging the centurion’s understanding of His divine authority.
Jesus’ Willingness to Heal
Jesus’ willingness to heal is evident in the way He responded to the centurion’s requests, whether it was for Him to come, to stay, or to speak the word. Jesus was not concerned with His own dignity but was willing to meet the centurion where his faith was. This shows us that Jesus is always ready to bless us, even if our prayers are imperfect or our understanding is limited.
Trusting in Jesus’ Power
Even though we may not pray perfectly, we can trust in Jesus’ willingness to help us. He is always ready to respond to our prayers, even when we may struggle to articulate our needs. He knows the true meaning of our hearts and interprets our prayers with grace. When we approach Jesus with humility and faith, He will respond, healing us spiritually and physically according to His will.
Conclusion
In conclusion, let us look to the example of the centurion, who demonstrated both deep faith and humility. Let us also remember that Jesus, in His perfect readiness and power, is always willing to heal, whether it is for physical or spiritual restoration. As His followers, we are called to show compassion and support for those who suffer, just as He did. May we always trust in His power to heal and His willingness to bless us according to our faith.
The Healing Power of Jesus
All the complicated phenomena of human disease He comprehends, and along the dark labyrinth of human experience, His mighty word makes a way for itself. Undisturbed and even undelayed, the eternal energy enters the soul, for Jesus says, “I will come and heal him.” Neither did the extremity of the case at all dishearten Him, for this poor man was ready to die, so Luke tells us, just on the verge of expiring. Yet Jesus says, “I will come and heal him.” It does not matter to Jesus what the stage of the disease may be. A common physician would shake his head and say, “Ah, you should have sent for me before. I might have done something at an earlier date, but the sufferer is now beyond all human help.” Poor souls are never beyond the reach of the divine healer and so He says without a word of doubt, “I will come and heal him.” Yes, had He been dead, Jesus could have said and could have done the same. “I will come and heal him” is a word for all emergencies.
A Call for Unwavering Faith
Beloved, let us never hesitate to hope in prayer because the persons for whom we plead are such great and horrible sinners and so very far gone in crime. So long as they are not actually in hell, let us firmly believe that Christ can save them. And verily, if we can believe in our great Savior with mighty faith, we shall yet hear Him say of many a reprobate and outcast, “I will come and heal him.”
The Ease of Jesus’ Healing
I again remark that our Lord speaks of this healing as quite a matter of course, for His language is after the manner of speech which men use when they know that they are expert at their work and can do it as soon as they have it before them. A person asks a workman to repair a lock or a window and he answers, “Yes, I will come and attend to it.” He means that he can do it; it is his profession and it is as easy to him to do it as to come. So can our blessed Master save a sinner as easily as His Spirit can come to that sinner, and we all know that His Spirit is a free Spirit, and like the wind, blows where He wills. Jesus could come to the centurion’s house, and He could as easily heal as He could come. “I will come and heal him.” The work is simple enough to the divine redeemer, to whom nothing is impossible. No disease of sin can baffle the Savior or even cost Him special effort to eject it. Look to Him, you ends of the earth, and prove for yourselves that none are beyond His mercy’s reach. Oh that all who hear me this day would make a like trial of His healing might.
The Method of Healing: A Word
As for the method of procedure, our Lord, in His conscious power, treats the modus operandi as a matter of indifference. He grants the first petition as it was presented to Him and will come and heal the servant. But when He is requested not to come, He quite as willingly says, “According to your faith so be it unto you.” He could heal as well at a distance as near at hand. Present or absent, it was all the same to Him. A touch, a word, a thought, could do all that was needed. It was so, and it is so still, for our blessed Lord saves sinners in all sorts of ways. He can save them in their pews, under the preaching which they have heard so constantly, or He can meet with them in their lonely chambers, reading some godly book. Or He can wound their hearts by a loving word spoken during a walk with a friend.
We have known Him call men by His grace right out of the paths of sin, wounding them with secret arrows when they were at ease and secure in the service of the devil. Where no means of grace as we call them were present, yet have sinners been smitten at heart and have been turned to God by that heavenly influence of the Spirit which remains the supreme miracle of the present dispensation. Saul of Tarsus was not on his knees in prayer, but hastening to shed innocent blood, and yet the Lord brought him down and made him seek salvation. Beloved, our Lord knows how to reach inaccessible persons. They may shut us out, but they cannot shut Him out. This should much encourage us in pleading for souls which are out of our usual line of action. When we plead with Jesus, let us never bind Him down to ways and means of our choosing, but let us leave to Him the method of salvation.
Jesus’ Confidence and Ability
Jesus was so conscious of His power that you never find Him uttering an expression of wonder, or manifesting the slightest surprise when His will is done, and a notable miracle is worked. No, but He did marvel at the centurion’s faith, and on another occasion, He marveled at the people’s unbelief. It is no wonder to Christ that He saves sinners, He is so in the habit of doing it and He is so able to do it. You and I will wonder, and throughout eternity we will declare that wonder, singing with rapture and surprise, the loving-kindness and pardoning power of Christ Jesus, but He does not wonder. Virtue goes out of Him almost unconsciously, for He is so full of power that He can bless on all sides and scarcely know it.
Even as the sun shines north, south, east, and west and never wonders at its own shining, or as a fountain sends forth its sparkling drops and never stops to admire itself, or to marvel at its own flashing flow, so does Jesus readily, easily, out of His very nature scatter pardon and salvation on all sides. He marvels at our faith. He marvels more often at our unbelief, but to Him, His own power is not a thing of wonder at all. Beloved, I want you to get fast hold of this thought if you can, and I beg you to hide it away in your hearts—that Jesus Christ is, beyond measure, able to save. We do not half believe it. We think we do, but we do not even a tenth believe it, for when we meet with a rather hard case, we are ready to give it up in despair. Despairing persons, we too soon leave in their gloom, and even melancholy men and women we are shy of, we wish we had never seen them instead of believing up to their point and believingly interceding until we see them happy in Christ.
If we meet with a horrible blasphemer, or a foul person, or a bloated drinker, we feel quite out of our latitude and in the land of monsters. Whereas it is with such cases that our Lord is much at home and we ought to pray most about such persons, and to be most confident that the gospel was meant to meet their grievous ills. Is there not a great Savior for great sinners?
The Abiding Method of Our Lord
We shall close by a third equally interesting point of great practical value. I have spoken of our Lord’s willingness and power. Now we will note the abiding method of our Lord Jesus. The first method mentioned here was, “Come and heal him.” Jesus then went about doing good, but He does not now vouchsafe His bodily presence, or give physical tokens of His being near to anyone. If any say to us, “Lo here,” or, “Lo there,” let us not believe them, for Jesus is not, now, upon the earth. He has gone up on high. We do not now pray, “Come and heal him,” in the sense of expecting a vision or revelation of Christ after the flesh to those whom we love. We believe that He will come one day a second time, and heal the sicknesses of this poor world, but till then we know Him not after the flesh, neither do we seek any personal coming.
The other and permanent mode of our Lord’s action was that He should speak the word and so perform the cure. “Say in a word and my servant shall be healed.” That is the style of our Lord today and throughout the whole of this dispensation. The healing energy of Jesus is now seen, not by His personal presence, but by the power of His Word in answer to the prayer of faith. This is henceforth His fixed and abiding method of cure. The word rendered effectual by believing prayer.
Jesus’ Healing Power in Everyday Life
Now, I want you to notice that this mode of operation is outwardly similar to the Lord’s usual and natural way of exercising His power in nature and in providence. Though clearly it is one of the highest forms of supernatural action, it may not at first seem to be so. Look at this—when Jesus stands at a bedside, bows over the sick child, and touches his little hand and he is healed, the deed is notable and is a great miracle.
But will it not seem to you to be even a greater display of power, if possible, that Jesus should remain at a distance and not see the suffering one, nor even speak so as to be heard in the darkened chamber, and yet His mere will shall be able to quicken life and restore health? It is a very clear display of supernatural power, is it not—this healing by volition or by a single word? Yet it does not seem so striking, somehow, to half-opened eyes when you look at it from the general point of view, for this is just how the good God is working every day in nature and in providence, achieving His purposes by His silent will, and by those echoes of His creating voice, which still linger among us.
When but a little while ago your fields were bare and your gardens desolate, if the Lord had suddenly come forth in awful glory and caused snow and ice to fly before Him, and had then benignly touched the valleys and the hills and covered them with grass and corn, you would have exclaimed, “This is a great miracle!” But in truth, it is an equally great display of power that the deed is done, though by less glaring processes. The will of the Lord transforms the clods of the valley into an army of wheat ears and clover balls. His quiet wish reddens the clusters of the vineyard and ripens the fruit of the garden. Is not this also a marvel of power? Though the Lord has not come forth riding upon cherub wings, nor has He spoken audibly in commanding sentences, yet the secret energy of the eternal word is evermore going forth to give us seedtime and harvest, cold and heat.
Trusting in the Power of God’s Word
What more divine form of miracle is to be desired? I believe that when we rise to the possession of a fully developed faith, we shall see ourselves to be daily compassed about with the omnipotence of God, and shall look on every tiny blade of grass and upon the insect which balances itself on it, and the dewdrop that decorates it, as being quite as manifestly the finger of God as when the Nile turns to blood, or the dust of Egypt becomes flies. To the believer, miracles have not ceased, but the common course of nature teems with them.
The power of the word in answer to the prayer of faith is now our Lord’s way of blessing, and this method exactly suits the wish of true humility. Humility says, “I am not worthy that God should do anything for me which would attract attention to me or make me seem honored above others.” The lowly soul hears of one who was saved through a dream or a vision, and he feels that he is not worthy to be thus favored. No, my friend, and you need not wish for it, the Word of the Lord is enough and that Word is near you at this moment, in your mouth and in your heart, you have but to hear and your soul shall live.
Trusting Jesus for Salvation
If I were pleading for the conversion of a sinner, I should feel hampered by my own unworthiness if I believed that salvation necessitated a bodily manifestation of my Lord or some extraordinary display of power before men’s eyes. But if my Lord will save by His Word only, then do I venture to ask with confidence. Here is no parade of power, but quiet divine energy, and this, the meek of the earth delight in. I am sure that it pleases faith better than any other way.
Oh that the power of the word might be displayed at this time. Oh my Lord, how I desire of You that You would save thousands, and I would be glad if it were done without me, without any of Your servants, if only You would say in a word and by Your Holy Spirit cause a nation to be born in a day!
The Gospel as God’s Chosen Instrument
Certain professors eagerly pine for a great stir. They will not believe that the kingdom of God prospers unless thousands crowd into our assemblies, and unless great excitement reigns and all the papers are ringing with the names of famous preachers. They like it all the better if they hear of persons being thrown into fits during the meetings, or read of men and women falling down, or screaming under excitement and I know not what besides. They can believe in Christ’s power if there are signs and wonders, but not otherwise. That is going back to, “come and heal him.” But we are content to abide by the second mode.
Can you not believe that by each one of us making the gospel of God to have free course, our Lord can effectually save men by His Word? Quietly, without observation, without sign or wonder, Jesus will bless believing testimonies and answer believing prayers. Strong faith is well content with the Lord’s settled and usual mode of action, and rejoices to see Him save men by His Word in answer to the prayer of faith.
Faith in the Word of God
It is perfectly reasonable that we should expect our Lord to display His healing power in this way. What the centurion said was full of forcible argument. He said, “I am a captain of a troop. I do not have to go about from place to place to do everything personally. No, I remain in my quarters and issue orders, and I am sure of their being carried out. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” Is it not clear that the far greater Captain of our salvation does not need to come forth bodily in order to save any? His Word will suffice. Give Your order, O Immanuel. Speak to the powers of darkness and the captive sinner shall be free. Speak, and the human will must yield to You and the human heart must receive You. Is it not so?
Encouragement for Believers
My brethren, we do not believe enough in our Lord. I come back to that, we do not believe enough in what is so perfectly reasonable. If we will but speak our Master’s Word and let it go forth, with less and less of our own word to cripple and hinder it, souls must be saved. Do you not believe in the plain preaching of the glad tidings? Do you not believe in the rams’ horns? O children of Israel, do you despise the rams’ horns and do you long for horses and chariots and battering rams and mighty engines of war? Remember Jericho and how by God’s own appointed, though simple means, the huge walls rocked to their fall?
Will not the Lord’s own means suffice still? Oh, believers, do you need anything this day except the simple preaching of the gospel? If so, you are departing from the point where your faith ought to remain, since it still pleases God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. “The world by wisdom knew not God,” and never will know God. Trust not philosophy, but stand by the old, old story, and pray the Master to work by it as in former ages. You need no new word to be spoken, only let the living word be filled with power, and souls will be healed.
The Power of Belief and Prayer
Now, if anyone here will try in his own case this divine method of healing, it will succeed in his instance as in that of the centurion’s servant. If you, dear hearer, will believe the power of Christ and trust Him to save you, you shall certainly obtain eternal life and that at once. Can you heartily believe in Jesus as you find Him revealed in Scripture? Can you be content without strange feelings, without remarkable terrors, without dreams or visions? Can you be content simply to trust your Savior? You shall be healed immediately, yes, this very moment, before this rain shower has ceased the showers of everlasting grace shall have fallen upon you. You must not ask the Lord to come by some singular feeling within you, but just to speak while you are hearing, and the miracle of grace will be worked.
Faith for the Salvation of Others
Let me add once more, if you who are converted, long to see others saved, you will be wise to keep to the established method. Pray, believe, and then expect the Lord to work by His own word in answer to your prayer. The centurion rose to this method. He began lower by desiring a personal visit, but he grew up to this plain, simple, yet glorious way. Can you not do the same? Seek no marvels, but test the power of the gospel upon your friend. Do not ask the Lord to go out of His way, but beseech Him to apply His Word with power to those whose eternal welfare lies near your heart.
Bring your loved ones under the sound of the gospel and entreat the healing Lord to put forth His power thereby and your desire shall be accomplished. Alas, if the Son of man comes, shall He find faith on the earth? If He were to come now and ask us all to put into the collection box what faith we have, when He opened it, would it come to the eighth part of a farthing? Yet every man among us that is a believer ought to have an inexhaustible treasure of golden faith. Lord, we believe! Help You our unbelief! Lord, increase our faith. Amen.