The kind of person Jesus is amazed by (Luke 7:1-10)

What kind of person would amaze Jesus? It is recorded in the Gospel of Luke chapter 7 as the story of a Roman officer's faith.

The short version is that there was a Roman officer who had a valued servant. This servant was very sick, near death even. When he heard about Jesus he sent for him and asked him to come and heal this sickly servant. The Jewish entourage sent by the Roman officer spoke very highly of him and begged Jesus to come to his aid.

Jesus began his journey to the house of this centurion, but he is stopped by another entourage from this Roman officer. The message they brought is powerful and full of faith. His message is, "Jesus, you don't even need to come to my house for my slave to be healed, say the word from wherever you are and he will be healed."

This is paraphrased, of course, but you get the idea. There are some things that stick out to me. First, here is a Roman officer who is well loved by his Jewish counterparts! This is unheard of because the Romans and the Jews were bitter enemies. This surely must have gotten Jesus attention because of his own unusual nature and compassionate tendencies. This officer was a kind and generous man with lots of friends who are happy to help him in his time of need.

Secondly, it is clear that this officer had faith in Jesus' authority. Although he had never met Jesus personally he makes astounding declarations about Jesus' power and authority over the servant's sickness. He even pushes the envelope on his own faith saying that Jesus did not even have to come to the house to bring healing to it. This "pagan" had the ability to ask for more than what was practical or reasonable among Jesus' own followers.

Finally, Jesus says that this man had more faith than anyone He had seen in Israel. This is astounding because one would think that this amazing individual would have been someone who bathed in anointing oil and could quote the fundamentals of orthodox faith. There is nothing wrong with being a good religious person, unless that religion lacks faith. Hebrews 11:6 says "...it is impossible to please God without faith." (NLT) Has your belief system squeezed out every drop of true faith and replaced it with mechanisms of piety that keep you (and God) appeased in your own mind but not in reality?

You see, it is often outsiders who are willing to push the boundaries of faith and religion because they are not encumbered with fear of getting it wrong, or making God angry. The ironic thing is that "faithless religion" is the thing that guarantees God being displeased with you. I want my understanding of religion to be alive and full of "God-pleasing" faith. That is why I am stretching myself to ask God for stuff that doesn't make sense. I want to have faith like this centurion from the outside. I've been on the inside for a long time. I was raised in the church, but I am determined not to let that disqualify me from seeing the impossible.

God, help me to have faith that amazes you!