A. The Place (Luke 7:1)
“When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum” (Luke 7:1).Capernaum was the center place of Christ’s ministry. Most of His miracles were done there.
• Where is Capernaum (see next page)?
• Why did Jesus often go there? Is that unfair to other places?
| A second outlet from the Sea of Galille was recently reopened allowing the level of the lake to be restored to levels seen in Christ’s time. (An artist's redention of Capernaum from Biblical Archaeological Review (7-8/99). |
B. The Search (Luke 7:2-5)
“And a certain centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. And when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. And when they had come to Jesus, they earnestly entreated Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue” (Luke 7:2-5).
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A centurion is a Roman commander in charge of 100 Roman soldiers (Note how the word centurion sound like century). He undoubtedly was a Gentile but had a strong affiliation for the Jewish people.
• What was the centurion’s need? Anything unusual about this?
• What caused him to get Jesus to help him?
• How did the centurion get Jesus to help him?
• Why were the Jews willing to help this Gentile?
C. The Faith (Luke 7:6-10)
“Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. “For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health” (Luke 7:6-10).Luke probably included this story not only to show that a respectable Gentile would and could believe in Jesus but to show what great faith he could have.
• Why did the centurion tell Jesus not to come to his house?
• How did Jesus know how strong his faith was?
• What happened as a result of this centurion’s faith?