The Life of Christ

Lk. 7:6 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.”

It is doubtful that the centurion lived in Capernaum; he probably lived somewhere along the road leading to Tiberias, the Roman center of that district .

• It may have required a significant walk for Jesus (approximately 8-10 miles), which the centurion tried to avoid.

In verse 6 the centurion says, “I am not worthy for You to come under my roof.”

• The Greek word for “worthy” is better translated “fit.”

• He may have been saying, “My house is not fit (Levitically) for You to enter.”

• The centurion knew that Rabbinical law prohibited Jews from entering the houses of Gentiles, lest they become unclean (Jn. 18:28). “Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover” (Jn. 18:28).

• In the Centurion’s deep-felt “unworthiness” could be found the true “worthiness” of the man.

Lk. 7:7 “…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.”

As Jesus begins His journey to the house, the centurion has a change of mind.

• He sends some of his friends to intercept Jesus, telling Him to come no further due to his own unworthiness; instead, just speak the word and it will be enough.

• Again, due to his sincere sense of unworthiness, he chose not to even approach Jesus; it would be better if others did so.

There are two things that stand out about this man; the first is his remarkable humility .

• This man was a ruler over nearly one hundred men who would do anything for him.

• This particular Centurion, however thought of himself, more like John the Baptist, unworthy to even untie Jesus’ sandals.

His second attribute was his amazing faith.

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"You don't have to come, just say the word."

• This level of kingdom faith had developed due to his Roman military training, which operated on parallel principles. • The commander in chief didn't need to personally hand every individual soldier his orders; he just "said the word," and the order was carried out through several ranks down the line. Lk. 7:8 “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.”

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