Jesus Honors Veterans & Military

Luke 7:1-10

When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum.

And a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored 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.” Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was 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 also am a man placed 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 crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

 Of all the stories in the New Testament this might be my favorite, mostly because it is so close to my heart. In this story I see myself- a military leader. I am not the biggest military leader, but I was in the mix of a small but large community of warriors. We see the same thing with the centurion in this story. What I find remarkable about this is what Jesus says about the centurion, "I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” There is great significance to what Jesus said here. First you need a background of Israel and the centurion to have a greater understanding. 

Me (Sgt Lotspeich, USMC) doing a scripture reading
at Regent University to honor a Navy Seal
Family.

To keep it short, Israel was the people God selected to establish covenant within the Old Testament, and who Jesus originally came to rescue through His ministry on earth (Genesis 17, Romans 11:17-24). The centurion man was a Roman officer in command of a hundred men, and centurions were also the men who were at the crucifixion of Jesus (Mark 15:39, 44, 45).

The significance in this passage is that Jesus found more faith in the man who might have possibly later commanded His crucifixion, than He did in the nation (Israel) that He came to save. The love of Christ seen here is remarkable. Meditating on how Jesus treated this man is dumbfounding. I am taken away by the acts of Christ in response to the centurions faith. 

When I read this I see a small portion of God's mystery revealed. Jesus not only honored the centurions faith, but put him on display for his faith when He "turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, 'I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.'” I see Jesus honoring the centurion for his service in the Roman army, because the centurions service showed him what it meant to have faith. I personally believe that each faithful service member has an understaning of faith that Jesus honors in us. Like the centurion, faithful service members understand the power of an authoritative command (Luke 7:7-9). The centurion was placing himself under the command of Jesus, just as service members place themselves under the command of their officers and NCO's. Having this understanding is essential in the faith of a Christian walk with Christ, and it is something that Jesus honors whether you were in the service or not. 

Since Veterans day is tomorrow I wanted to honor all who serve and are Veterans. I know what it means to serve, and I have had the privilege of being honored by the Lord. I want to say that the Lord honors your service, and He is more proud of you than America, or other nations will ever be.