A soldier’s faith

“When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” - Matthew 8v10

Sometimes, in the spirit of reading the word of God we can forget about the historical setting. Judea was under Roman occupation. Roman soldiers lived all throughout the land. Certainly, like any people, the people of Judea did not like being under the thumb of a foreign power.

When Jesus finished what we call the “Sermon on the Mount” a great multitude followed Him. Sometime, in the midst of all this a Roman officer in charge of a division of 100 men came to Jesus concerning a sick servant. From the very start we see something different about this man in that we had any concern for his servant. Chances are that this was a Jew, and for a Roman to be concerned shows something special about him.

The man asked Jesus to heal his servant, but didn’t even feel worthy for this Jewish teacher to come into his home. In addition he also understood authority. He knew what it was like to take control and have his will obeyed. He therefore understood what it meant fro Jesus to have authority of nature. It just made sense that if this Man had power to control disease, all He had to do was speak a word and it would be done.

Jesus said that He had never seen such great faith. No one amongst His own people had shown such faith. The Jews tended to look for a sign. This foreign soldier just exercised simple faith.

I wonder what Jesus would say about my faith, compared to this soldier’s?