Such rare faith

“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” Luke 7:9

Jesus’ words seem like they cannot be true. Surely, there had to have been some mature saint in Israel, part of the remnant (see Romans 9:27-29, quoting Isaiah 10:22-23 and Romans 11:15), that God promised to maintain for Himself through the ages, who had had deeper faith.

Surely a Roman Centurion, of all people, didn’t have the greatest faith of all the people in Israel. How could a non-Jew have greater faith than the two to four million Jews that are estimated to be living at that time?

The loophole might be the wording Jesus uses, “I have found.” Which might mean that Jesus is referring to people who he has seen or met or preached to or done miracles for.

Either way, the faith this Centurion possess is extraordinary.

It can be spelled this way… He, a non-jew, has faith that that this man (Jesus), an average looking Jewish man walking through Palestine, can perform a miracle with just his words without having to be present with the person needing the miracle.

But it goes deeper. The Centurion believes if he asks Jesus he will listen to his need and consider the request. This indicates faith in a person’s character (to sincerely listen, to feel compassion, to consider the need and the request), as much as a persons ability (to heal).

It is NOT enough to believe in the power of Jesus. One must believe in the character of Jesus. THAT might well be what sets the man apart. How can we know this? Well, we know through and through that many of the Jews were skeptical of both the power and character of Jesus.

How does this help us? It is not enough for us to be wowed by, and to love and treasure the power of Jesus. We must be know, and be wowed by, and love and treasure his character.

We make the BIG mistake of seeing Jesus in light of what He can did/do for us, and not seeing His person, His character.

That is, do we see Him in light of what makes Him tick, what drives Him, what hurts Him, what He loves and what He hates, what he treasures and desires most, why He promises things, why He commands things, why He taught what He did, why He had compassion, and why He suffered so very much for us?