There’s some stories in the Gospels that have a great introduction from the story that immediately proceeds them. One of them is this story we come to from Matthew 8, the story of the healing of two demon possessed men. Immediately before this we have the story of Jesus’ calming of the storm. The disciples were very much taken aback by this and amazed at the power of Jesus, and the story ends with their question: “What kind of a man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” Their question is actually answered by the demons who possessed the two men, when they asked Jesus, “What do you want with us, Son of God?”
Now, I’d like to apply this in a few ways. Jesus makes a contrast here between those who are not of Israel who will be present at the banquet and those who are of Israel but who will be excluded. The first principle that comes from it is this: It is possible to have many spiritual advantages and yet not be saved.
Now on the other side of this encounter we have Jesus Christ. What do we say about him? Well, first of all, he was everything the centurion imagined he was and a great deal more besides. The centurion said to him, “You are able to speak the word, and if you speak it, it will be done because I understand authority. I speak with the authority of Rome, and you speak with the authority of God.” And of course that’s true. That is exactly the way Jesus spoke.
The third thing I want you to notice about him was his humility. A man who serves an occupying force might be the very opposite of humble. There are people who are arrogant and don’t even occupy a position. Yet here was a soldier, a Gentile ruling over a downtrodden people. He could have thrown his weight around. He could have said, “I have the right to attention. I have the right to everything I want.” And yet he was anything but that kind of man. He was very humble toward Jesus. He recognized Jesus as one to whom he should pay the utmost respect. He came to him saying, “Lord.”
Now this first story has to do with a Roman centurion, and since we’re talking about encounters, it’s the encounter of this man with Jesus Christ. We want to start by seeing what kind of a man he was. Well, first of all, we need to give attention to his calling. He was a soldier. That’s what a centurion was.
