When Jesus heard these things, He marvelled at him, and turned Him about, and said unto the people that followed Him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Luke 7:9
Nobody took much notice of Logan in our grade 8 class. Unlike his brother, he was quiet and took no initiative in anything in the class. Although he was tall, he usually slumped low at his desk at the back of the room, appearing drowsy and uninterested. When the teacher would call upon us for responses, he seldom raised his hand, although he could usually give an acceptable answer when the teacher challenged him directly. Even in the shop classes, he took a back seat, moving only when directed to do so. One day, the shop teacher challenged us with a question. We were discussing chemicals, and he told of an initiative to create a chemical that would be able to dissolve any other substance. ‘There is a major problem with that,’ he told us. ‘What is the problem?’ None of us could think of anything as he kept urging us to think. Finally he noticed that, at the back of the room, Logan had been holding up his hand. Logan answered with another question, ‘What are you gonna keep it in?’ The teacher was impressed that someone who appeared so dull was brilliant enough to realize that a chemical that would corrode everything would never have a container. Sometimes we are surprised at who comes up with the bright answers to spiritual questions.
Our text records that the Lord Jesus marvelled. Do you think any of us has ever caused the Son of God to marvel? What have we ever said or done that has impressed Him? In our text, He found something to marvel about, a display of faith that exceeded anything that He had seen anywhere in Israel. And from a Gentile and foreigner, no less. He was impressed, not with the centurion’s actions or his words, but with his absolute and humble faith. I believe that is the greatest thing that we could ever do in terms of pleasing our Lord, to act and live in total faith in Him.
It was faith that brought us to the Lord Jesus: by grace are ye saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8). And it has been faith that has kept us in our Christian experience: the just shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Hebrews 10:38). If faith is so important to us as Christians, it should follow that the greater our faith, the greater will be our ability to serve and follow our Lord. That applies to individual instances of faith, such as that displayed by the centurion, and to a lifestyle that is based on faith, so that every aspect of our daily walk is directed by faith.
The great German philosopher Goethe had this interesting observation about faith: Epochs of faith are epochs of fruitfulness, but epochs without faith are devoid of all permanent good. In this the philosopher would agree with the Scriptures, that faith is the essential ingredient to reaching our highest goal, that of pleasing our Lord. -Jim MacIntosh