Luke 7:1-10 — Undeserved Grace

READ THIS: Luke 7:1-10

1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 

9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

One word stands out to me more than anything else in this passage: "deserve." As Jesus and His disciples enter into a new city, they are met by some servants of a Roman centurion (an officer in the Roman Empire). There's a few things about this that are super interesting! For one, it was pretty rare in the Roman culture to care for servants the way this centurion was. Secondly, the Romans were not known for being believers in the Jewish faith, and even less of them were known for following Jesus, but here we see the servants looking specifically for Jesus to come heal one of his servants. As if this wasn't interesting enough, the big reason they say that Jesus should heal this servant is because the centurion deserves it!

However, the word "deserve" is used one more time in this story. As Jesus follows the servants to the home of the centurion, another group of servants come with a different message: the centurion says "I do not deserve to have you come under my roof... say the word, and my servant will be healed." While the servants thought that Jesus should heal the servant because someone "deserved" it, the centurion understood that Jesus doesn't look at people who deserve and don't deserve Him. 

A lot of times, we think Jesus only works for us and our good if we've done good things, work hard, or avoid sin. When we think like that, we miss the best part about God's grace: it's freely given to us, even though we don't deserve it. Jesus hears what the centurion says and tells the crowd following Him that the centurion's faith is stronger than anyone He had seen in Israel! This is the kind of faith we need to strive for!

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. Why do you think God gives us grace, even though we don't deserve it?

2. Why would God's grace for us not be the same if we could earn it?

TRY THIS:

Jesus offers us unconditional love and grace every day, and it's our job to share that with others! If you can, try to show someone grace, even if they don't deserve it!

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 4, 2023 at 5:42 AM

    I think the point is that NONE of us DESERVE grace! If we had to deserve it, heaven would be empty and hell would be overflowing!!! But God freely gives us grace because of His love for us, in spite of how we live, when we BELIEVE that Jesus truly is the son of God!

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