Lent Day 16: Roman Soldier

Pause

Before you read today, spend a few moments focusing your heart and mind on God. That may mean listening to a favorite worship song, standing outside and praising God for His creation or journaling a prayer. Whatever helps you to focus, set aside a few minutes to devote to that practice.

Read & Journal

Read Matthew 8:5-13. Consider these questions as journal prompts:

• What does Jesus’ interaction with the Roman officer teach you about Jesus’ character? About His mission or purpose?

• What does this interaction reveal about the Roman officer?

• How do you see Jesus entering into human brokenness in this passage?

• The Roman officer displayed great faith in Jesus and recognized Jesus’ authority. When have you seen someone display that kind of faith? What did you learn from that experience?

Ponder

As a Roman officer, the man in today’s passage understood authority. As an officer or centurion, the man would have led a unit of (theoretically) 100 men. Because of the power the officer had been given, when he spoke, his men obeyed. For whatever reason—Scripture is silent on the matter—the officer knew that Jesus had the authority to work miracles, that Jesus had authority over life and death. And the officer believed that what Jesus said would happen, would.

To better understand the deeper context of this interaction, recognize that the Roman officer had two strikes against him in the Jews’ eyes. He was a Gentile, outside the family of God. He would have been considered unclean simply because of his race and, therefore, avoided. Second, he was a Roman soldier, a living symbol of the oppression and ridicule under which the Jews lived. For a Jewish teacher to even entertain the man’s request was highly unusual.

Yet, in this interaction, this outsider whom the Jews hated is the one who displays faith that amazes Jesus (Matt. 8:10-12) and outshines that of the Jews who were God’s chosen people, who knew the good news of the coming Messiah. In faith, the Roman officer invited Jesus into the brokenness of his life, bringing forth the burden he was carrying: his servant’s illness. And he simply trusted that Jesus had the power and authority to do something about it.

We all have lived long enough to know that trust isn’t always simple. In our brokenness, we sometimes cling to our burdens and believe that Jesus can do something but wonder if He will. Faith is the exercise of choosing to trust Jesus—to take Him at His word and submit to His power and authority—again and again and again. We’re not absolutely guaranteed the answer or outcome we desire, but we are guaranteed a Savior who has the power and authority to do more than we could ever ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20).