Perhaps your response is, "Nothing could happen to make me feel that way." I hope that you are right, but I doubt that you are right. There are moments when I think I could never despise anyone. Then there are moments when it would be much too easy to despise people who really hurt me. Those moments make me realize we all can despise other people much more easily than we think.

If someone murdered your husband, would you despise that person? If someone raped your wife, would you despise that person? If someone murdered or raped your child, would you despise that person? If someone deliberately burned your home, would you despise that person? If someone deliberately destroyed your job out of sheer contempt for you, would you despise that person?

Let me set a context that would cause all of us to struggle with our feelings. If another nation conquered us and took away our freedoms, we would struggle with our feelings. If that nation replaced our police force with their occupation troops, we would struggle with our feelings. If by new law, those troops could conscript us to help them any time they wanted to, we would struggle with our feelings. If everywhere we went, we saw those occupation troops controlling the situations, we would struggle with our feelings. Every time we saw an officer in charge of those troops, we would really struggle with our feelings. That situation is so foreign to our circumstances, can we even imagine it?

1. We have to imagine those circumstances to understand Matthew 8:5-13.
   1. For about a hundred years, the Jews were free.
      1. Then in 64 B.C. the Romans took control of their country.
         1. The official headquarters of the Roman military occupation force was located in Caesarea.
         2. That city was the official residence of the Roman procurator who controlled Palestine.
         3. That was the official location of Palestine's Roman court.
      2. The Roman occupation military force was scattered throughout Palestine.
         1. Everywhere Jews traveled within their own country those troops were visible reminders that they were not free.
         2. If a Roman soldier was traveling and he wanted a Jew to carry his pack, all he had to do was tell the Jew to pick up the load.
         3. Roman law required the Jew to carry his pack for a mile.
         4. No matter what the Jew was doing or how much he resented it, he had to carry the soldier's pack.
      3. Place yourself in those circumstances and feel the animosity.
   2. A Roman centurion came to Jesus pleading with Jesus to help him.
      1. Can you picture that scene?
         1. Can you picture a Roman officer in the occupation force pleading for a Jew to help him?
         2. The Roman military did not plead for help from its captives; it ordered its captives to help.
         3. Can you imagine a man from a military that honored many gods asking for religious help from a man who taught there was one God?
      2. The situation:
         1. A Roman military officer in Palestine's occupation force who keeps the Jewish people under control has a servant who is paralyzed and in great pain.
         2. He is so convinced that Jesus can correct the situation that he comes to Jesus to ask for his help.
            1. This is one of the few times that Jesus used a miracle to help a person who was not a Jew.
            2. The entire situation is quite unusual.
         3. Jesus immediately agrees to go to the man's home and heal the servant.
      3. The response:
         1. The officer's immediate response: "I am not worthy for you to come into my home." (Wonder how many other people were told by this officer, "I am unworthy to have you in my home.")
            1. This Roman military officer had more respect for Jesus than did Jesus own countrymen--what Jew ever said, "I am not worthy for you to come into my home?"
            2. Incredible!
         2. The officer further said, "There is no need for you to come into my home."
            1. "I possess and use authority."
            2. "I know how to give orders to those who are under me."
            3. "Just say the word, and the healing will occur."
      4. Jesus' astonishment:
         1. "I have met no one in Israel that has this much faith!" (Israel's religious establishment asked Jesus for "a sign.")
         2. "This is the reason that people who are not Jews will be in the kingdom of heaven."
         3. "It is also the reason you first century Jews will be excluded from that kingdom and experience enormous grief and suffering."
      5. Jesus' response to the Roman army officer:
         1. "Go back. May your faith determine what happens."
         2. The healing quickly occurred.

2. If you think that Jesus was doing nothing more than condemning many of the first century Jews, you miss the point.
   1. If you think this is merely an anti-Semitic statement, you really miss the point.
      1. Jesus was not putting the first century Jews down.
      2. It was not a "I do not like you because you do not like me" statement.
   2. Jesus' point is seen in the incredible contrast.
      1. On one side were the first century Jewish people.
         1. They had a long history with the living God that began with Abraham.
         2. For centuries they have been blessed by their relationship with God.
         3. God gave them His word, His law, and His prophets.
      2. On the other side is this Roman army officer.
         1. He was in an army that consulted the idolatrous gods for favorable signs before beginning a military campaign.
         2. He is an officer in the occupation force.
         3. He may never have heard of or had contact with the God of Israel until he was stationed in Palestine.
         4. He heard of Jesus, and he believed Jesus could heal his servant.
         5. Though he held a position of authority and had power, he humbly came to Jesus to ask for help. (He did not send someone; he came himself.)
         6. He was convinced that Jesus had the authority just to speak and the healing would occur.
      3. Jesus said the first century Jews who have known God for hundreds of years did not have that kind of faith.
         1. Because they do not have that kind of faith, people like the Roman army officer would be in God's kingdom, and the first century Jewish people would not.
         2. God accepts us on the basis of our faith, not on the basis of our ancestors or our history.

3. I have given a lot of thought to the point of this incident, and I struggled to find a way to make it come alive in our understanding.
   1. Do you plan on going to heaven, to bowing yourself down in the presence of God?
      1. "Certainly!"
      2. Why? Explain why you plan on being in heaven.
         1. "I am a member of the Church of Christ."
         2. "I was immersed when I was baptized."
         3. "I take communion every week."
         4. "I sing in worship a cappella."
         5. "I trust the Bible to be my spiritual and religious authority."
      3. If you wrote your reasons down for having confidence in your eternal salvation, without prompting:
         1. Would you list faith in God? Where would you rank it?
         2. Would you list faith in Jesus Christ? Where would you rank it?
         3. Would you tie your obedience to your faith in God?
         4. Would you tie your repentance to your faith in God?
      4. Is our faith in our identity or is our faith in our God?
      5. Is our faith in our heritage or is our faith in our God?
      6. Is our faith in our restoration commitment or is our faith in our God?
   2. Suppose you asked a devout religious leader in Israel at the time of Jesus' ministry, "What is the difference?"
      1. "What is the difference between faith in commanded sacrifices and faith in God?"
         1. He would have answered, "There is no difference."
         2. "Faith in a commanded sacrifice is faith in God."
      2. "What is the difference between faith in the temple and faith in God?"
         1. He would have answered, "There is no difference."
         2. "Faith in the temple is faith in God."
      3. "What is the difference between faith in being God's people and faith in God?"
         1. He would have answered, "There is no difference."
         2. "Faith in being the people of God is faith in God."
      4. But Jesus said, "There is a difference."
         1. Jesus said, "The Roman centurion placed his faith where faith should be placed."
         2. Jesus said, "I have not seen anyone in Israel who does that."
   3. What I want you to see is so easy to misunderstand but is so important to understand. Let me answer some questions.
      1. "Do you want to be a member of the church of Christ?"
         1. Yes; I have spent my life attempting to serve God in Christ's church.
         2. But my faith is in God and what he did in Jesus Christ, not in the church of Christ.
      2. "Were you immersed when you were baptized into Christ for the remission of sins?"
         1. Yes, and I am convinced that a person who believes in Christ and wishes to redirect his or her life should be immersed into Christ.
         2. But my faith is in my God and what He did in Jesus Christ, not in the fact that I was immersed.
      3. "Do you take communion weekly to remember the Lord's death?"
         1. Yes, and I am convinced Christians should take communion each week to remember Jesus' sacrifice.
         2. But my faith is in my God and what He did in Jesus Christ, not in the fact that I take communion every week.
      4. "Do you believe in the basic objective of restoration?"
         1. Yes; I am convinced that we should never stop trying to understand how to be God's people as were the Christians in the first century.
         2. But my faith is in my God and what He did in Jesus Christ, not in the restoration movement.

Can you imagine anything worse than hearing God say, "Well done, good and faithful servants," and not being included in the group? Can you imagine anything worse than asking, "Why?" and hearing the Lord say, "I never saw the kind of faith they had in you."