Purpose of Miraculous healing: Centurions Slave Flashcards
Intro:
A true miracle is an event in the world brought about by the immediate agency of God, which cannot be explained by humans. It is a breaking of the Laws of Nature. In the case of the Healing of the Legion, Jesus performs a miraculous healing.
Para 1: Brief Overview
Jesus went to Capernaum when a centurion there has a servant who was sick and near death. The centurion sent some Jewish elders to Jesus to ask him to come and heal his sevent. Jesus went with them, and was not very far from the house when the centurion sent word to him by some friends: ‘Sir, do not put yourself to trouble, because I am not worthy to have you under my roof and for this same reason I did not presume to come to you myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man: ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” When Jeus heard this he was astonished by the mans faith – ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found faith like this’.
Para 2: Person of Jesus + his Christology.
One purpose of the miracles is that they teach us about the Person of Jesus and his Christology.
Through the healings, Jesus is showing his power and authority, but more importantly, that this power and authority comes from God, and therefore has divine authority. In the Healing of the Centurians Slave, we learn about Jesus’ power, as he is able to heal from a distance without seeing or touching the man. The man being healed from a distanced shows his divine significance as it brings an undeniable sense of the presence and power of God and furthermore proves his authority from God. As a result, perhaps this is what the miracles are intended to do.
Para 3: Jesus’ love + compassion for all people
Centurion would have been a gentile. Roman soldiers were trained to think of themselves as superior to those whom they conquered and presided over, especially in regard to the Jews, whom the scorned. However, It doesn’t matter if the man is not Jew – ‘I have come to call all sinners, not the righteous.’
Para 4: Announcement of the KoG
Another main purpose of the miraculous healings was to express the message of the announcement of the Kingdom Of God. For Jesus, his miracles were tokens of that era in which the power of God was at work through himself and his mission, meeting and defeating all evil. One was this is shown is through ‘signs’ of the kingdom. In the case of the healing of the Centurions servant, through his power to heal the man from a distance, he is showing of sovereignty of God, which is visible on earth.
Para 5: Faith
One key characteristic of the miracles is the stress laid by Jesus on the need for faith as a precondition of miracles and his power is seriously hindered when faith is lacking. His miracles were not performed as a proof of divinity. They
required repentance to recognize the Kingdom of God and faith for healing, not the event itself. In the healing of the centurion’s servant, since the centurion is a Gentile, he has no promise of God’s mercy, as do the Israelites. Therefore, for him to have this kind of faith is rare and a great thing. He shows his faith in Jesus’ power to heal from a distance and that no direct contact is necessary for Jesus to perform the miracle. This faith shows his acceptance and respect of Christ as Savior, something in which was a key purpose of the miracles and something Jesus looked for.
Hunter states that faith is not a passive belief in many of the healings, but an “energetic and importunate grasping after Gods help present in Jesus.”
Conc:
Overall, through the miracles, God is presented as a loving parent, who cares for all people without exception. The person of Jesus is shown though the miracles such as his power and authority over evil. Just as Jesus taught in words and attitudes that God loves all kinds of people, so his miracles regularly involved outcasts in society – showing that his declaration of God’s care and concern was not just talk, but demanded action. Faith regularly features an important part of Jesus’ healings and without faith it was not possible to realize that the miracles were a sign of God at work. So in the healing of the centurions slave, the faith of the centurion shows that he has faith in God’s power was demonstrated in such a way that those who witnessed them would realize that the kingdom had arrived with the coming of Jesus.
