The student should not fail to read this narrative in the Revised Version, as it is much more clearly rendered there than in the so-called Authorized Version. Let us briefly outline the story.
Jesus entered Capernaum, after completing His instruction on the mountain, and was met by messengers from a centurion, asking Him to come and heal his servant, who was at the point of death. Jesus at once set out for the centurion's house, but before He reached it He was met by another company bearing this message. "Lord, trouble not yourself; for I am not worthy that You should come under my roof: Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto You; but say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having under myself soldiers; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes: and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it. And when Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned and said unto the multitude that followed Him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." (Luke 7:6-9,RV)
And the narrative closes with the statement that when the messengers returned to the house they found the servant whole.
Object of the Lesson
What is the lesson for us to learn from this little story? If we get nothing more from it than the mere knowledge of some of the details of one of the miracles that Jesus did, it will not profit us much. Whenever you read the account of any miracle of Jesus, remember these words: "These are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through His name." (John 20:31)
The only object in telling us how this young man, and others also, received life, is to let us know how and where we may find life. What is the source of life? Our lesson answers the question: it is the Word of the Lord. "That which was from the beginning [was] the Word of life." (1 John 1:1) "The Word of God lives and abides forever. ... And this is the Word of the Gospel, which is preached to us." (1 Peter 1:23,25)
These miracles are recorded for the sake of showing us the reality of the life that comes from the Word.
No Healing Except by the Word
Moreover we are to learn that it is the Word alone that heals. Whenever any person is ill, and is healed, it is nothing else but the Word of the Lord that cures him. There is nothing else that can heal.
This fact is often obscured by the so-called "remedies" that are given, in spite of which people often recover. That which people for the most part depend on in cases of disease, is usually what retards recovery, and tends to make it impossible. The fact that so many people do recover from various illnesses in spite of the poisonous drugs that are administered, is evidence of the marvelous power of life that is in the Word which God sends to us. "What! are not drugs a part of the Word that heals? do you think that the use of means is inconsistent with faith in the Word of the Lord?"
What do you think? The Word is life; now can that which is deadly, and which must be dealt out with the greatest caution, lest the patient get a fraction of a grain too much, and so be poisoned to death, be a means of conveying that living Word?
When the body is worn with labor, and cries out for food, would you administer a dose of poison, instead of giving bread? The questions answer themselves. Poisonous drugs are not means of conveying the Word of life, which makes alive; they are in deadly opposition to it.
But that does not by any means signify that the use of means is inconsistent with healing by the Word. Far from it. Everything that is a means of conveying life is the agent of the Word. Christ is the Personification of the Word, and in Him we live, and move, and have our being, yet we live by eating and drinking and breathing.
The lesson that God would have us learn is that every real means of conveying life to mankind is but a means of conveying the Word of life. The Word itself is invisible; it can and does give life apart from any visible agency; but certain things that our senses can grasp are given to us as means of supporting life, in order that we may appreciate the reality of the Word.
In short, God sometimes lets us see Him heal, and preserve life, without any visible medium, in order that we may know that it is only by the Word that life and health come; and He often conveys life by means of some visible agent, in order that we may not forgot that the spiritual Word is very real.
God's Word in Medicine
The Word is itself a means of healing. When good people, full of faith, say that they do not believe in using any means for the recovery of the sick, but only trust in the Lord, they unconsciously deny the reality of the healing Word.
The centurion recognized the fact that the Word that Christ spoke was as real as any messenger that he could send on his own business. God sends His Word on errands, and it obeys Him.
It never returns to Him without having accomplished that to which as sent it. "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:10-11)
So we read that when God's people of old were suffering affliction because of their folly, and were near to the gates of death, so ill that they could not eat, "He sent His Word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." (Isaiah 107:20)
In the miracle recorded in the lesson that we are studying, we have an instance of this. "My son, attend to my words; incline your ear unto my salvation. Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and medicine to all their flesh." (Proverbs 4:20-21,margin)
Healed Means Saved
In the Revision we read that the centurion sent to Jesus, "asking Him that He would come and save his servant." (Luke 7:3,RV)
In the Common Version the word "heal" is used. Both mean the same thing. To save is to heal, to make "every whit whole." (John 7:23)
Whoever is not saved is not healed, and not perfectly whole, no matter how well he may seem to be. The Word that makes the body well, is the Word that saves from sin.
We are saved by the life, and Jesus has but one life to give. He does not live a double life. He gives himself, and that one gift of life contains everything that pertains to life and godliness. Our part is to recognize the Lord, to learn to discern His body in His gifts.
The Free Gift
What a narrow idea the elders of the Jews had of the character of Jesus! They supposed that He was influenced by the same motives that they were. "They, when they came to Jesus, besought Him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy that You should do this for him; For he loves our nation, and himself built us our synagogue." (Luke 7:4-5,RV)
As though that would make any difference with Him! His call to the Fountain of life and healing is, "Ho, every one that thirsts, come to the waters, and he that has no money; come buy." (Isaiah 55:1) "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely," (Revelation 22:17)
That is, as a gift. Life is too precious to be bought with money. It is a gift, as freely bestowed upon the pauper as upon the prince. Alas! how few there are who do not regard it as of but little worth!
The True Israel
There was one important thing in connection with this affair, which is not mentioned by Luke. Christ was astonished by the centurion's faith, and said: "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." (Matthew 8:10)
Then He added, "And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:11-12)
If we had nothing else, this would settle the question as to the constitution of the kingdom of Israel. That kingdom is composed of those who have faith. "Know therefore that they which be of faith, the same are the sons of Abraham." (Galatians 3:7,RV)
Salvation is by faith. Then the centurion, who had greater faith than anyone in Israel, was ahead of them in the way of salvation. He was, in fact, a part of Israel, while the unbelieving descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not: "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." (Romans 9:6)
Those who have the name, but have not faith, are cast out; while those who have simple, childlike faith will form Israel, and will share the inheritance promised to the patriarchs of old.
Remember that "Israel" means "overcomer," and is equivalent to "Christian," and you make this lesson a personal matter. There will be many surprises in the kingdom.
Are you trusting in the name "Christian" or in the name--the living Person--of Christ? Accept every word that He sends, even though it may seem to be bitter medicine, and you will find it sweeter than honey-filled with the sweetness of His endless life.--Present Truth, April 12, 1900--Original title: The Word that Heals. The Centurion's Servant Healed--International Sunday-School Lesson for April 22--Luke 7:1-10