So for the Romans, Jesus was a potential dissenter or riot-maker. Peace was their goal in the lands they conquered and ruled. They coined a term to define it – the Pax Romana. The Romans highly regarded their way of life. To the Roman, Jesus was a potential trouble-maker. Jesus, to them, was a radical against whom they must teach. These same elders along with the Pharisees sought to trick Jesus so they could arrest him because He had too large a following. What is even more significant is that the Jewish elders would deign to recognize and approach Jesus as having power to heal. That these two groups would look to the other for help, compassion, and understanding is significant. The Roman enforced the imperial laws, yet he asked the Jewish leaders for help. The Jewish leaders taught their people to obey the LORD God, yet they looked up to this Roman. Both the Roman centurion and Jewish elders were men of authority. What is significant in these two verses is that a Roman would seek the help of Jewish elders and Jewish elders, learned men that they were, held the Roman centurion in honor and wanted to help him. They were a judicial body like a supreme court and an administrative council. These men were well educated in Jewish law. The Sanhedrin consisted of chief priests, heads of the twenty-four classes of priests, elders, men of age and experience, scribes, lawyers and those learned in the Jewish law ( ). This word, for the Jews meant the Sanhedrin. The word from which Jewish elders comes is presbuteros. The second thing we should notice is that the people the centurion sent to summon Jesus were Jewish elders. When a centurion gave a command, the men under his command obeyed. He was accountable to another man who had authority over him. A centurion was a man who had authority over 100 men in the Roman army. “Why,” you ask, “does the fact that a Roman and Jews going to Christ interest you?” First, Romans were the rulers and, often, the oppressors of the Jews. Today as I read this passage, verses two and three made an impression on me. Indeed, that is what Jesus said in verse nine: “When Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him (the centurion), and turning to the crowd following Him, He said, ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.’” These are undoubtedly great points to consider and are most easy to recognize. The points I saw most often were Jesus performed another miracle and the Roman centurion had great faith. I have read this passage several times over the years. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.” Focal Passage – Luke 7:2-3 “There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die.
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