People are all around us. People we have known for a long time, or people we are just beginning to know.  Each one brings something unique and special into our lives.

I often feel that way when I’m reading through Scripture. I’ll hit a place in Scripture where the people spring to life. Luke Chapter 7 is that way for me.  There are people in that chapter with which I would love to sit and converse. First is the centurion and his servant.

I have always loved this Roman commander of 100. He was a man of authority, and he had a sick servant.  The accounts in Luke 7 and Matthew 8 tell us that this servant was paralyzed and in terrible suffering, sick and about to die, and they tell us that this Roman commander cared about his servant so much that he dared to approach Jesus and ask for healing.

Two things always strike me about these men. First, what kind of person was this servant that a Roman commander cared so much about him? He must have exhibited such faithfulness and concern for his master and his master’s interests that the centurion grew to value him dearly.

And then there is the centurion. His words to Jesus are so familiar, “Lord don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof . . . but say the word and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority and with soldiers under me.”  [vs 1-10]

This Roman had first learned to be UNDER authority or he would not have ever been placed in a position to have soldiers under him.

A servant who was faithful to what he was called to do.  A master who understood that one cannot lead unless one first learns to follow.