Understanding the Authority of Jesus | Lessons from Matthew Chapters 4-8 (TV Audio #582)

Jesus comes into Capernaum, and a centurion comes to Him – he’s not a Jew, he’s a Roman soldier, an officer in the army that is occupying the land. But this officer comes to Jesus saying, “My servant is at home, sick of the palsy – paralysed – and grievously tormented.” Immediately Jesus responds, “I will come and heal him.” That’s Jesus – the willingness – He would even go to a Roman and heal his servant. But the Roman says, no, I’m not a Jew, I’m not good enough for You to come to my home. Yes, I’m an officer – but I’m not worthy of You! You can imagine what those Roman officers got up to, believe me! They weren’t normally kind, gentle people, they had the power to be brutal. Yet – and this is very interesting – he says, “I’m not worthy to have You in my house, but SPEAK ONLY A WORD, and my servant will be healed!” He recognised the AUTHORITY Jesus had! Stop here for a moment. You see, it wasn’t just the centurion who recognised the authority of Jesus, but the ordinary people, back up on that mountain in Chs 5,6 &7, THEY saw the authority He had! You see, the scribes studied and taught ‘from the Book’. But even the ordinary people saw that there’s a vast difference between ‘teaching from the Book’ and speaking with AUTHORITY as Jesus did – not from intellectual study, but from a life lived with practice and experience. Matthew 7.28-29.