Grace, mercy and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ, in whom we put our faith. Amen.

Eternal God, the Holy Scriptures reveal your compassion in Christ for the entire world. To your Word we come for strength in these uncertain days. We are not the first to live in challenging times. Such times turn us to your promises, which alone can overcome our fears. You promised your people that you would be with them, even in slavery. Hearing their cries, you delivered them. Jeremiah comforted the captives with your assurance of plans to give them hope and a future. You brought them home. The apostle Paul learned continually to be content. His faith rested firmly on your Word. We have nothing to fear because the Word assures us that Jesus, your Son and our Lord, rules at your right hand over all things. We tune our hearts to those Holy Scriptures. Your strengthening voice encourages us, "Be still and know that I am God." In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Last month, my wife, Shelley, and myself, took our three girls to Florida for vacation. We spent one day at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Now, you have to understand that my girls are girls, through and through. They like pretty dresses, hair bows, Barbies and babies. They typically don’t like things that are gross, scary or might hurt them. So, naturally, I figured that they would not like roller coasters. Yet, when you go to Magic Kingdom, you want to experience Space Mountain, which is a roller coaster in almost pitch-black darkness.

Abbey, my oldest, was just tall enough to go on Space Mountain. I talked her into going with me. In the line for the ride, she was nervous and almost in tears. Yet, she trusted me that nothing was going to happen to her, that she was going to be fine. After the ride was over, she was laughing. She had a great time. In fact, she wanted me to take a picture of her at Space Mountain so all of her friends would believer her that she actually went on it.

Miriam, my four-year-old, is maybe even a bigger chicken than Abbey. Shelley took Abbey and Miriam onto Splash Mountain, which, at the end of the ride, has a huge drop-off into water below. Miriam, too, was nervous and almost in tears. But she calmed down as she saw Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear in all of their shenanigans during the ride. And so, by the time she went down the huge drop-off, she was giggling. She thought it was great. It was her favorite ride because it gave her a "funny tummy." She, too, trusted her mother that she was going to be fine.

I never would have thought that my girls would go on those rides at their ages. Yet, I was amazed by their unexpected faith in us as their parents.

In our sermon text for today, Jesus, too, was amazed by an unexpected example of faith. Our text says, "Jesus … was amazed at [the centurion], and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." I think I can safely assume that each one of us this morning would enjoy having that same kind of faith as the centurion – an amazing and great faith. It is a faith that is Christ-centered. And it is a faith that humbly trusts God.

This centurion was a Roman soldier who had been stationed in Israel to help keep the peace. He was a foreigner. A Gentile – a non-Jew. He had undoubtedly grown up worshiping false gods. And yet, the Jewish elders came to Jesus seeking help for this man. This didn’t normally happen for foreigners, for Gentiles. There was something special about this soldier. While he was in Israel, he must have read the Old Testament Scriptures and become a believer. He demonstrated his new faith by building the Jews a synagogue, a church.

It doesn’t seem like this centurion had ever met Jesus, yet he believed that Jesus was the long promised Messiah of the Old Testament. He believed Jesus was the Savior, the Son of God, and therefore, Jesus could heal his sick servant. Jesus was the only hope.

This centurion’s faith was so great and so amazing because the object of his faith was Jesus. If the object of his faith had been Jewish medicine or Roman doctors, his servant would have died. But because his faith was centered on Jesus, his servant was healed.

When you and I have difficulties in our life, we are tempted to look elsewhere for help – to our boss for a raise, to parents for a loan, to doctors for healing, and even to ourselves to get us through our difficulties.

This last week I learned about some financial difficulties we are having here at Epiphany. Now usually when someone talks to me about money, they sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher in the Peanuts cartoons: "Blah, blah, blah, blah." But the men at the budget meeting were able to explain things in a way that even I could understand. They explained that offerings are down while expenses are up. We are running out of reserve funds. We have the new expense of a pastor and a housing allowance. We have an empty parsonage. We had to cut half of a teacher (not physically, just in the position).

With these difficulties we might be tempted to think: "It’s not my problem. Let someone kick in the extra money." We might be tempted to cut expenses and ministries rather than looking for ways for our people to grow spiritually and become stronger in faith so that we can give more of our time, our talents, and our treasures. We might be tempted to be apathetic and not do anything.

We face the same problems in this church that you face in your daily life. I’m sure you have financial difficulties. You have health problems that must deal with. There are problems in your marriage, at your work, with your obstinate children that are driving you crazy. You don’t know where to turn. You don’t know what to do. You don’t know who can help.

Go to Jesus. Go to Jesus with all of your problems, your concerns, and your prayers. Jesus Christ is capable of handling any problem we could bring him. Creating planets isn’t much of a problem for him. Neither is making the sun stand still or parting the Red Sea. Neither is healing a sick servant or raising the dead. Nothing is too difficult for the Son of God to handle. And he’s just waiting for you to recognize his power and ask for his help. Just like the centurion.

Jesus loved you enough to humble himself to become like you. He loved you enough to humiliate himself by dying on a Roman cross. He loved you enough to rise from the dead and assure you of a home in heaven. The Bible says: "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:31-32) That passage is saying that if Jesus loved you enough to win heaven for you, he is going to make sure that you get there, whether that be through sickness or health, whether that be through financial struggles or plenty of money, whether that be through family problems or everything is great. Jesus is going to make sure that you get to heaven. And he’s going to make sure that this church continues to spread his Word to bring more people into heaven.

There should be no worries. There should be no concerns. Not when your faith is centered on Jesus – the Son of God, the Healer and Helper, the God of the universe.

During an earthquake some years ago, the people of a small village were very scared, but, at the same time, they were very time surprised at the calmness and joy of an old woman. One of them finally asked her, "Aren’t you not afraid?" "No," said the woman, "I rejoice to know that I have a God who can shake the world."

That is our Jesus. He shakes the world in such a way that the sick don’t stay sick, and even the dead don’t stay dead.

The second reason why this centurion’s faith was so great was that it was a very humble faith that trusted solely in God. The centurion was a soldier who was in command of one hundred men. Most soldiers I have known are very proud men and women. They are men and women of authority. This centurion said, "I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

Here was a man of authority and influence, who humbled himself by not even going to see Jesus. When he heard Jesus was on his way, he sent friends out to stop Jesus. He humbled himself with this message: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed."

The centurion made no demands. He put no conditions on Jesus, like "I did this for you, now you can do this for me." All he says is "I’m not worthy to have you, the Son of God, come to my roof."

Too often we put demands on Jesus. We can be tempted to believe that we deserve things from God because we are Christians, his sons and daughters. We were baptized and confirmed. We put in our hour of worship on a Sunday morning. Even if you fall asleep during the sermon, surely you must get "brownie points" from God for just showing up. So we feel like we deserve a better life, more answers to our prayers, and less struggles and hardships.

Jesus didn’t have to do anything that the centurion asked him to.

This is what Jesus says makes a great faith – when you realize you are not worthy of God’s riches. Isaiah 66:2 says, "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit." Why is humility so necessary for strong faith? When you are humble, you realize you need help. I compare it to growing old. Some elderly people are very stubborn. They have taken care of themselves all their lives. As long as they can do so – they refuse to ask for help. It isn’t until their physical condition gets to the point where they can’t help themselves that they finally ask someone for help. And even then they don’t always like it.

The centurion realized that he couldn’t help his servant. He realized that he didn’t deserve to have Jesus come under his roof. Since he knew that he was a helpless and unworthy sinner, he had no choice but to trust in Jesus. That’s why he had great faith – because he knew that he couldn’t save himself.

We need to remember this. We don’t deserve to be in this church building. We don’t deserve to have the body and blood of the Lord touch our lips in the Lord’s Supper. We don’t deserve to be in God’s presence. God doesn’t owe us anything. The more we remember this, the more we will trust in the blood of Christ for our forgiveness. With a deep understanding of our sin and unworthiness, we will have a deeper appreciation of our salvation in Christ.

Luke closes this story: "Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well." That last sentence seems to be an almost "throw-away" sentence – "Oh, by the way, the servant was healed." Luke’s point in relating this story isn’t that the servant was healed. The point is that this centurion had an expected and awesome faith.

Each one of here this morning has the capability of having such a great and amazing faith. It may be unexpected, like in the examples of my daughters and their roller coasters or like this centurion with his servant. But the potential for great faith is there, because Jesus is the object of our faith and we humbly trust God to get us through the thick and thin.

One more quick lesson that we can learn from this centurion. I believe that he was an optimistic, upbeat, and pleasant man, solely because of his faith in Jesus.

So friends, don’t be negative around me. Don’t say we can’t do certain things. Don’t whine or complain. Every struggle is a challenge that needs to be overcome. Every difficulty we face is a mountain that needs to be climbed. Every problem is an opportunity for us to put our great faith into action. We are not negative people here at Epiphany. We are not pessimistic people as Christians. We have Christ as the object of our faith. We can accomplish anything through Christ who is with us. Amen.

"Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful." (2 Chronicles 20:20) Amen.