The Soldier Who Just Believed

Picture a soldier.

Not a soldier from God's own people. A Roman. A man from far away, with armor and a sword and a hundred soldiers who did what he told them. When he said go, they went. When he said come, they came.

He was a man who was used to being obeyed.

But this soldier had a servant he loved, and the servant was sick. So sick he was nearly gone. And the soldier, who could command a hundred men, could not command this. He could not order the sickness to leave. He could not tell death to wait. Some things no soldier is strong enough to do.

Now this soldier had heard about Jesus. Jesus had just finished teaching the crowds, telling them about the two builders and the storm, and the house that stood because it was built on the rock. And the soldier's heart leaned toward him the way a flower leans toward the sun.

But here is what the soldier believed about himself. He was an outsider. He was not one of God's chosen people. He had no right, he thought, to walk up to Jesus and ask. Who was he, a foreigner, a stranger, to bother a holy man of Israel?

Maybe you know that feeling too, the one that whispers, you don't belong here. There's no place for you. You have no right to ask.

The soldier felt it.

So he sent friends instead. And as Jesus came near the house, the soldier sent one more message. "Lord, don't trouble yourself. I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But I know how this works. I tell one man go, and he goes. I only have to say the word. So you, Lord. You don't even need to come. Just say the word, and my servant will be well."

This soldier, this outsider, believed that Jesus's voice was strong enough to reach all the way across the town and heal a dying man. He believed Jesus could command what no soldier ever could.

And Jesus stopped.

He turned to the crowd following him, and he was amazed. Hardly anywhere in all the stories does Jesus marvel at someone. But he marveled now. He looked around and said, "I tell you, I have not found faith like this anywhere in Israel. Not anywhere."

And the servant, far away in the house, was well. Made whole by a word.

The man who felt he had no right to ask was the very one Jesus pointed to and said, look. Look at his faith. Jesus held the outsider up for everyone to see.

Because Jesus had come to gather a family, and that family was always going to be bigger than anyone guessed. Bigger than one nation. Wide enough for Romans and strangers and faraway people. Wide enough, even, for you.

The soldier thought he was standing outside the door.

He didn't know the door was already open, that the gathering had already begun, and that there would always be room for one more.