Matthew 8:5-13 5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.” 7 Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.” 8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For 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.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour. NIV
What a beautiful example of leadership. 1. First, the centurion soldier came to Jesus for the sake of his servant. A beautiful picture of how we should care for others, especially those who serve us. It can be assumed that by this example, the servant probably served his leader well out of response to the way he was taken care of by his leader.
When we are treated well by leaders, we will serve them honorably.
2. Then note the humility of this leader. He says to Jesus, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. This is a man of great authority, a centurion soldier, but he acknowledges that Jesus was much greater than he.
No matter how much authority we have on this earth, we need to recognize our need for God and that we are but servants to Him first.
3. This leader also had great faith. He had confidence in Christ and a great assurance that He could heal him. And not only that He could heal him, but that Jesus could heal the servant with just His word.
These are just a few points from this amazing story. How can we learn from this for ourselves as wives, mothers, employees, bosses, ministry leaders etc?
Leadership is not just position, in fact it has little to do with position. Leadership is influence and the more you care about others and help them, you will gain influence. I believe the centurion soldier shows how much he cares and how wise he is by his words and actions. I’m sure his men would give their lives for him if needed and that is because of how he cared for them.
Lead out of a heart that cares. Help those you lead and if you need to, bring their plight before Jesus, He is more than able to take care of them! We are not to be the answers to their prayers, but we should be bringing them to the One who is.