Daily Bible Reading 9th June 2026 // Luke 7:1-10
1 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. 3 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” 6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go’, and he goes; and to another, ‘Come’, and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this’, and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.
There is a sense in which the story of the Roman centurion provides another, if indirect, comment on the nature of the discipleship which the past notes have been emphasising, for its subject is faith, and it shows a faith that got things done, a faith that worked, a faith that prevailed. This is the meaning of real discipleship. But - the story of the centurion? Is it not rather the story of the healing of the centurion's servant? Ah, well, it depends what we think is important here. To be true, the servant was healed, and that healing was indeed a miracle; but there is something very much more important in this story than the miracle of healing, and that something is the miracle of the centurion's faith. This is the real heart of the passage. It was something that made Jesus marvel. And our primary concern must be to consider what it was about the centurion's faith that so impressed Jesus. It is the centurion and the Saviour that hold the centre of attention, not the servant who was healed. There is a wonderful simplicity about the story, but there is a real sense in which that simplicity is deceptive, for it is a great and profound statement about some of the ultimate things of the Christian faith. This, we believe, will become clear in the Notes that follow.