Daily Bible Reading 14th 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.
In principle, in embryo, we have in fact the whole apostolic doctrine and theology in what has been said in the last Note. One thinks of the mighty utterance of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:5-11. Here, pre-eminently, is a picture of a man under authority and in obedience to authority. Christ was in the form of God: He thought equality with God not a thing to be grasped at but, on the contrary, made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant - submitting Himself to the conditions of a servant, of the lowliest kind, for the Son of Man had not where to lay His head - and being found in fashion as a man, He became obedient unto death.... Wherefore, says Paul, - and this is the glorious theology of the gospel - God hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name…!! The source of His power and authority - cf 'All power is given unto Me...', 'made head over all things to the Church.' - lies in His having put Himself under authority. Authority obeyed leads to authority bestowed! This, ultimately considered, is how He could say to sickness, 'Be gone', and to the centurion's servant, at a distance, 'Be whole'. It was this authority that the centurion recognized and acknowledged, and Christ could do no other than heal his servant.