Authority & Unworthiness

We often project and disguise ourselves in an attempt to avoid shame. Our sense of unworthiness drives us to “put on a face” both socially and spiritually. While we’re quick to celebrate our victories, we hesitate to boast in our weaknesses. This tendency reveals a deeper truth: we’re unable to live up to God’s standard of holiness, so we try to clean up our appearance.

No matter our efforts, we cannot build a proper safe house for our souls. Yet, Jesus builds a stronghold for us on the foundation of His person and work. The grace He gives through His Word saves. This truth comes alive powerfully in Luke’s account of Jesus and the centurion.

After He had finished all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to Him elders of the Jews, asking Him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with Him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” 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. Therefore I did not presume to come to You. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 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.” When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed Him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.
Luke 7:1-10

Jesus Is Not Afraid of Your Unworthiness

You don’t have to put your best foot forward with Jesus. Many of us functionally believe that to have His presence, we must complete a checklist to mitigate our unworthiness. The centurion in our passage felt this way too, believing the Jewish religious leaders needed to buffer him to make his request acceptable to Jesus. Though he had respectable attributes to leverage such as his love for Israel and the synagogue he built in Capernaum, these weren’t what drew Jesus to him. It was simply his need.

We often see ourselves as unworthy and mistakenly believe Jesus sees us the same way, treating us based on what we can or cannot do for Him. We play our good-deed cards to “earn” more grace, forgetting that we have nothing we haven’t received (1 Corinthians 4:7). The beautiful truth is that our brokenness actually draws out His mercy. He’s not afraid of the darkness in our hearts or our most insurmountable problems.

We must remove “I don’t want to be a bother to God” from our Christian vocabulary. To love one another as God first loved us, we need to recognize that we have already “bothered” Him—not in a human sense, but in reverent acknowledgment of His stepping down from His eternal throne into our mess to redeem us. Love always involves sacrifice, and Jesus demonstrated the ultimate example by hanging on the cross in your place.

Jesus’ Word Is Wholly Authoritative

The centurion understood authority from his Roman military context. He knew that claiming authority over something requires the ability to enact submission by that very thing. Jesus demonstrated this authority by healing the servant with just His Word. The centurion recognized that Jesus’ authority extended far above his own, and he knew he just needed Jesus to do what only He could do, even without meeting Him face to face.

True authority is realized in the Word of the one who has it. Jesus’ authority is rooted in who He is as the second person of the Trinity, the very Son of God. This reveals a crucial truth: we are not the solution to our own biggest problems. Under the tyranny of death, our salvation is of the Lord, not us. Without Christ, sin will claim our soul. But thanks be to God that Jesus speaks a greater Word over all the Father has given Him.

The difference between the Jewish elders and the centurion in his humble honesty was faith in Jesus and who He is. The centurion trusted Jesus’ word over his own authority or even that of the elders. His faith was so sure that he was content to send friends to interact with Jesus on his behalf. When they returned, the servant was well.

Jesus’ Authority Stands Forever

The greatest need in your soul today is for Jesus to be Jesus for you. Do you have sin? His Word is one of forgiveness and fulfillment of the Law for you. Are you experiencing pain, sorrow, or hopelessness? He goes to prepare a place for you.

There’s a profound sense in which we don’t ultimately need our earthly problems fixed. His Word spoken to the deepest and most sin-ridden part of your soul is enough. Because He has promised by His blood to sanctify you, you will be continually cast upon the sufficiency of His promise to do the saving your soul needs. There is no more unworthiness to speak of, for He has given everything in Christ.