Authority

There was a Roman centurion, who had a sick servant. He sent to ask Jesus to heal the servant. Jesus was about to go to do this, when another messenger came. Jesus did not need to come. The centurion understood authority. He had authority. He was under authority of others. Authority seems to be the ability to give commands and to reasonably expect that they will be obeyed. The centurion could give commands, and soldiers under him would obey not because of his tremendous power, but because he represented the power of the Roman Empire. It was the Roman army that backed him up with its power.

The centurion recognized that Jesus had similar authority. Because Jesus could command demons and disease to leave people, he concluded that God must be backing Jesus up with His power. So, Jesus could command the disease in the servant to leave. So, Jesus did not lay hands on the servant as he usually did. As far as we can tell, Jesus did not verbally command the disease.

Has Jesus given us authority? Is he backing us up?