The True Christian Faith: The Faith of the Centurion of Capernaum

At the time when the Lord Jesus entered Capernaum, the servant of a centurion lay sick, a servant whom he loved much. When he heard that Jesus was there, he obtained the consent of some of the elders of the Jews, and sent them to Jesus with a request that he would come to him and restore his sick servant; and Jesus went with them. And when he was not far from the centurion’s house, the centurion sent some of his friends to him, who said, Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof (here notice his humility), and I did not think myself worthy to call on you and see you in person; but speak the word, and my child shall be healed. He acknowledged that all must bow to Christ and his word, and said, I also am a man under authority, having 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. As if he would say to Christ, See, Lord, I am only a man, and have to serve the councils at Rome; nevertheless I have so much power over my servants that they must obey what I command them. But you, Lord, are such a Lord that all the mighty have to bow to you; all that is in heaven above and on earth beneath must yield to you. If you only command sickness and death, they will have to obey you and leave my child. And again, if you command health and life, they will have to return. Therefore it is not necessary that you should come into the house of your unworthy servant; Lord, only speak the word, and my child will be restored again. When Jesus heard these words he was quite astonished, and said to the people who followed, Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel, Matthew, chapter 8.

See, faithful reader, here you have the centurion as a living example, from which you may learn how a true Christian faith humbles itself before God and does not doubt his power, and how kindly and graciously he deals with his poor servants, whether they are male or female. The centurion was moved with compassion toward his poor servant, and had such great concern for him that he spared no pains to trouble the elders of the Jews to go to Christ and entreat him to come and heal his sick servant. This is to the disgrace and shame of all false Christians, and especially of many of the rich, some of whom are harder on their poor servants and hired workers, and have less feeling for them, than they (pardon the expression) have for their domestic animals. For as soon as the servants fall sick, so that they cannot do every kind of drudgery, they are mercilessly turned out of doors and sent to this or that poorhouse, or to their parents and friends, who sometimes scarcely have a mouthful of bread or a bed in their houses. Others again have to get a substitute in their place while they are sick, and pay him out of their own small earnings. And even if in health they fulfill their engagements with hard and severe labor, still some of these merciless, bloodthirsty people treat these innocent ones, who have to watch while they sleep, labor while they rest, run when they command, stand while they sit, in such a manner as to take the greater part of their earnings, or slander them. Now, they say, a spoon is lost; next, a dish is broken; in short, they always speak evil of them and can never be pleased. Indeed, some of them would feed them on water or straw, and pay them with the whip and chaff, just as they do their working oxen and horses, if they were not afraid and ashamed before men; for they would not be ashamed before God, alas, whom they do not know. O woe to such heathenish tyranny and merciless cruelty!

The centurion calls his servant his child, by which he shows his fatherly love and humility toward his poor servant. Though he was a lord, and held in high honor, he nevertheless did not exalt himself above his poor servant, for he knew well that one God created both of them, that they were born of one seed and had one origin. But what conduct such heathen Christians show toward their oppressed servants, their actions, alas, openly show!

How lamentably some of the poor children are despised by some of them! How many disgraceful words some of them have to hear, and how many sore stripes to endure! Their scolding and rash words continue from morning till night; some of them make their girls prostitutes; indeed, what more shall I say? These poor children are regarded by them, and especially by the rich, as the poor, despised donkey is by the magnificent, fat horse, and the filthy pebbles by the beautiful pearls. Ah, reader, it is all much worse than I can describe. It is indeed time that they looked into these things and reflected more deeply upon love.

The centurion humbled himself before the Lord with all his heart, considering himself not worthy that Christ should come under his roof. But our haughty, proud heathens strut about with puffed-up hearts and outstretched necks, high-minded, idle and daring; one boasts of his family, another of his wealth, a third of his wisdom, a fourth of his skill and beauty, and so on. But the innocent and meek Christ says, Learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and they falsely boast that they have his name, word, death and blood, yet do not know it.

The centurion believed that Christ was mighty and able by his word to do all that he desired; but this miserably benighted people values it no more than they do the fables of Lucian and Aesop. That is why they lead such an impenitent, carnal life, use such idolatrous sacraments and false worship, and have departed so far from the true King’s highway; and still they want to be the true, apostolic and believing church of Christ. But just as Christ testified of the centurion that he had not found such faith in Israel, so we might, on the other hand, testify and say of this people that such heedless, cruel, haughty, proud and merciless unbelief is unknown among the heathen, and is not to be found among those who never heard the word of Christ. See, in this way the righteous Lord lets those err and fall into blindness of heart who so little regard his most holy word, and who hate and thrust from them his fatherly grace, goodness, Spirit, knowledge and faith.

But it is not so with you, my most beloved. Take this sincere, pious centurion as an example; imitate him in his faith, love, humility and virtues, and be as concerned for your servants as he was for his servants. Teach, admonish and reprove them with a fatherly spirit as often as they err; set them a blameless example in all righteousness and piety; have compassion on their severe labor; comfort them in their poverty; comfort them and do not grieve them; supply their necessary wants, food and their earned wages, and do not cut them short; protect them in all honorable things; do not rebuke them without cause, lest they become timid; do not drive them away from you, but let them serve out their agreed time undisturbed, lest the name of the Lord be blasphemed. Be friendly toward them at all times, and if they are weak and sick, help them and minister to them; get others to serve in their place, without loss to them, until the Lord takes them away or restores them to health. Sympathize with them and be merciful; help them in all their need; do not lift your hearts above them, nor despise them, for they are your brothers according to the flesh. In short, be as minded in love toward them as Christ Jesus is toward us. At all times remember that we also have a Lord in heaven, before whose judgment seat we must all appear and render an account of all our works.

But if they are wanton and obstinate, and will not hear your word and command, nor follow your admonition and counsel; if they would rule and not serve, waste their time and not labor industriously; if they are unfaithful, rebellious and troublesome, and roguishly ruin your family and children, and so on; then settle with them and bring the matter of their wages before two or three witnesses, so that the blame may not rest upon you and the word of the Lord may not be blasphemed. In such a case, then, let them be dismissed, so that your good conscience may not be disturbed on their account, and your house and children may not be corrupted. Indeed, my brothers, you should do to your poor hired workers just as you desire to have done to you, being called together with them. This is what the law and the prophets teach.

Luke says that “Jesus entered and passed through Jericho; and behold, there was a man named Zaccheus, who was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and could not for the crowd, because he was little of stature. And he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree (or, as some say, into a wild fig tree) to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house. And he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully, and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said to him, This day salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham,” Luke 19, verses 1 to 9.

Paul says, For whatever things were written before were written for our instruction. And though we know Zaccheus’ faith, fruit, mercy, love and true conversion, it does us no good if we do not practice it and come up to his faith with its contrite, pious fruits. I therefore entreat all my readers who live openly in sin: all the wealthy, greedy, unrighteous merchants and grocers, all financiers and bankers, all who love money; judges, lawyers, advocates, preachers, priests and monks, all drunken innkeepers, together with all those who deal in unlawful gain. I entreat all of them, by the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to consider well, with an understanding heart, this history and account of Zaccheus, so that they may learn from it that they do not yet possess the right, true faith and that Christianity which counts with God, and that they have nothing but a fruitless, vain boasting of Christ and of faith.

Zaccheus was chief of the publicans, and he received Christ joyfully into his house and heart. He believed and was renewed; he reformed his life and departed from his former evil ways. That our open transgressors do not yet reform their old, ungodly lives, and that they do not desire Christ and his faith, however much they may boast, is as clear as the light of day.

Zaccheus was rich, and he gave half of his wealth to the poor. But our rich people seek more and more how they may increase their money and possessions, build their houses splendidly, and add farm to farm. They do not defend the cause of the poor and needy; they are merciless, proud, greedy and wanton; they do not remember what is written concerning them, “Come now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten; your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as if it were fire,” James 5, verses 1 to 3. Nor do you reflect on what David says, “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like the green bay tree; yet he passed away, and lo, he was not. Indeed, I sought him, but he could not be found,” Psalm 37, verses 35 and 36. Ah, what a hard saying the Lord uttered, “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation,” Luke 6, verse 24; and, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” Matthew 19, verse 24.

Zaccheus said to the Lord, “If I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold”; but our miserably greedy people never stop defrauding their neighbor. For the whole broad world, both man and woman, is so greedy after unlawful, shameful gain that it can be neither imagined nor told.

Lords and princes daily invent new devices and practices by which they may increase their dominions, interests, tolls and rents. They tax, shave, grasp and rob without any mercy or limit; they draw the very marrow from the bones of the poor, and show by their actions that they are companions of those of whom it is written, “Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves,” Isaiah 1, verse 23. O that he knew Christ, would repent, cease to do evil, and would reflect more on love!

Judges, lawyers and advocates also use every artifice to get unlawful gain. With few exceptions they all serve for gifts and money; for if they did not expect profit or gain, I am persuaded that burgomasters and judges would be few in the whole empire. For the sake of gain they sit and judge, and they often encourage lawsuits for the sake of a fee. Some of them pervert law and justice for the sake of a gift, and do not reflect on what Jehoshaphat said to the judges, “Take heed what you do, for you do not judge for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Therefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it; for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts,” Second Chronicles 19, verses 6 and 7.

Captains, knights, servants and such bloody men are ready to serve for the sake of gain, and swear with uplifted fingers that they will destroy cities and countries, seize citizens and inhabitants, kill them and take their possessions from them, although these never harmed them nor gave them any provocation. O God, what accursed, ungodly abominations and trade! And still it must be said that they protect the country and people, and that they help administer justice! [Note 1]

Priests, monks and preachers are equally bent upon unlawful gain. They are not shocked to make God’s only and firstborn Son, his eternal, almighty Word and Wisdom, the one and only everlasting foundation of heaven and earth, Jesus Christ, together with his holy apostles, into open false witnesses, heretics and deceivers. For Christ says, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved,” Mark 16, verse 16. But they say, He who believes and is baptized is a heretic, and shall be damned. Christ says, “But if you will enter into life, keep the commandments,” Matthew 19, verse 17. But they say, No one can keep God’s commandments.

Paul says, If you live according to the flesh you shall die; and again, The unrighteous, drunkards, the greedy, the haughty, the unchaste and the like shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But they say, We are poor sinners; who can always live as the Scriptures teach? Christ died for sinners; and similar consolations, by which they deny Christ and his word, and so encourage the whole world, rich and poor, small and great, in their hardened and wicked life, so that there are, alas, few who truly repent or seek after God. They preach what the ignorant, blind world desires, so that they may quietly enjoy the reward of Balaam (their cloisters and stipends, I mean), and lead an epicurean life without care. For they, poor creatures, do not know that they are those of whom it is written, “Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core,” Jude 1, verse 11; accursed people, Second Peter, chapter 2. O God, that they would beware! [Note 2]

The unrighteous merchants and grocers (I say the unrighteous, for I do not mean those who are righteous and pious), together with all those who deal greedily and stingily, are so bent upon accursed gain that they shut God out of their hearts. They find fault with what they should properly praise, and praise what they should find fault with; they lie and swear; they use many vain words; they adulterate their merchandise to cheat the people and to take what is not their own; they sell, lend and give credit to the needy at exorbitant gain and usury, never seriously reflecting on nor taking to heart that it stands written, “That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter,” First Thessalonians 4, verse 6.

I wish that they would lay more seriously to heart the teaching of Sirach: “A merchant shall hardly keep himself from doing wrong, and a huckster shall not be freed from sin. Many have sinned for a small matter, and he who seeks for abundance will turn his eyes away. As a nail sticks fast between the joinings of the stones, so does sin stick close between buying and selling. Unless a man hold himself diligently in the fear of the Lord, his house shall soon be overthrown,” Ecclesiasticus 26, verse 29; Ecclesiasticus 27, verses 1 to 3.

This I write as a warning to the God-fearing merchants and grocers, so that they will not imitate the ungodly, lest they be overcome by greed, but will be careful in their dealings and beware of dangers.

Some are made thieves, some murderers, others jugglers and necromancers; some are whoremongers, others gamblers, others are betrayers; others become executioners and torturers, and some also persecutors and slayers of the pious, and so on; and all this for the sake of accursed gain. By this they openly testify (because they walk in such a way and are so bent upon unlawful gain) that they are of the devil and not of God, that they do not have the faith and word of Christ, but are in every respect hostile and opposed to it.

Yes, kind reader, the whole world is so contaminated and entangled in this accursed greed, fraud, false practices and unbecoming gain, in this false trade and merchandise, with this finance, usury and self-interest, that I scarcely know how it could be worse; yet they are still the priests’ and preachers’ Christians, and are said to earn their bread honestly and to do justice to all.

Ah, my reader, how different all this is from the faith, disposition and converted life of Zaccheus! For if they had the mind, faith and power of Zaccheus, which we must have if we would ever be saved, it is my opinion that few lords and princes would continue in their violence and wanton lives; few riders (knights) and servants in their ungodly service and deeds of blood; few judges, lawyers and advocates in their courts and offices; few rich persons in the unlawful use of their riches; few merchants and grocers in their usurious and dangerous trade; and few preachers, priests and monks would continue in their incomes, stipends and cloisters. There would soon be a different state of things, because it cannot be otherwise than that the righteous live by faith. Indeed, they would say with joyful hearts, with Zaccheus, We willingly serve the poor with our goods, and if we have defrauded anyone, we will gladly make it good to him.

All who, like Zaccheus, rightly receive Jesus Christ into the house of their consciences, rightly receive the word of Christ as he did and are also truly born through the word, are rightly moved by the Spirit of Christ, and are of the same mind with him: it is impossible that they could defraud anyone of even a farthing. For we see that the disposition and practice of all true believers is to injure no one on earth, but, as far as lies in them, to help all; to defraud no one, but to do justice to all. As Paul says, “Let him who stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him who needs,” Ephesians 4, verse 28.

But why say much? For my part, I do not know where to find the mighty and the rich; in what courts we can find judges, lawyers and advocates; in what cities and countries merchants and grocers; or in what cloisters and churches we can look for preachers, priests and monks, who rightly believe and follow Christ; who, being regenerated, penitent and pious, give up all improper practices, fraud, craftiness, robbery and unlawful gain, and say with Zaccheus, Those whom we have defrauded we will repay fourfold. The prophet complains that everyone, from the least even to the greatest, is given to covetousness, Jeremiah 8, verse 10.

Since, then, they are set upon accursed, abominable greed and unlawful gain, and deal so crudely and plainly contrary to love, and none anywhere repent, it is evident that they are not in the church of Christ. For the church of Christ is called his body and bride in the Scripture. If the church is his body, she must be flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone; and if she is his bride, she must be of his kind: righteous, holy, meek, chaste, true, lovely, merciful; indeed, she must hear and obey his voice. Therefore Christ cannot admit any other members into his church except those who are of one heart, spirit and soul with him, partakers of his Spirit; who are dead to all unrighteousness, bury the old, evil life of sin, walk by faith, blamelessly in love, receive the truth joyfully, and willingly serve their neighbor, as this believing, regenerated and renewed Zaccheus did.

He desired to see Christ, and received him with joy; he believed his word and abandoned his ungodly life; he ministered to the poor, and made peace with those whom he had defrauded. In short, he proved himself in all his actions to be a pious, sincere, regenerated child of God; therefore he heard the peaceful, joyful word of divine grace, “This day salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham,” Luke 19, verse 9.

See, worthy reader, those who believe, are penitent and renewed as Zaccheus was, and walk in love, belong to the church and body of the Lord, as Christ himself says, “By this all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” They are the living stones of the Lord’s temple, and the true citizens of Jerusalem, in which neither sorcerers, nor whoremongers, nor murderers, nor idolaters, nor whoever loves and makes a lie have any part. Indeed, as long as Zaccheus was such a one, he was outside; for such, says Paul, have neither lot nor part in the kingdom of God and of Christ.

But as soon as he believed the word of the Lord, through faith he repented and turned himself to love. From that hour he was entitled to citizenship with Christ himself; the path of life was opened to him, peace was declared, salvation bestowed, and he was acknowledged and received as a joint heir of grace and a child of God, as the Lord says, This day salvation has come to this house, and so on. For as Christ is holy, so must his children, brothers, members, church and bride also be holy; for it is written, Be holy, for I am holy.