When they reached Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to grant this…” (Luke 7:4)
What makes a person worthy to receive good? Generally, people, even professing Christians, believe that receiving a blessing results from doing good. Even people in Jesus’ day held this view. In Luke 7, there’s a story of a centurion who had a servant who was sick and about to die (Lk. 7:2). However, upon hearing about Jesus, the centurion sends people to Jesus to request that Jesus heal the centurion’s servant. Everyone in the story got something incredibly right; Jesus is the only one we must plead with for healing. However, the Jews got something quite wrong. They plead with Jesus saying, “He [the centurion] is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue” (Lk. 7:4-5). In other words, they believe that Jesus should work on his behalf because the centurion loves the people of God and has done good to them. If we pause and think about this, one thing should immediately become apparent: we are exactly like these Jews. We often believe that those who do good to us and for us are worthy of God’s blessing. In the centurion’s case, the Jews believe him worthy of Jesus’ granting his request. But scripture makes abundantly clear that none of us are worthy of good because all of us have sinned.
Here’s how Romans 3:23 says it, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All people have sinned. All people have fallen short. Consequently, all people deserve wrath, at least according to Romans 6:23. Now going back to the text in Luke 7, not everyone had the same view that the Jews had. We learn something about the centurion in Luke 7:6 when the centurion sees Jesus and says, “‘Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.'” The centurion saw himself as undeserving not only of Jesus answering his request but even Jesus coming into his presence. And anyone who sees themselves rightly should recognize that truth. We are unworthy of good. So, where does that leave us? Well, look at how Jesus responds to this in Luke 7:9: “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.'” Jesus is amazed at his faith! And Jesus responds by granting his request.
Now, there are two wrong ways to approach Jesus. The first is thinking that Jesus owes us. Jesus owes us nothing but wrath. However, another wrong reaction would have been for the centurion to see his sin and never ask Jesus of anything. Why would that have been wrong? Because it would have downplayed one characteristic we see of God, that he is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Ps. 103:8). So we approach Jesus like the centurion: with humility and boldness. Because while we may be sinners, our God is gracious.