Luke 7:7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.
I don’t know how old you are this morning, but however old you may be, chances are good that the older you are, the fewer questions you ask. Specifically, you ask for less help from other people. That is natural. The more accomplished you are and the more authority you wield, the less likely you are to ask for things from other people. As true as that may be, you can be a five-star general and still need the help of a doctor. You can be a high-powered doctor and still need the help of a mechanic. You can be a mechanic and still need the help of someone else. Regardless of your position or stage in life, all of us need help, but only the humble get help. That is certainly true with the Lord.
In Luke 7 you find this principle illustrated twice. How would you know if you are humble or not? Is it only a matter of thinking, “I’m nobody; I can do nothing”? Or is it something else? Are there objective criteria by which we can judge whether we are living with a mind of humility or not? I think there are two criteria that are very clear in this chapter.
The first is that people with humility ask for help, and the second is that they ask for answers. In the first few verses of Luke 7 we have the story of a centurion who commanded a hundred soldiers. He was highly regarded by the Jewish people, which was saying something. These Jewish people came to Jesus to tell Him that this centurion was worthy. He had been a friend to the Jewish people.
Now that is interesting because when this centurion later sent messengers to Jesus he basically said, “I am not worthy that you should even come to my house, but just say the word and my servant will be healed.” It is instructive that a man of high power was concerned about a servant. Here is a man with a heart of humility. He was a man who said, “I also am a man set under authority.” He had a lot of power and ability, yet he had the humility of heart to ask Jesus for the help that he needed.
Now if you ever get to a point where you won’t ask for help because you are supposed to be the one giving the help, you are in a bad spot. Jesus marveled at this man and said, “I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” What could impress Jesus? He raised the dead and healed the sick. What He marveled at was the faith or lack of faith of people. He didn’t marvel that He could perform these miracles, but at the way people responded to Him. So, only the humble get help, and this centurion helps us to see that humility asks for help.
Another example of humility is John the Baptist. He was in prison for doing what was right. He was in prison precisely because he had done what God had sent him to do. He sent two of his disciples, not Jesus’ disciples, to ask Jesus, “Art thou he that should come? Or look we for another?”
It was troubling that the question existed, but John did not shrink from asking the One who could answer. You may have questions this morning, but at least John knew whom to ask for the answer. Jesus’ reply was essentially, “You go tell John I’m doing everything that the Messiah was prophesied to do.” That apparently was sufficient for John.
Both the centurion and John were men of great influence and power. John was not timid or shy. He was one who preached with great authority, yet John had questions. Here was a centurion who commanded a hundred soldiers, yet he did not fear to ask for help. The centurion asked for help because he had humility, and John asked for answers because he had humility. Only the humble get help, but they get help because they ask.