Employee Benefit Program - Luke 7-8

Employee Benefit Program

Luke 7:1-10 (ESV)

1 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. 3 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” 6 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. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 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.” 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.” 10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

This is a classic example of establishing an employee benefit program.   The Centurion was not just saying he would take care of his employee (the servant), he put his money where is faith is.   We have to love this story from a leadership point-of-view.    The Centurion would not be Jewish.   He was a Roman solider, probably in charge of a 100 soldiers. In a Roman Legion there were 6,000 men.  Those men were divided into six cohorts and each cohort would have 100 men.  A Centurion would be placed over each 100 men.   There were only 60 Centurions in the entire Roman army.   So, this man was of quite prominence.   Yet, he had a servant “who was highly valued by him.”    It could be imagined that this man was quite busy each day.  There was no doubt that the Centurion was pulled, daily, in multiple directions while being responsible for 100 soldiers.  Yet, this one servant was, in this story, his sole focus.  He decided to give him full medical coverage ... through the healing of Christ.    To accomplish this tasks, however, he goes through an intermediary and some friends.   He realizes he is a Roman citizen and Jesus is a Jewish prophet.   It is doubtful he is looking at this from a political focus, however.   There seems to be a real sense of humility.  He recognizes the authority of Christ and he recognizes his own authority.   He does not exert his authority, however.   He is genuinely a humble man.  This is why he valued his servant.   Here you have one of the most powerful men in the region and he humbles himself to come to Christ on behalf of his servant.  This might be one of the best examples of a leader, humbling themselves in prayer, to cover his/her employee with Christ’s power and grace.   If we want to value our employees, we ought to be put our value where our faith is.   We can use our power in Christ, through prayer, to cover our employees and has for Christ’s guidance and help in securing a better life for those employees.   Imagine if an employee came to a leader and asked, “Do you value me?”   Imagine the leader’s response saying, “Yes, I take your name to Christ each day for your healing and success.”    That is real humble leadership with an employee benefit program.