Luke 7:1-10
1 After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people,
he entered Capernaum. 2 A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and
close to death. 3 When he heard about Jesus,
he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. 4 When they came to Jesus,
they appealed to him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy of having you do
this for him, 5 for he loves our people,
and it is he who built our synagogue for us." 6 And Jesus went with them,
but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say 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 only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I also 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 slave, "Do
this,' and the slave does it." 9 When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd
that followed him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found
such faith." 10 When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave
in good health.
"I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such
faith."
·
Once more, the Gospel takes us to the
unexpected once again. To the surprise again. Actually more than one surprise.
·
Jesus encounters a group of elders,
the leaders of the community in Capernaum. These respected men recommend that
Jesus come to the house of a Roman centurion whose slave is seriously ill. They
note to Jesus that this officer has been a friend to the community and has even
gone so far as to build the local synagogue building. The elders made sure that
Jesus knew that and that this foreigner was worthy of having you do this
for him despite that fact that he is a foreigner and an agent of
the occupation by the Roman Empire. They appear to be saying “he’s a nice guy…
for a Roman.” Considering how Rome often treated conquered and occupied people,
this really can be taken as a compliment. This military man felt some
connection to the people and appears to see them as more than objects to be
used in a game of Imperial power.
·
In reality, there were any number of
Gentiles who admired the moral code of the Jewish people and often allied
themselves with the Jews without completely converting to Judaism. Much of the
ancient world was based on the morality of the sword, where “might makes right”
and many lived by a warped Golden Rule – “Whoever has the gold, makes the
rules.” The Jewish people stood out in that time with a morality and a code of
living that many other people failed to see in their own culture. This
centurion might have been just one of those people.
·
Friend or not, he remains a soldier
of the Emperor on duty in a more-or-less occupied country. His higher
commander, Pilate, was known for his brutality. As a rule, the soldiers of the
Roman Empire were not known as a gentle sort.
·
The elders of the community feel this
man is worth helping and they tell Jesus so. Jesus agrees to come with them and
is soon met by a group of the officer’s friends who tell Jesus not to come to
the man’s house, but to only speak the word, and let my servant
be healed. The centurion’s friends tell Jesus that
the officer understands what authority means and he respects Jesus authority.
After all, he asked the elders to approach Jesus with the request for the
healing of his servant. He respects Jesus’ reputation as a man of God and a
healer. He may have even had enough presence of mind not to insist that Jesus
come to his house, knowing that Jesus’ reputation as a rabbi might be damaged by
consorting with a Roman and that such a thing would render Jesus unclean.
Instead he says, in effect, “I know how to give orders and have them obeyed. I
trust that you can do –and will do - the same. Your word is enough.”
·
Now this is something new! Luke puts
it this way: When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd
that followed him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found
such faith."
·
Faith… shown by a Gentile… in the
midst of the Chosen People. You’d think Jesus could’ve used this as an example
for his disciples and the crowd around him. It’s the perfect teaching moment,
but Jesus
·
What is really surprising is that
Jesus is the one who is surprised. We don’t hear of how the crowd reacted,
especially since the healing of the servant is only known when the friends of
the centurion return to his home. Were the elders amazed at the centurion’s
faith? We don’t know. All we know is the amazement Jesus feels. He is really
astounded. I wonder what he expected. When Elisha cured Naaman the leper
general of Syria in the Second Book of Kings, he told him complete a simple
task and wash seven times in the Jordan in order to be made clean. Here the
centurion requires nothing but Jesus’ word.
·
The centurion expresses his faith in
words he understands, speaking as a commander of men. We can do the same. We
should not be afraid to speak to God in terms we know. A farmer speaks as a
farmer; a parent as a parent; a student as a student, and a sick person as a
person in pain. For true and real prayer, we only need to pray from the heart.
No special words are needed, so long as they are our words or words that
we have made our own.
·
The centurion’s faith that whatever
Jesus said would be done comes from two things: the man’s understanding of
authority and his belief in Jesus’ authority. We’ll never really know the full
extent of the man’s faith, but it seems he respected and trusted who Jesus was
and who he showed himself to be. We can do the same. We know who Jesus has been
in our lives and we know what that has led us to believe. We know we can trust
him and that he will remain with us no matter what turns our lives take.
·
Maybe should pray for the simple
faith of this soldier who trusted the one he knew was powerful and worthy of
his trust and faith.
"Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have
you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to
come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.”
No comments:
Post a Comment