Day 24: Matthew 8: 5-13
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009Passage for the Day
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 ”Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.
Points of interest:
· ‘a centurion came to him’— the centurion was an official in the Roman military; thus he was definitely not a Jew (they were exempt from military service), and even more he represented the unwelcome foreign empire that had taken control over Israel. His position in the Roman army would equate roughly to a captain in the modern army. Most likely the centurion was not running in the same circle as Jesus and his crowd of followers; but possibly in his patrolling duties he caught wind that there was a rising celebrity of sorts who could help him. Like the Magi from the East in Matthew 2, this outsider intentionally makes his way to Jesus. Both in his infancy and his adulthood, Jesus draws people from far away to himself.
· ‘do not deserve to have you come under my roof’—This could just be a polite formality, like the customary, ‘No no, you really shouldn’t bother.” Saying, ‘yes,’ to such an offer could really become quite a responsibility for both of them. Middle Easterners take giving and receiving hospitality quite seriously; so it’s doubtful that Jesus could just quickly ‘drop by’ the centurion’s home—it would more likely be an all afternoon and possibly evening affair. Or it could be that the centurion is showing an admirable amount of sensitivity to Jesus’ status as a Jewish teacher: religious Jews avoided the homes of Gentiles, because of the higher likelihood that they’d encounter something prohibited by the kosher laws. However, it is also quite possible that the centurion really does recognize something powerful about Jesus. According to the social strata of the day, it would actually be the reverse of what the centurion is saying: this lower-class, roaming teacher figure, Jesus, wouldn’t deserve to go to the home of an established army official. But the centurion feels like he is actually unworthy of the honor of having this man in his home. Anyway it seems like Jesus’ response to the centurion’s statement would be something like “Okay, well, if you’re here with me, and your servant is sick at home, and you don’t want me to come to your house, what then would you like me to do?”
· ‘a man under authority’— the centurion shows humility and surprising awareness of his rank and how the hierarchy of the system operates. Instead of trying to sound good and point out his position in his organization, he actually does just the opposite. He is serving the mission of something much larger than himself and recognizes that any power or decision-making ability that he may have results from him being under the authority of the Roman Empire. The centurion recognizes equally that Jesus is serving a larger mission and has been given power under those parameters to do things like heal people. There’s somewhat of a play on the word ‘under’—not only is the centurion unworthy to have Jesus under his roof, he is also under authority. What is more, he is coming to Jesus on behalf of a man who is also under him; he’s asking Jesus’ help in making good use of the authority he’s been given.
· ‘not found anyone in Israel with such great faith’—all of Israel? This centurion gets quite the recognition from Jesus. And what is it that he is recognized for?—his incredible faith! While this is big compliment to the centurion, it’s also quite the knock to everyone in Israel. Jesus is saying ‘Look, here is this outsider who is showing all of you up.’ He makes the point to his fellow Jews that it’s not their endless striving to perfectly follow every law that matters; it’s believing, trusting and wholeheartedly recognizing who Jesus is that counts in the end.
· ‘many will come from the east and the west’—Again we get the picture of people coming from just about everywhere to join in on the good stuff that God is doing. Jesus seems to use the centurion’s coming as a way to point out that many others will come. It also reminds me of what we read last week in Isaiah 56 and 66 about one day God gathering people from every tongue and nation.
· ‘at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’—Here we have this same great image also mentioned in earlier readings. We see that what God is preparing and what people from everywhere are gathering together for is some type of huge celebratory feast (insert cheers…who doesn’t like feasts?). Jesus refers to this feast in a somewhat matter of fact fashion—“THE” feast’—as if everyone know exactly to what he is referring. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are known as the patriarchs –i.e. the fathers of the Jewish faith who were incredibly revered and of utmost importance to devout Jews in Jesus’ day. It’s almost as if Jesus is name dropping a bit—kind of like mentioning Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, or Ted Williams to a bunch of arrogant baseball players in order to grab their attention.
· ‘But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside’—It’s kind of a bummer and seems a little unfair that the subjects—the ones who are actually part of the kingdom—are the ones who miss the feast and instead end up in a pretty darn grim place. This is a warning to the Jewish followers who are technically sons of the kingdom, being able to directly trace their bloodline back to Abraham. In theory they more than anyone else should have an automatic ‘in’ at this feast. Jesus is reminding them of the true terms of God’s covenant (they had skewed these terms quite a bit over the years): that faith, not being part of a specific ethnic or cultural group, is the essential quality of the people of God. It’s a wake-up call to the Jews: “Hey! You’re missing the point”
· ‘Let it be done just as you believed it would’—Jesus responds to the centurion’s exact request and honors his faith by making his faith a reality. In the beginning, it is the centurion who is responding and submitting to Jesus, and in the end it is Jesus who is responding and submitting to the wish of the centurion. Jesus had the power to do things however he pleased, but instead he did it the way the centurion had proposed. It seems like the trait of a great friend who will let you have things the way you want, as long as they get the joy of just spending time with you. The great miracle that happens results from some combination of faith and real interaction with Jesus.
Taking it home:
· For you: Are you as admiring as I am of the centurion’s faith? As curious as I am about how he had so much of it? Having faith can be pretty complicated. Sometimes, it seems like something only God can give; other times, it seems like something we have to exercise ourselves. Let’s work on both aspects of faith today. First, pick something big—your personal 40-days prayer request perhaps—and ask God to give you more faith to believe for that thing. Then, pick something a smaller that you do in fact have faith for—maybe its faith that God listens to you, or faith that he can calm your nerves, help you meet that deadline or find a parking spot downtown—and pray for that thing with boldness and confidence.
· For your six: It seems noteworthy that while it was the centurion who had the faith, it was his servant who was actually healed. Ask God to heal any of your six or their family of any sickness, pain or illness they might be experiencing. Next time you see one of your six and they mention that they are sick, offer to pray for them, believing that God will heal them.
· For America: The centurion in this passage was a fairly powerful man, but that didn’t make him too proud to admit when he needed someone else’s help. In fact, his own experience of authority actually helped him to recognize and respect authority in others. Pray that, like the centurion, our country and all of its citizens would be humble enough to admit our need, and to show respect for others’ authority.