September 16, 2013 The Healing of a Centurion’s Slave Lk 7:1-10 1When [Jesus] had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. 2A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. 3When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. 4They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, “He deserves to have you do this for him, 5for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.” 6And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. 7Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. 8For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. Reflection: Not even in Israel have I found such faith. Surprisingly, the words of highest praise for faith are spoken by Jesus in praise of Gentiles. In the Gospel, Jesus is amazed at the centurion’s faith and heals his slave from a distance. On another occasion, he describes the faith of a Canaanite woman as “great” (cf Mt 15:28). And indeed, more Gentiles will come to believe in Jesus than his own fellow Israelites. In their case, Jesus’ words are proven true: “The last will be first, and the first will be last” (Mt 20:16). The greatness of the centurion’s faith is manifested by his humility and by his concern for his slave. He declares himself unworthy to receive Jesus in his house, acknowledges Jesus’ authority, and is so concerned for the health of his slave that he approaches VIP’s (elders of the Jews) to intercede for him before Jesus. True faith is like that, it is both humble and charitable. Christians unconcerned about their household help and employees reveal their faith to be weak.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 21:43:21 +0000
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