Text: Matt 8:1-13
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
“Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof,” said the Roman army officer, “but only say the word and my servant will be healed.”
Jesus is amazed at the faith of this Gentile. In fact, St. Matthew says that Jesus “marveled” and said, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” What is so marvelous about the centurion’s faith expressed in this little exchange with Jesus?
Well, what happens is that Jesus comes into the city of Capernaum, and a centurion, that is, a captain of a hundred men, a Gentile army officer in the service of Caesar Augustus, comes to Jesus asking for help. “Lord,” he addresses Jesus, “my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” Jesus has compassion and agrees to come to the man’s house. “But the centurion replied, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed.”
In the culture of that time and place, the soldier is living and working among Jews, and Jesus, as a rabbi, is expected to avoid Gentile homes, as Gentiles are unclean. Of course, Jesus breaks all of these rules, but the centurion has such respect for Jesus that He doesn’t want Jesus to ceremonially defile Himself. The centurion explains why He trusts that Jesus can heal his servant even without coming to the house: “For I too am a man 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.”
For this is how army authority works, dear friends. It is delegated. General officers command the field grade officers, who command the company grade officers, who command the non-commissioned officers, who command the private soldiers. An officer expects to give an order to his subordinates, and it is obeyed.
This centurion serves Caesar Augustus, who was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. After his death, Julius Caesar was voted by the Senate to be a god. Augustus was his son, so Augustus was called “Filius Dei,” the “son of god.” But this army officer knows who the true Son of God is, calling Him “Lord,” and expressing faith in the true Son of God’s authority even over sickness and death. The officer understands that Jesus, by only saying the word, can cure his servant. He believes this, and He trusts the Word of Jesus to make it happen – because He has faith. “Only say the word…”
Unlike Caesar, Jesus is truly God. He is the Word Made Flesh. He is the Word who is God and who was with God “in the beginning.” And “by Him,” by the Word, “all things were made.” The centurion believes this, and he confesses this. He puts his trust in Jesus, and His authority. Such faith, dear friends! No wonder Jesus marvels!
And Jesus indeed is also a “man under authority,” as our Lord Himself reveals to the apostles in John’s Gospel. For after His resurrection, He took the eleven aside and said, “‘As the Father has sent me, even so, I am sending you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.’” Jesus places men under authority in the office of the Holy Ministry, delegating the authority to them that He received from the Father by means of the Holy Spirit. And He tells His ministers, “Go.” For they go with the authority of the Word. Matthew’s Gospel reports Jesus telling the eleven, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them” and “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded.”
On this day, with this Roman centurion, Jesus puts him under orders. For Jesus answers the centurion’s prayer, and our Lord (who is the centurion’s Lord, the true Filius Dei) orders him: “Go.” Just as the centurion tells the soldiers under his authority to “Go, and he goes,” Jesus tells the centurion: “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And St. Matthew reports: “the servant was healed at that very moment.”
The centurion understood that Jesus has authority over life and death, and that His Word was enough to believe that the order will be carried out. For Jesus is no fake son of god, a politician who is obeyed based only on the thuggery of armed soldiers enforcing his commands, rather Jesus is the true Son of God, who is armed with the power of the Word, the Word that said, “Let there be light” and there was light. Jesus is the Word who says, “Go, let it be done for you as you have believed.” Jesus is the Word who says to this very day, through His men under authority: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus says, “I forgive you all your sins.” Jesus says, “This is My body…. This is My blood…. For the forgiveness of sins.”
Dear friends, may our faith be like this most unlikely of all believers, a Gentile, a man under authority to a false god, the Roman Caesar. Let our faith be like the centurion who knows how authority works, who believes in the divine chain of command, who trusts that Jesus hears our prayers and will keep His Word even when we cannot see it. Let us believe like this man, and let our faith be just as firm.
It is indeed a traditional prayer of the church, for both pastors and laity, that when we receive the elements of Holy Communion, we repeat the Centurion’s prayer and confession of faith, that we are not worthy for the Lord to come to where we are, to be “under our roof.” But nevertheless, we ask anyway. And we ask in faith, knowing that though we cannot see the mystery, we believe the Word. And so we pray to Jesus, “only say the Word” and we know that we will receive healing.
So no matter what befalls us: loss, pain, suffering, abandonment of friends and loved ones, loss of job, madness in the world, sickness, and even death itself – all Jesus has to do is “say the Word” and all of these things are instantly fixed, even as we are “healed.” Jesus simply said the word, speaking the name of Lazarus, and ordering Him to “come out,” and Lazarus rose from death and walked out of his own tomb. And Jesus took the hand of the little girl who had died, and He commanded her “arise,” and she opened her eyes and sat up. So too will Jesus “say the word,” and our bodies will rise from death, and we will be “healed” in the fullness of time, on the orders of our Lord.
Meanwhile, let us believe and let us pray like the centurion, receiving the promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation when we partake of the Lord’s Supper. Let us pray to the true Filius Dei, our Lord under whose orders we joyfully serve in the kingdom, and as we receive His body and blood, let us pray:
“Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. But only say the Word, and Your servant will be healed.”
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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