Centurion in Matthew's gospel
July 25, 2001
I read the gospel according to St. Matthew today, and found a lot to think about. For example, there is a story of Jesus healing a centurion's servant. It goes a little like this:
Centurion finds Jesus, tells him that his servant is ill, and asks for healing. Jesus agrees to heal him, and gets ready to go. The centurion tells him that is unnecessary, for "I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant shall be healed. For 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." (Matt 8:8-9)
After this, Jesus is "amazed" and says, "Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith." (Matt 8:10)
I think the reason I was never struck by this story before was that I never really understood who centurions were. These guys were military commanders, and were usually wealthy. This one certainly seems wealthy, since he has both servants and slaves. Thus, he is not exactly the model of "gospel perfection" that one desires from those Jesus praises. This centurion did not "sell all he had and give to the poor," he was not "meek," and he wasn't a "peacemaker." He was a rich, powerful agent of "the system." (to employ a modern anachronistic term) I mean, these are the same people who jeered him, shoved a crown of thorns on his head, rended his garments, and nailed him to a cross. They were the agents of his execution.
So why would this man go to Jesus, (who, to him, should have seemed like a crazy Jewish preacher) to have his servant healed? Why did he care so much about his servant? Why did he think that Jesus was so great, so great that his house was unworthy to receive him? Why would a powerful centurion associate with this guy who spent so much time with tax collectors and prostitutes?
And how could such a wealthy and powerful person have so much faith, when Jesus demands exactly the opposite from his disciples? Is it possible to have a strong faith without first being a disciple? If so, how does that change the role of discipleship? This centurion lived a very different life than Jesus did, and yet Jesus praises him.
Perhaps the lesson here is that faith is not enough to be a disciple. Perhaps one also needs to have the other Christian virtues, such as love, charity, and hope. But this centurion also displays both love and hope, so this does not seem to be a very satisfactory answer. Maybe the lesson is that even the powerful bowed down before Jesus in his time, but this seems strange. Perhaps it is that we should not neglect to love or forsake those people who are agents of oppression, for any of them may be strong in faith, even stronger than the anyone in all of Israel. I really don't know. If anyone has any thoughts or resources toward this matter, please send them my way.