When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him,
asking him to come and save the life of his slave.
The centurion sent elders of the Jews because he himself felt unworthy to go, saying, "I did not consider myself worthy to come to you". Those elders he sent made a stronger case for him which he himself was unwilling to make.
“He deserves to have you do this for him,
for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.”
The centurion never thought to plead his case in this way. Why did he think himself to be unworthy to go Jesus himself? Was it that he was a Roman and not Jewish? As a man who loved the Jewish nation and built the local synagogue he may have felt this distinction deeply. Yet he did feel that the good things he had done in the past gave him the qualifications to impose on Jesus. Although at first he did send to ask Jesus to come to him the closer Jesus came the more the centurion sensed his own lack of qualification to receive him. At the same time he realized that even Jesus coming to him was more than he needed to ask.
And 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.
Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you;
but say the word and let my servant be healed.
The centurion refused to impose his own will on the shape of his request to Jesus. He did not want Jesus to respond merely to the fact that he was Roman, or that he was a centurion. At first he seemed to think that at the very least he would have to ask Jesus to come to him. But his greater humility led to greater faith. Things didn't have to happen in the way he naturally imagined they would. The authority of Jesus, a greater authority, he realized, than his own as a centurion, was all that was needed.
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.”
It seemed that the centurion was very conscious of imposing on Jesus in any way, conscious too of the way in which his role in the Roman occupation put him at odds with the people to whom Jesus came as Messiah, aware that his own contributions in this regard could not earn what could only be given as a gift. But it seems that he never doubted that Jesus was able to fulfill his request, or even that he would do so. After all, it took so little, he knew, for Jesus to respond. All that was needed was his word.
“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”
When the messengers returned to the house,
they found the slave in good health.
Humility helps us to take ourselves out of the equation, to no longer see ourselves as necessary elements. This removes limitations on our faith and frees us to believe that God is able to act in any time or place in spite of circumstances, in spite our own past, or the condition of our own house when we bring him our petitions.
Jesus came first to the house of Israel, but not for them alone. He desired the salvation of all. It was not something that had to be earned. Indeed it could not be earned, nor any of the blessings that flowed forth from it, such as miraculous healings. But it did not need to be earned. It was his will from the beginning.
This is good and pleasing to God our savior,
who wills everyone to be saved
and to come to knowledge of the truth.
Jesus is the one mediator between God and men because he himself is both God and man. In his own very being the divide between man and God is finally overcome. Our petitions, the petitions not only of the Jewish nation, but of the whole world, can finally come before the throne of heaven. Our own weaknesses and limitations have also therefore been surmounted. Even more so than for the centurion Jesus is able to respond with power throughout the earth now that he is enthroned, with his sacred humanity, on the throne of heaven. Therefore let us respond as Paul suggests.
It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray,
lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.
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