When Jesus entered Capernaum,
a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.”
He said to him, “I will come and cure him.”
The centurion said in reply,
“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man 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.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
“Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.”-Matthew 8: 5-11
The gospel tells us that Jesus was astonished at the centurion’s faith. Usually, it is people who are amazed by Jesus, yet here we see the reverse. Jesus declares, “𝑵𝒐𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑰𝒔𝒓𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔.” This is one of the reasons why the phrase is now enshrined in the Mass: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you under my roof…”
Today’s Gospel challenges us to see that faith can arise in the most unexpected places. Like Jesus, we too can be astonished by where the Spirit is at work, often in those who seem far removed from traditional expressions of faith. The centurion, though outside the Jewish faith community, exhibited a quality of trust that inspires us to this day.
– Christian Art
𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑛, Painted by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588).
