The Centurion’s Servant

Today's Reflections

          

The Centurion’s Servant 

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Mt 8:5-11

⁵When [Jesus] entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, ⁶saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” ⁷He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” ⁸The 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. ⁹For 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.” ¹⁰When 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. ¹¹I 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.”

Reflection:

In no one in Israel have I found such faith. Though Jesus has limited his own ministry to his fellow Israelites as a rule, this incident of the cure of the Roman centurion’s servant already presages the entry of the Gentiles into the community of Christ’s disciples, God’s people of the New Covenant. The centurion is no Israelite, and yet, Jesus says of him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.”

It is faith that matters for entry into God’s people of the New Covenant, and many non-Israelites will come to believe in Jesus, like another centurion, Cornelius, and his household (Acts 10). Thus, “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.”

We, Filipinos, are Gentiles who have received

the gift of faith and now belong to God’s people.

Let us thank the Lord for the gift.