When I read today’s Gospel, I was struck by the centurion’s response. At first, he only tells Jesus about his servant’s paralysis. He doesn’t ask for healing. Jesus is the one who offers to help saying, “I will come and cure him”. The centurion responds by almost rejecting the offer, but ultimately leaves the decision to Jesus: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant shall be healed”.
The profound thing about this is that the centurion did not necessarily expect a healing. What was he expecting? At least some kind of help from Jesus, I’m sure. But he didn’t seem particularly attached to the way it happened. He wanted to speak to Jesus about his paralyzed servant, and He wanted Jesus to decide what to do with that information.
It wasn’t so much a passive-aggressive helplessness, wanting Jesus to figure out his problem so he didn’t have to. It was more of an open-ended request for help. The centurion wanted Jesus to help with the servant, but he didn’t presume to demand a particular course of action from the Lord.
As the centurion said, he knew what it was like to have authority and to be able to effect his will with only his word: “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.” Jesus in turn recognized the centurion’s faith that He could heal the servant with only His command and praised him for it stating, “in no one in Israel have I found such faith.” This faith is so powerful because it recognizes that God can not only heal but can heal in whatever way He wills to do so.
This kind of faith also understands that God is able to determine what will be best for His creation. The centurion might have wanted Jesus to come and lay his hands on his servant, but he knew to whom he was speaking. He knew that the decision was best left up to Jesus, and he was willing to present his problem in that light. He was even willing to face the possibility that Jesus might have chosen to leave his servant paralyzed.
This deep faith is an example to us. It is good for us to ask the Lord for help, and it is better to present the Lord with our troubles and needs without attachment to a particular solution. We have our own ideas, and those are not necessarily bad, but the Lord’s are best, and He often acts in ways that we do not understand. As the centurion understood, the details are best left to God.
Daily Reading
Thursday of the First Week of Advent
Reading I Isaiah 26:1-6 On that day they will sing this song in the land of Judah: “A strong city have we; he sets up walls and…
Saint of the Day
St. John of Damascus
St. John of Damascus
Feast date: Dec 04
Catholics remember and celebrate the life of the great Arab Church Father St. John of Damascus on Dec. 4.Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics, whose tradition has been particularly shaped by his insights, celebrate the saint’s feast on the same day as the Roman Catholic Church.Among Eastern Christians, St. John (676-749) is best known for his defense of Christian sacred art, particularly in the form of icons. While the churches of Rome and Constantinople were still united during St. John’s life, the Byzantine Emperor Leo III broke radically from the ancient tradition of the church, charging that the veneration of Christian icons was a form of idolatry.John had grown up under Muslim rule in Damascus, as the child of strongly Christian parents. His excellent education – particularly in theology – prepared him well to defend the tradition of sacred iconography, against the heresy of the “iconoclasts,” so-called because they would enter churches and destroy the images therein.During the 720s, the upstart theologian began publicly opposing the emperor’s command against sacred images in a series of writings. The heart of his argument was twofold: first, that Christians did not actually worship images, but rather, through them they worshiped God, and honored the memory of the saints. Second, he asserted that by taking an incarnate physical form, Christ had given warrant to the Church’s depiction of him in images.By 730, the young public official’s persistent defense of Christian artwork had made him a permanent enemy of the emperor, who had a letter forged in John’s name offering to betray the Muslim government of Damascus. The ruling caliph of the city, taken in by the forgery, is said to have cut off John’s hand. The saint’s sole surviving biography states that the Virgin Mary acted to restore it miraculously. John eventually managed to convince the Muslim ruler of his innocence, before making the decision to become a monk and later a priest.Although a number of imperially-convened synods condemned John’s advocacy of Christian iconography, the Roman church always regarded his position as a defense of apostolic tradition. Years after the priest and monk died, the Seventh Ecumenical Council vindicated his orthodoxy, and ensured the permanent place of holy images in both Eastern and Western Christian piety.St. John of Damascus’ other notable achievements include the “Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith,” a work in which he systematized the earlier Greek Fathers’ thinking about theological truths in light of philosophy. The work exerted a profound influence on St. Thomas Aquinas and subsequent scholastic theologians. Centuries later, St. John’s sermons on the Virgin Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven were cited in Pope Pius XII’s dogmatic definition on the subject.The saint also contributed as an author and editor, to some of the liturgical hymns and poetry that Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics still use in their celebrations of the liturgy.“Show me the icons that you venerate, that I may be able to understand your faith.” – Saint John of Damascus