Do you have a favourite Bible story?
There are lots that mean something special to me. But, one favourite is the story of the healing of the Centurions servant (Matthew 8 vs. 5 – 11 and Luke 7 vs. 1 – 10). I was really pleased when I saw that Matthews account formed part of my time with God this morning.
I could picture the scene in my mind. A Roman officer, worried about a particular servant and running to Jesus to beg him to heal the man.
For a moment, it seems as though the tables are turned. The authority figure is powerless in the face of illness. For all his ability to command he is unable to command his servants health to improve.
As the Officer approaches Jesus, he refers to him as Lord. This would have been unthinkable, the commanding power acknowledging a Jewish Civilian in this way. The officer gives Jesus seniority when it should have been the other way round.
In Luke’s account, the Jewish Elders “plead earnestly” with Jesus to do something, because the Centurion is a decent man who has done good things for their community (Luke 7 vs. 4 – 5). If you like, he was a good enemy.
Jesus offers to go to the man’s home and heal the servant. For a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home was forbidden (Acts 10 vs. 28). Effectively, Jesus offers to make himself ritually unclean in order to heal a gentile servant. The centurion recognizes the difficulty, and says;
Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
(Matthew 8 vs. 8)
What I love about this story is that is full of little incidents of where the “tables are turned.” But, perhaps the biggest table of all is turned at the stories end when Jesus says that the faith of the Gentile, Outsider, Centurion is greater than he has witnessed amongst the Jewish people OUCH!
Of course I have read this story lots of times. I know it well. So, did God have something new in it for me today?
Well, there was one phrase in my study that made me stop. In describing the Centurions faith, the writer described it as “confident humility.” At first reading, this did not make sense confidence and humility seemed to me to be polar opposites. How can you be both confident and humble? But in the light of a story where the tables are turned so many times, perhaps the phrase “confident humility” is not so strange.
What I like about the centurion is, his humility is not false. He knows and speaks of the reality of his position (Matthew 8 vs. 9). But he does not use his position to demand that Jesus obeys him.
The Centurions humility is freedom from pride or arrogance.
As for his confidence? Well, he demonstrates his confidence in God’s goodness, mercy and help. If he lacked confidence in God, he would not have asked in the first place!
As my time came to close, I found myself thinking that there is another confidence shown in this story. In Luke’s account, the Jewish Elders approach Jesus on the Centurion’s behalf. This suggested to me that the local community had confidence in the Centurion. He must have been a fair, decent and honourable man to have won over the occupied Jewish community.
This kind of confidence does not happen overnight. It takes consistency, reliability, approachability, integrity and honesty. This kind of confidence is hard won, and easily lost. Sadly, many Churches have been their own worst enemy. I would love to see this changed, and that those who are outside of the Church can, begin, to have confidence in those inside the Church.
It’s a big challenge.
But, it will be worth it.