Not Worthy

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)

It has been claimed that these Matthew passages make it clear that the Gentiles will be admitted with the true Israelites to the Messianic banquet.  It is part of the idea of the Eucharist.  Moreover, the faith of the Gentiles gives them the title of the true Israel which the Jews have forfeited by unbelief in Jesus as the Messiah.  Such arrogance and a reason for Jews to eventually expel from the synagogue fellow Jews with such thinking about the Messiah!

We are all like the centurion because we say: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” Actually, we make it personal.  We say: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” Why are we unworthy?  

Perhaps the wording is a way to remind ourselves that we always must be humble and not full of ourselves.  We all know we tend to be full of pride so much so that forgiving those who trespass against us is hard or even unlikely.  That makes it so very difficult for our souls to be healed.

Deacon David Pierce