When Jesus had finished all his words to the people,
he entered Capernaum.
A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die,
and he was valuable to him.
When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him,
asking him to come and save the life of his slave.
They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying,
“He deserves to have you do this for him,
for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.”
And Jesus went with them,
but when he was only a short distance from the house,
the centurion sent friends to tell him,
“Lord, do not trouble yourself,
for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.
Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you;
but say the word and let my servant be healed.
For 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.”
When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him
and, turning, said to the crowd following him,
“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”
When the messengers returned to the house,
they found the slave in good health.
Lectio (Reading)
Read the passage twice and get a sense of what it is saying. Pay attention to what strikes you.Meditatio (Reflecting)
Slowly read the passage again, pausing on words or phrases that stands out. Take time to consider the meaning. particularly in your life.Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed.
Oratio (Responding)
Read the passage again, slowly. Consider how God has spoken to you and respond back to Him. You may want to consider how this passage is asking you to act differently.It says that Jesus was amazed at this statement. Why? The centurion feeling unworthy to have the Son of God in his home is easy to understand, but that is not what amazed Jesus. It was that he persisted despite his unworthiness to have Jesus heal his servant from afar. This centurion is a leader of a 100 men, and understood the structures of authority better than most. He also understood that the kingdom of heaven is organized under the same principle, and so he knew that Jesus could help his servant from afar.
So he humbly asked Jesus to heal his servant from where He was because he did not want Jesus to spend any more energy on him than the bare minimum to heal his servant. This takes great faith, and it was this faith that Jesus was amazed at. Do you believe that Jesus can heal you, and/or your family? If not why not. I invite you to discover that with faith anything is possible. God can do anything, if you simply ask for His intercession. He may not do it in the way you want or expect, but His faithful to the sheep of His flock.
Contemplatio (Contemplating)
Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.Resolutio (Resolving)
Make a resolution that will improve your life, your relationships, or your faith. Make it small and attainable, and do it.Oh lord, increase my faith, help me to love you and trust you in the way the centurion did. Amen.