NOT UNDER MY ROOF (MATTHEW 8:5-13)
An ancient legend told of a monk who found a precious stone - a precious jewel, in fact, and then quietly kept it in his bag. A short time later, however, he met a traveler, who said he was hungry and asked the monk if he would share some of the provisions. When the monk opened his bag, the traveler saw the precious stone and, on an impulse, asked the monk if he could have it. Amazingly, without much thought, the monk gave the traveler the stone.
The traveler departed quickly, overjoyed with his new possession. However, a few days later, he came searching for the monk again. The monk was, of course, curious to see the traveler again. He wondered at what might have happened to the precious jewel, and yet frowned at what else the traveler would want.
Surprisingly, the traveler returned the stone to the monk and asked for something else. The monk gasped, shook his head in disbelief and asked, “What else do I have that you would possibly be interested to have?” Finally the traveler said, “Please give me that which enabled to you to give me this precious stone!” (Adapted from James W. Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not to Be True, Dimensions, 1994, p. 101)
The gospels commend a selfless centurion whose great faith in God brought recognition from Jesus, brought healing to his servant and brought comparison with the Jews. This passage is controversial among scholars, baffling to readers and attacked by critics because Matthew reported that the centurion met Jesus, whereas Luke 7:1-10 claims that the two delegations the centurion sent did. The two possible ways to harmonize these two passages are to accept the possibility that either the delegates’ words were as good as the centurion’s words – linguistically, culturally, and technically, just as the white House spokesman’s press release is as good as the President’s word. Another possibility is that Jesus still proceeded to the centurion’s house after the crowd had left.
What help is faith to a Gentile? How is a person’s faith great in the eyes of God? How does a Gentile come to God? Why is faith no respecter of persons?
Faith Transcends Suffering; It Affects Master or Servant
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.” (Matt 8:5-6)
It was related that once when the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon, took communion at his parish church, a very poor old man went up to the opposite aisle, and knelt down close by the side of the Duke upon reaching the Communion table. Immediately, confusion, conversation and commotion ensued, interrupting and dashing the silence of the church and the solemnity of the occasion. Someone came and touched the poor man on the shoulder and whispered to him to move farther away or to rise and wait until the Duke had received the bread and the wine.
But the keen eye and the quick ear of the Duke caught the meaning of the touch and the whisper. He clasped the old man’s hand and held him to prevent his rising; and in a reverential but distinct undertone, the Duke said, “Do not move; we are equal here before God.” (Adapted from Pulpit Helps 3/91)
The centurion was a thoughtful, caring and kind man. He was not your typical master, owner or taskmaster. He was first and foremost a brother, a friend and a caregiver to the servant. The slave-owner did not stand aloof, stand back or stand around doing nothing when his servant was in pain, in sickness and in need. Though he and his servant were from different worlds and lived separate lives, class, rank or wealth did not define their relationship. No culture gap, social barrier or class distinction separated the two.
The centurion had a heart of gold, a heart of compassion and a heart of flesh and blood when his servant was in pain and suffering. Although not a doctor or a psychologist, he knew of his servant’s sickness, its symptoms and severity, and sympathized with the loneliness, sadness and fear that he was going through. “My servant” (vv 6, 8) does not attest to his total ownership, but rather to their tight bond. The noun “servant” (pais) is the regular word for child (Luke 2:43), son (Acts 3:13) and young man (Acts 20:12) in KJV, so there is a case for translating “my servant” as “my child.” He saw the boy as a family member, not a household servant, differentiating him affectionately from “my child” (“pais”) to the regular “servant” (v 9 “doulos”).
“Lord,” the centurion said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.” (Matt 8:6) In a sense the servant’s “terrible suffering” (its only record in the Bible) was worse than the standard “torture” the demons experienced before Jesus (Matt 8:29, Mark 5:7, Luke 8:28) and the disciples’ being “buffeted” by the waves (Matt 14:24) – the words are identical in Greek except that the servant’s suffering was described as “terrible” – grievously or excessively in meaning. He cared for a slave who could be easily replaced, who was effectively useless and who would drain and deplete his resources.
The centurion needed no group petition, eloquent persuasion or outside pressure to convince him to seek Jesus’ help. He changed roles with the servant, attended to the servant for a change and pleaded as if his very life was at stake, even seeking Jewish elders (Luke 7:3), asking personal friends and sending more delegations if he had to.
Of Jesus’ thirty-five recorded miracles in the Gospels, only nine individuals/groups took their cases to Jesus personally: four for their own welfare, including two instances with lepers (Matt 8:2-4, Luke 17:11-19) and two with the blind (Matt 9:27-31, Matt 20:29-34); four parents on their child’s behalf, including the Cana nobleman's son (John 4:46-54), Jairus' daughter (Matt 9:18-19), the Syrophoenician's daughter (Matt 15:21-28) and a demon-possessed boy’s father (Matt 17:14-18); but only the centurion unselfishly petitioned Jesus to heal a lowly slave, a family outsider and probably a lost cause, too.
Do you care for others in need? Ask about their welfare? Pray for them? It's been said, “People do not care how much you know till they know how much you care.”
Faith Transcends Sight; It Abounds Near and Far
7 Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.” 8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it.” (Matt 8:7-9)
In the movie Forrest Gump, Gump, along with many young men of his generation, enrolled into the army immediately upon graduation. When the dimwitted and unwitting Forrest arrived at the army barracks, he had his first taste and test of army life, but passed his first initiation into army life with flying colors.
A drill sergeant put him and other new recruits through the drill as they stood in line. Unfortunately, the black sergeant started with him as he stood in Gump’s face and boomed at the top of his voice: “Gump! What's your purpose in this Army?” Forrest knew the drill and had the answer down pat. Without missing a beat, he answered: “To do whatever you tell me, Drill Sergeant!” The sergeant continued barking: “Gump, you’re a genius. That’s the most outstanding answer I’ve ever hear. You must have an I.Q. of 160. You’re gifted, Private Gump!”
When the sergeant moved down the line barking more instructions to other recruits, Gump thought out loud to himself: “Now for some reason I fit in the army like one of them round pegs, it’s not really hard. You just make your bed real neat, remember to stand up real straight, and always answer every question with “Yes, Drill Sergeant!’”
Gump knew without a doubt who was in charge, what his role was and where his loyalty lay. A soldier vouches for the system, knows the rules of engagement and does things according to the book. He lives and breathes the institution, the system or the establishment. Upholding its honor was sacred to a soldier. He thrives in the discipline, the structure, the environment and culture. A soldier’s failure to comply often means military discipline, court martial or immediate discharge.
The centurion had seniority in, experience with and insight into the chain of command. His faith in Jesus was simple, straightforward and sincere. He called Jesus “Lord” each time he addressed Him (vv 6, 8) and Jesus responded by uttering the word “heal” or “therapeuo” in Greek (v 7) the only time in the Bible, with the emphasis on an added first personal pronoun “I” at the beginning of the command: “I” (ego) will go and (I will) heal him. Surprisingly and startlingly, Jesus offered to go and heal (v 7) his servant even though the centurion never directly asked for both. From experience, he was never worried about an order not followed; his only concern was a command not given. He rightly and perfectly understood that Jesus’ direct order, not His physical presence, was necessary to work a miracle. An order was an order to him, as reflected in his four imperatives. His imperative “go” (v 9) corresponds exactly to Jesus’ assertion in verse 7 (“I will GO”). Verse 8’s “say” and verse 9’s “go,” “come” and “do” are in the imperative mood. Jesus could heal near or far, in attendance or in absentia, in plain sight or out of sight, here and now or there and then. His divine will and spoken word, not His home visit or even His personal touch, were imperative.
The length, eloquence and frequency of Jesus’ words did not matter to the centurion. He trusted Jesus was true to His word and as good as His word. Jesus’ word was His command! One word sufficed to him (v 8); a sentence was a luxury. A simple “Yes,” “OK” or “Go” (vv 7, 9) was good enough. His specific will was more important than His soothing presence. Jesus’ power and presence were not confined by space, time and distance. He could work a miracle in a vacuum, out of nothing and behind the scenes. God’s command was preferable to and as good as His company. His assurance, not his attendance, was crucial.
The centurion understood how decisions were made, how instructions were carried out and what giving orders, receiving and obeying orders meant in his line of work. A soldier takes his orders from the top. He need not meet his superior or know him personally. A memo was as good as a mouthful. Sight, distance and contact were luxury to the nameless small soldier, but specificity, delegation and command were imperative.
Faith Transcends Status; It Attracts Jews and Gentiles
10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour. (Matt 8:10-13)
A priest and a taxi driver both died and went to heaven. St. Peter was at the Pearly Gates waiting for them.
“Come with me,” said St. Peter to the taxi driver.
The taxi driver did as he was told and followed St. Peter to a mansion. It had anything you could imagine from a bowling alley to an Olympic-size pool.
“Wow, thank you,” said the taxi driver.
Next, St. Peter led the priest to a rugged old shack with a bunk bed and a little old television set.
“Wait, I think you are a little mixed up,” said the priest. “Should not I be the one who gets the mansion? After all I was a priest, went to church every day, and preached God's word.”
“Yes, that's true. But during your sermons people slept. When the taxi driver drove, everyone prayed.”
For centuries the Jews considered themselves as clean and the Gentiles unclean. The Jews were the chosen and the Gentiles were not. They were the circumcised and the Gentiles uncircumcised. They were never coequal or coworkers. Race, culture and religion, however, did not matter to Jesus; humility before God did. The elders of the Jews pleaded earnestly with Him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue” (Luke 7:4-5), but the modest centurion countered, “Lord, I do not deserve to/so that (hina) have you come under my roof” – with the all-important purpose clause (hina) and verb “COME” added (Matt 8:8). It was innovative, insistent, insightful and intentional of the centurion. The centurion was not the most important man in town, nor was he particularly highly ranked in the military or wealthy by any means, but still he had Rome's solid backing, his soldiers' staunch loyalty and the Jews' support. The Jewish elders did not overstate, invent or hype his achievements. They usually did not go out of the way for Gentiles, Roman officers or Jesus admirers, but even their patriotism, dogmatism and cynicism were challenged and overwhelmed by the centurion’s idealism, humanitarianism and sentimentalism. The centurion was regarded, cherished and appreciated for his love for the Jews, contribution to Jewish life and friendship with the Jewish elders.
Still, the centurion did not think it was proper socially, politically and culturally to go to meet Jesus by himself. He decided to send the Jewish elders to meet Jesus. He also felt out of place meeting Jesus with them and, more importantly, felt requesting the Lord’s presence in his house was out of line and not in Jesus’ best interests. The centurion in Capernaum – a Roman officer, a Gentile dog and a Jewish outsider – genuinely embraced Jesus, publicly acknowledged Him and called Him “Lord,” a title that never left the centurion's lips the two times he spoke (vv 6, 8). Note the Jewish elders the centurion he sent did not address Jesus as Lord in Luke (Luke 7:4).
Jesus marveled at the centurion's great faith in Him. Ironically, the two people in Jesus’ lifetime that He praised for their great faith were both Gentiles – the centurion and the Canaanite woman (Matt 15:28). The centurion had no Scriptures to read, no rabbi to teach him and no great tradition, religious training or profound theology to guide him from a young age, but by faith he broke the barriers of race, class and religion. The centurion was the first Gentile who professed faith in Jesus. The centurion did not have the glorious history of the Jews, but he had the earnest desire to seek Jesus; he did not have a traditional Jewish upbringing, but he understood the implications of lordship; he did not have the cultural sophistication, but he had saving faith.
Conclusion: Big troubles demand great faith in God, who is Almighty in power, strong to deliver and able to heal, save and forgive. In Jesus, the door of faith is widely opened to those who were formerly outside of God's salvation. In Christ, there is no east or West, no Jew or Greek (Gal 3:28), no deserving or undeserving. There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God (Rom 3:10-11). Heb 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Do you have living, working and practicing faith? Are you worried what people might think of you, say of you and do to you when you practice your faith? Faith has no shame, is not scared and does not stagnate.
Victor Yap
Bible.ryl.hk (Grammar Bible)
Preachchrist.com (sermons)
