Matthew 8:5-13
Sorry for a very interrupted day today: P.T.; church bank business; Avanza, chickens, Men’s Group. Now back at it at 9:41 pm…!
“Notice what you notice.” We have spent the last 3+ weeks reading and digesting the Sermon on the Mount. Now we move back to “action” and what mighty action we have today!
Today’s story is remarkable, in and of itself – the healing of the centurion’s servant, remarkable in that it is a words-only, long distance healing. Jesus speaks and the deed is done. We will see this again in a couple of days in John’s Gospel, a similar incident, then later Matthew and Mark record the healing of a demon-possessed girl from afar. So today’s words-only, long distance healing is truly remarkable.
However, what strikes me as even more remarkable in this story is that this Gentile centurion’s words have stayed with us through two millennia in our Eucharistic prayer. The centurion says, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed…” (v. 8). We find these words universally in Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran services, spoken either as “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed” or “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed”.
At St. Andrew’s similar words are used as part of our 9:00 am (traditional) service, just before communion, commonly known as the “Prayer of Humble Access”: We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen. This version is a combination of Matthew 8:8 (the centurion’s words above) and Mark 7:28 (a woman replying to Jesus as to her unworthiness).
I also wanted to offer a quick comment on verses 11 and 12, …many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. That sounds to me like another chastisement of the Jewish leaders (“sons of the kingdom”), together with an elevation of Gentile peoples (“coming from east and west”). That section deserves more commentary, but not tonight.
Slava Bohu!