students of jesus

I’m thinking about the story found in Matthew 8:5-13, where a Roman soldier came to ask Jesus heal a slave. You know the story, right? It’s familiar to us all. Except that it’s frequently the stuff we think we know that has something new to say. It certainly has been whispering new life to me lately.

Here are five whispers; they remind me there’s more to gain:

Roman Centurions are so much a part of the New Testament narrative that I’d forgotten what outsiders they were: men of power and authority, outsiders to the religious establishment of Israel. Centurions looked, dressed, ate, and acted differently than the Jewish folk around them. And this is where we find faith: from someone beyond the boundaries. Surely there were plenty of faith-full Hebrews, but Jesus calls the outsider an exemplar. The first whisper: How many faith-full people am I ignoring simply because they don’t look like me?

This guy cared about a slave. He could’ve bought another. He was in the killing game, but he cared about a suffering of a slave. I have trouble caring about my friends; the Centurion cared enough to go find help—and he did so personally, he didn’t send any one of a hundred men under his command. A second whisper: How many violent people feel the weight of suffering?

Later on in the New Testament the Apostle Paul tells us that soldiers don’t get involved in civilian affairs (2 Timothy 2:4), but this guy did. How else would an occupying Roman soldier be aware of a Jewish rabbi who healed the sick? The Centurion knew where to go and who to ask. A third whisper: the most unlikely people might be paying attention to my world.

A fourth whisper: sometimes humility and authority are brothers. The soldier said he wasn’t worthy to receive Jesus in his home and that he, too, knew about authority. We tend to think authority comes with its own power, but this humble man knew where the real power resided (and, I suspect, where the ultimate authority dwelt as well). That’s counter-cultural everywhere except the kingdom of God.

Finally, Jesus saw faith and talked about a feast. The Lord said the banqueting ticket had nothing to do with ethnicity or connections or money or power. It had everything to do with faith. God honors faith the way we honor cold hard cash. Faith is the currency of his kingdom. Jesus also said, “It will be done just as you believed it would.” Sitting at the intersection between faith and imagination there’s a pagan soldier, certain of the outcome. He gets it exactly right. Then comes the fifth whisper: faith sees the outcome before the action starts. And Jesus is impressed.

It’ll be five days before another post, but five whispers will echo in my brain until then. How about you?