Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

“Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.” 

Gospel Reading: Luke 7:1-10

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.

Today’s Gospel reading is all about coming to Christ and coming to know Christ.  A Roman centurion had a slave who was very dear to him and also very near death.  The centurion was obviously not Jewish and would have been discouraged from even caring about the Jews.  So it was unexpected that he would come to Christ for a Jewish person, a person who was his slave.  Yet he had the courage to overcome the ridicule and possible retaliation from his own people to help this lowly servant.  This centurion was more concerned about the slave then he was about his own honor and dignity among the Roman elite.  He elevated the value of the servant above him when he asked Jesus to cure the slave.  As the centurion approached Jesus he said to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.”  This is an outright sign of humility.  He recognized who was the greater person.  We too must accept humility before we can accept help from the Lord.  We must recognize our unworthiness, our sinfulness before we can truly open our hearts to the Lord.  Jesus responded to this demonstration by saying, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  This is the same response we get when we humble ourselves before Christ.  The door to salvation is right in front of us and humility is the key which opens the lock and lets you in. 

No matter how “unworthy” we are, Christ will always come to help us if we accept our unworthiness.  What the centurion did was brave because he had to step out of the norm.  We too must be willing to be Christian when it is not popular.  It is easy to be Christian at church or at religion class, but how easy is it to be a Christian at school or at work or when you’re out with your friends.  Can you be a Christian when you’re dating?  This is when humility comes through.  This is when you demonstrate to Christ your worthiness for him.

A Simple Prayer

Lord, I am not worthy of your help for I am a sinner

But say the word, and let my servant be healed.

Increase my faith so I can stand true even when it is not popular.

Yours in Christ:

Michael Marcon