November 28 - Rob Peace

Matthew 8:5-11

“Lord, I am not worthy to enter under your roof, but only say the word and my servant shall be healed.”

In today’s Gospel, a Roman centurion approaches Jesus and begs our Lord to help the centurion’s servant, who is in great pain. Let’s take a minute to examine some context clues of this passage: Human context clue-no one likes to ask for help, especially those of us who are great achievers and are proud of our accomplishments. Historical context clue-back in Jesus’ time, the Romans were the bad guys. They subjugated Jesus’ people into a miserable existence, and to ask someone like Jesus, an ordinary Jewish carpenter, for assistance, would invite ridicule and shame from all of this soldier’s friends. Yet he does it anyway, because he can see beyond his own insecurities that he loves his servant and wants to help him in his time of need, regardless of the social norms or circumstances. The question is, how was he able to make this brave choice in the first place?

Notice that Jesus seems relatively passive in this Gospel. He lets the Roman do most of the talking and lets God take care of the rest. Jesus is there to bear witness and showcase the power of God’s grace on Earth when we least expect it. This is also a reminder about the innate goodness of people when you strip them of titles or stereotypes and recognize the importance of enduring personal relationships. All of us are capable of recognizing the ultimate creative and saving authority of God, even if we cannot name or articulate it at the moment.

This is also a reminder to us about the power of humility combined with compassion. Nothing bad comes from humility. In fact, this quality almost always leads to something extraordinary. The reason is that a person or community that embraces humility can see things clearly, as they really are, and can then embrace what is really important without fear of judgment. This is a wonderful challenge and reminder to us about how we approach the Advent season.

Advent is a special blessing to us as individuals and a community. The season reminds us that giving out of love requires us to put aside what is easy or familiar to embrace a challenging invitation, to be the best version of ourselves.

We are the centurion. We have our pride and attachments that can weigh us down, put distance between those we should care about, and be sources of oppression. The challenge is-can we be the centurion, the one whose acceptance of amazing grace catches even Jesus by surprise. We can, when it is really important, take off our masks of selfishness and privilege. It is a simple but difficult task to do, which is to recognize the joy that comes from being alive, right here and right now, and to see this same blessing in others, because Emmanuel, God is with us.

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