Healing of the Centurions Servant

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to God. It seems

to me that the theme that the church puts before

us on this day is ministry being a service. You

heard in the epistle, the words of St. Paul written

to the Romans. He said, you were servants of

sin and unrighteousness. Well, we know the Romans

had servants, but they mostly had slaves. The

word is fraught, and so we don't like it that

much because it brings back terrible things in

our history. But that's exactly what it says.

He says, you were slaves of sin. You had no freedom.

You did get a wage, but it was death. He says,

but now, because of baptism, and he had just

explained in the previous chapter, that we become

free in Christ. We die to sin. It has no power

over us in our repentance, in our confession,

in the washing away of our sin, in our baptism,

in receiving holy communion, in the life of the

church. God's love has overcome all of that.

He says, now you are slaves to righteousness.

but were free in Christ. And then in the Gospel,

we heard about a servant of the Roman soldier,

the centurion, a man basically in charge of a

hundred soldiers, more or less, it varied. And

he had a slave. It says servant, but it was his

slave. And the slave was grievously ill. So to

me, combined with what's going to happen here

by the grace of God with the laying on of hands

of his eminence upon Aaron to make him a deacon,

which means the one who serves, diakonos. He

has a ministry of service in the church. The

theme is just calling out to us, brothers and

sisters, let us think about that for a moment.

Since Pentecost, we've begun to read from the

Gospel of St. Matthew. Last week we heard the

tale end of the sermon on the mount. The attitudes,

what faithfulness in Christ looks like, loving

your enemies, doing good, how to fast and all

that. How not to be anxious because your heavenly

father knows what you need. And that we are to

seek the kingdom of God first and God will provide

what we need. We heard all that. Please, I invite

you to read those chapters again. Those are the

basics of our Christian faith, the fundamentals

of how to be faithful. Not in an intellectual

way. No, you have to start with what do we do

to follow Christ. And it's radical. It's a radical

message of dependence upon God. Make no mistake.

St. Matthew records that after Jesus had ended

those teachings, something remarkable happened.

St. Matthew relates this, when Jesus had ended

these sayings, the people were astonished at

his teaching. For he taught them as one having

authority and not as the scribes. It said, if

we would say in today's terms, Their jaws were

dropping at the words that he had said because

it was so amazing. They were astonished. And

you would think then at that moment that Jesus

would take someone from the crowd, someone that

he was teaching there and then, someone that

was following every word that he had said and

spoken on this sermon on the mount so he could

illustrate and prove his point. But that's not

what he did. It says, Immediately, when Jesus

had entered into the village of Capernaum, a

centurion came to him, a Roman soldier of the

occupying force, asking for healing for his servant,

his slave. And how did Jesus respond? Well, not

like us. Social media, here's what you hear.

You Romans. Are the problem here. You're unclean.

You're sinners. You're violent oppressors. You're

slave owners. You're pagan island worshippers.

You Mr. Centurion. Should resign right now. Resign

from that Roman army. Become a Jew. And oppose

any of these terrible things. But is that what

Jesus did? Did he speak about the oppression.

That people were under. No he spoke about the

freedom. That we have to achieve first. Or we

would never be free no matter what happens to

us. Our culture gives us everything we want.

I could go to any store. I could order anything

online I want any time of day or night in most

places in this country. That's freedom. I could

save pretty much whatever I want. But if I have

no freedom inside, I am still a slave. a slave

of myself, and I'm earning wages of death. Jesus

did not talk about that type of thing. He said

to the man, I will come and heal your servant.

And the soldier says to Jesus, I am not worthy

that thou shouldst enter. To come to my house.

And of course we have this marvelous prayer.

We say before communion. Which we should have

memorized. Lord I'm not worthy that thou shouldst

come beneath the house of my soul. That's the

words of not a Jewish man. But of the centurion.

Jesus was astonished. Again. Astonished. He says

that this man, a Roman soldier, has greater faith

than anyone else he ever met in Israel and more.

And I say to you that many will come from the

east and the west and sit down with Abraham and

Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Here

we are sitting down from the east and the west,

the north and the south. We're in the banquet

room of the Lord with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

And all the saints. We have come from all parts.

From all places. From all kinds of walks of life.

But the sons of the kingdom. That are not faithful.

That's his point. The sons of the kingdom. Will

be cast out into outer darkness. And then. At

the end of the gospel. When the deacon brings

the gospel to the priest. He says. Blessed are

you. said the good news. The last thing you hear

is there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That's anger and hatred, weeping and gnashing.

This must have been a terribly shocking statement

that the apostles and others, the scribes, the

Pharisees heard. Very offensive to them. It should

give us pause. You know, we Orthodox Christians

pride ourselves on our orthodoxy. We pride ourselves

at being the inheritors of original, authentic,

unadulterated faith from the apostles. And it

is that. It's one because it's of God. It's holy

because it's of the Holy Spirit. It's Catholic

because it's not missing anything. It's full

and it's for everyone in every place. But inheritors...

need to use their inheritance. Or else there's

no transformation. More than half of you in this

room have embraced orthodoxy as adults. Some

of us grew up in the orthodox faith, yes. And

the question is, are we living up to what we

are called to be? Today, I would say, We should

focus on being servants. And can Christ point

to us and say, you and you and you, yes. You

go with those about whom I have just said, I

have never seen such great faith. Can we astonish

Christ with our love and our faithfulness? This

is a line of demarcation for us. Jesus is saying,

this is what it is to be faithful. This is all

of the things Jesus has been teaching, embodied

in this man, everything about the Sermon on the

Mount. Here it is. And so we have to look, we

have to say, do I have these qualities? Do I

have the discipline of the centurion? Do I understand

my place? Do I have the freedom? Yes, he's a

man under authority, but he has authority. Am

I reliable? Am I honest? Do I intercede for others

and care for them and do what is necessary to

help them? On this day of the ordination, on

this day of hearing about slaves of sin being

slaves now of righteousness and having the fruit

of the Spirit, says St. Paul, the fruit of the

Spirit because we are followers of Christ. On

this day, we have an example given to us in the

Gospel, not just of and honesty and reliability

and discipleship, but of humility of one, this

centurion, who is master over many, himself becoming

the servant of his slave. And here Jesus can

recognize his very mission, where he said, I

came not to be served, But I came to be the servant

of all. I came not to be served, Jesus says,

but to be the servant of all. Here is what is

necessary for us who serve at the altar. If we're

an archbishop or a bishop or a priest, what is

our responsibility? If we're a parent, if we're

a brother or sister, if we're a caretaker, if

we have some ministry in the church. Whatever

it might be, what is our first and bounden duty?

To pray. That's first. To be the servant of righteousness.

To show forth the fruit of the Spirit. And especially

high on the list of prayer is to do what this

man, this centurion did. There are two miracles

here, of course. The servant is cured. Jesus

doesn't even have to go because all power is

given to him in heaven and on earth. But the

real miracle of the story is this centurion's

servanthood, his humility before God, his intercession.

This is what happens in the church. I want to

end with this word from St. Maria of Paris. Because

our service is first in the church and to each

other. We become servants of one another. Knowing

that the other person is greater. Offering whatever

we can in whatever time and place that's appropriate.

And that God can inspire you. And when we do

this, it's God's spirit that's guiding us and

we're becoming transformed. We are becoming like

Christ. This is God's grace in us. This happens

in the church. But beware. Here's what St. Mary

of Paris says. It would be a great lie to tell

searching souls, go to church, because there

you will find peace. The opposite is true. The

church tells us, those who are at peace and asleep,

go to church, because there you will feel anguish

for your sins. There you will feel perdition

for the world's sins. And there you will feel

an unappeasable hunger for Jesus Christ's truth

in you, to serve him, to be his servant. There,

instead of becoming lukewarm, you will be set

on fire. Instead of being pacified, you will

become alarmed at the state of your soul. at

the suffering of the world. Instead of learning

the wisdom of this world, you will become fools

for Christ. Let us be numbered among those whom

Jesus calls exemplars of the faith. Whether we

look foolish or wise, it doesn't matter. Faithfulness

of discipline, of intercession, and of love towards

one another. To our Lord be glory, now and ever,

to ages and ages.