2023/07/17

100. "The Great Supper of God", part 2

"The flesh of the horses and their riders" (Revelation 19:18) signifies the flesh of the centurion at the crucifixion scene and those with him on guard over Jesus. Fear and awe were the sources of their faith, as it is written that when they "saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, 'Truly this was the Son of God!'" (Matthew 27:54). 

According to the Gospel of Matthew, a centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant, who was ill. But when Jesus offered, "I will come and heal him," the centurion declined his offer (cf. Matthew 8:5-13) and held Jesus back, saying, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof" (Matthew 8:8). He did so because he feared that his position and authority as a Roman soldier would be shaken if it became known that he had been involved with Jesus. 

In the case of Luke's Gospel, the centurion did not even meet Jesus directly (cf. Luke 7:1-10). He sent the Jewish elders on an errand to ask Jesus to come to him. But when Jesus went out with them and came near his house, the centurion entrusted his friends with a message, this time to decline Jesus' coming. Previously, we discussed the Parable of the Sower. For the centurion, the Word spoken to him was a seed that "fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them" (Matthew 13:7). 

Jesus saw through all the centurion's circumstances. But he was amazed at the centurion's words when he said, "[B]ut only say the word, and my servant will be healed" (Matthew 8:8). For he who was under human authority had even come to realise the truth, living out his daily experience as a commander (cf. Matthew 8:8-11). 

So, Jesus said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith" (Matthew 8:10). By saying so, Jesus pointed out the stubbornness of his people. If they stay in their current state in the age when even the Gentiles reached such enlightenment, it will be sure that "many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 8:11). 

Nonetheless, the faith of the centurion, who also himself was subject to human authority and was in a position that demanded him to kill people without hesitation in wartime, was the faith that did not bear fruit, even though he had seen the Word fulfilled. People like him are those, in Jesus' commentary, who "hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful" (Matthew 13:22). 

Eventually, the time came when each believer, taught by the Holy Spirit, realised and believed in the revelation of Jesus Christ. But the Church remains in the faith at the level of the centurion. They testify to that reality by continually proclaiming before the Eucharist: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed." They do so because they, like the centurion, prefer to live under human authority. So, even now, the "marriage supper of the Lamb" becomes the "great supper of God." 

To be continued

Maria K. M.