2025/09/08

212. A Clue to Know the Process to Taste the Experience of Becoming a Perfect Christian

The reason Jesus instituted the Eucharist and left it on earth is that "every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life" (Jn 6:40). As we discussed last time, there is no other way to become the "one who sees the Son and believes in him" than to become those who see and believe in the Eucharist, which the priest in collaboration with the Holy Spirit presents to the congregation during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Declaring to the Eucharist, "You are the Christ, the Son of God" (cf. Mt 16:16, Jn 11:27), at every Mass, burns into the memory of each believer the fact that they have become the "one who sees the Son and believes in him." However, we, the Church, universally, have recited the centurion's profession of faith at this pivotal moment. This theme includes an important issue in examining the process, in which Revelation enables us to taste becoming a perfect Christian, so we will revisit it from a different angle before moving on. 

The Gospel of John gives a detailed account of the exchange between Jesus and Pilate. It all becomes clearer when we take it as the author's attempt to impress upon us that God had the intention of making Rome belong to Christians by leaving the scene of Jesus' involvement with Pilate, the Roman governor, in his final hours. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman he met at Jacob's well: "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father" (Jn 4:21). Consequently, that was Rome. Knowing that Jerusalem would fall, God had planned a new city in Rome from the beginning, for the Church that Jesus would give birth to and the Holy Spirit would establish, on the New Covenant. 

The episode of the centurion is found in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke. The centurion in the Gospel of Luke, who wished for the healing of his servant, faced a situation where he did not want Jesus to come to his house. That was because not only Jesus and the elders had come with him, but also the "multitude" (cf. Lk 7:9). So, when they had come to "not far from the house" (7:6), the centurion sent his friends to refuse Jesus' coming, saying as follows. In the case of Matthew's Gospel, it was not the "multitude" but "those who followed him" (Mt 8:10) who came with Jesus, but the centurion still refused to let him come. 

"Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it" (Lk 7:6-8). 

If we read this message, considering God was planning a new city in Rome, the centurion's words can be directly applied to the future of the Roman Empire. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith" (Lk 7:9), for the centurion, who was a Roman soldier, spoke like a prophet. It would never happen that Jesus, who was to die on the cross, came to the Roman Empire, as the centurion says, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof." However, Jesus' crucifixion, the Roman Empire's punishment, stamped the name of Jesus on Rome. Thus, the words, "But say the word, and let my servant be healed," were fulfilled. The Word had reached Rome and was already encouraging its people before Paul (cf. Rom 1:6-7). 

In addition, the words uttered based on the centurion's military service experience may seem ordinary at first glance. However, behind those words was the rational system of law and military affairs that the Roman Empire had at the time. Therein lies the reason why God sought Rome as the capital for the Church to live the New Covenant he had achieved on the cross. The culture, traditions, and temperament of the Romans had the capacity to receive the rapid progress of mankind that would come with the coming of the Son of God to earth. Now, after history, we know that a new prophecy is in the New Testament. 

Jesus' words of surprise reached the centurion's servant, and the servant was in good spirits. The centurion's faith in Jesus was intuitive and pure. It is like Naaman, the military commander of the king of Aram, whom Jesus quoted as saying, "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Eli'sha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Na'aman the Syrian" (Lk 4:27). Just as he believed in the prophet Elisha after hearing about him from his wife's servant, an Israelite girl, so the centurion believed in Jesus after hearing about him from the elders. 

Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me" (Jn 6:44-45). These words testify to the fulfilment of Old Covenant prophecy. The people with whom Jesus was involved at that time were those who could come to him through the Father's drawing power. The centurion was one of them, and his faith was an extension of the faith of the people of the Old Covenant. 

However, the centurion could not remain in that faith. As Jesus later testified, "I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (Jn 12:32), he came to say to Jesus on the cross, drawn by Jesus together with those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus: "Truly this was the Son of God!" (Mt 27:54). In Luke's Gospel, it is written that "he praised God, and said, 'Certainly this man was innocent!'" (Lk 23:47). 

The centurion who came to Jesus, drawn by the Father, said, "I am not worthy to have you come under my roof ... But say the word, and ..." It was a faith supported by the prophecies of the Old Covenant people. Eventually, he was drawn to Jesus on the cross and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!" which was directed precisely to the New Covenant, which Jesus had just fulfilled. Furthermore, after the descent of the Holy Spirit, we believers, before the Eucharist, confess the faith of the "one who sees the Son and believes in him." Here lies a clue to know a process by which Revelation enables us to taste the experience of becoming a perfect Christian. 

Maria K. M.

 

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