Jesus, the Centurion, and Cultural Engagement

I’m watching traffic on River Road flow by while sitting in an overly air conditioned Starbucks.

Would Jesus hang out at Starbucks? A stupid question, I know; but recently I’ve been studying selective Gospel readings (as suggested by Chris Webb in The Fire of the Word) and am being moved at how Jesus approached humanity with dignity, respect, and love.

Take for instance the encounter between Jesus and the Roman Centurion (see Matthew 8:5-13).  Jesus has travelled down a mountain, healed a leper, and is now entering Capernaum, a city on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. He’s tired, has grit in His mouth and is thirsty. Before He can find comfort, probably before He can even find shade, the Roman Centurion approaches Him. Now watch this exchange carefully.

“Lord,” says the Roman. “My servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” Worry is etched into every line on the Roman’s sun-baked face while hope pools behind his dark brown eyes.

Jesus locks eyes with the Roman, and laying a hand on his shoulder he says, “I will come and heal him.”  Jesus’ tone is confident and unflustered.

I’m astounded by this exchange. Typically Romans are merely tolerant of Israel’s faith at best. They never seek any sort of guidance or help from the faith of the Jews. In fact, they dismiss their faith as archaic, preferring instead to place their faith in the ingenuity of humanity—mainly via engineering and government (eerily similar to our culture). Israel also has no love-fest for the Romans. To them, the Romans are a hedonistic culture of depravity that needs to be expelled from their land.

So the Roman Centurion has three strikes against him; he’s a Gentile, a Roman, and a high-ranking officer of the Roman army. If anyone exemplifies the Jews’ hatred toward the Roman occupation it would be this Centurion. To the Romans, Jesus has gone from being another self-proclaimed but harmless Holy man to someone who actually performs miracles while amassing a large following.  Therefore, He’s now on their “watch list” for His potential to stir civic unrest.

So back to our scene. Jesus enters the militarily strategic city of Capernaum and is immediately approached by this high-ranking Roman officer. It looks to be the development of a somewhat hostile encounter. The crowd gasps and stops in their tracks as the two men near each other, is this going to be high noon at the OK Corral?

But studying the men’s faces perplexes the crowd. The Roman’s face is pleading and not fierce; his eyebrows are moving toward his scalp rather than pinching down on his eyes. His jaw is loose and not clinched in gritted teeth and a sneer. Jesus’ face is relaxed as His nose bridge begins to wrinkle with concern. His eyes are looking straight into the Roman’s; there is no fear, only concern.

The crowd normally expects the Roman’s first words to be ones of challenge or threat; this time, however, they are stunned as the Roman addresses Jesus as “Lord.” Few Jews had even addressed Jesus as Lord, much less a Roman officer. In this one word the Roman is publicly proclaiming his faith in Jesus as the Messiah. But we will see later, that this is just the tip of this man’s faith.

Jesus’ first response is equally surprising; He proclaims that He will go the sick servant immediately. Jesus could have easily and justifiably told this Gentile-Roman-Officer to take a hike. But notice that Jesus cared for the man’s heart and did not judge him or react to him based on his culturally imposed labels.

As I begin to close this first of two installments about this record, I want to leave you with a quick comparison. Our culture has become more polarized than at any other time in my life (I’m 50, so I’ve been around a while). In today’s parlance, the two main characters could be a liberal and a conservative; or gay and straight; or rich and homeless; or a Yankee fan and a Red Sox fan. The point is that both of these men shed their cultural labels and biases toward the other to instead approach each other with respect and dignity.  Jesus Himself modeled this approach to humanity throughout His ministry. He still wants to model this approach to humanity by way of the indwelling Holy Spirit in each of our lives. Are we willing to cooperate with Jesus rather than succumbing to cultural labels and expectations?

The next installment, for the two of you that actually read my blog, will explore the startling conclusion of this amazing record.