Saturday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/063012.cfm

Roadside weeds

The centurion said in reply,
"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed..

There it is! The roof that we’ve been talking about since last December. And here I thought it was the roof of my mouth; or perhaps the roof of my skull. So when I say, “Lord I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof…” I am citing this story in the Bible. And Protestants think Catholics don’t know the Bible! Ha!

Americans are not culturally illiterate. We understand allusions as when a politician demands of his opponent, “Where’s the beef?” (a TV commercial for Wendy’s) and when a president says, “Make my day!” (Clint Eastwood, “Sudden Impact)

But we don’t like to be stretched by unfamiliar allusions. Either they’re obvious or there not; and unfamiliar ones make us feel stupid. When a fellow in a black hat threatened to blow the Lone Ranger “to kingdom-come” even I knew what he meant. It wasn’t a great allusion but it caught my attention and made me feel smart when I was ten years old. And some Americans, ignorant of allusions, will think it should be taken literally. They'll wonder "What roof is that?" 

But an allusion should have a point besides making us feel smart. I don’t think that black-hatted bad guy or his script writer was promoting spirituality when he referenced the Lord’s Prayer. What is the point of “enter under my roof?”

This is a story of Jesus’ encounter with Roman authority. We can only suppose he was taught to despise centurions as a class. Perhaps his gentle mother never said as much but the ethos of the time would have insisted, “We hate gentile soldiers, and especially their centurions!” Jesus and his disciples might not have showed their fear at this man's approach, but they felt it in their bellies. 

But the officer with his military posture and air of command begged the Lord for a favor. He asked a healing for his slave. Surely, Jesus was not the only surprised person in the crowd. His disciples, bystanders and the centurion's body guards were also astonished. No doubt some were surprised when Jesus set out to visit the man's home. "Our rabbi will enter a gentile's home?" they wondered. "How can that be?" 


But the astonishment continues as the officer declined Jesus' offer, asking only the favor of a word. The soldier had a peculiar insight into reality and Matthew shares it with us. The entire universe is built upon a word.

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things came to be through him,

and without him nothing came to be....

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. 

A word of authority carries weight. Words that mean nothing betray human relationships and sabotage the foundations of reality. 


Jesus could only respond with another amazing word: 

"Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven,

When we declare with the church, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof" we take our stand with the centurion. We honor the Word of God who has authority over us. We accept our humble station before the Lord even as we accept his mercy. We remember that no one is worthy to receive the Eucharist, and accepting this honor it is not a statement of superiority. We receive it only because he gives it to us.