Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

The centurion in today’s Gospel reading receives a great compliment from Our Lord. He said: “"Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” Why? Because, in this army officer we see examples of three virtues in action – not just in theory – but in action. First of all the centurion was a man of great compassion. Remember at the time of Our Lord the Romans practiced slavery and had a reputation for being cruel to slaves.
In this culture a centurion could have easily let a servant die and buy another. After all they were ONLY property. However, he was concerned about his servant. This shows compassion.

The second virtue we find in the centurion is his great faith. This was the virtue Jesus noticed up front. He said, “Speak only the word and my servant shall be healed.” The centurion was not even Jewish. He probably worshipped all the pagan Roman gods. He most probably didn’t know anything about Jewish faith and the longing for the Messiah and Savior. He probably didn’t believe in only one God. Also he was a man of social standing so for him to go to Jesus, this poor itinerant preacher of no social standing, was a tremendous act of faith.

The third virtue is one of humility. This is not a popular virtue in our day at all. In our “me first” generation we see pride, stubbornness and selfishness high on the list. Pride involves putting other things before God, his Church and others. Many people operate like this: “I’ll go to church ONLY if it fits my schedule; OR only if I don’t have a ball game, a trip or something “MORE” important. Last week we heard the Gospel, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” Our commitment to Christ and His Church cannot be a hobby or a pastime. What is the first of the Ten Commandments? “I am the Lord Your God. You shall not have strange gods before me.” God wants first place or no place! The virtue of humility involves doing God’s will even when I feel like it or not or even when something else looks more exciting to do. We can learn so many things from this centurion and this Gospel reading.

On this Sunday ask yourself this: If I were put in front of Christ today or encountered Him like the centurion did, what would He say? What would my Lord say about me?