Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever. In the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen. There's a story about obedience
and humility that typifies maybe a little bit
the humility and obedience of this centurion.
from the 8th chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew.
Abba John the Dwarf went to the desert of Egypt,
and he dwelt with an elder there. And the elder
took a stick, just a dried up old stick, and
he made a hole in the ground, stuck it in the
ground, and he told Abba John the Dwarf, water
this every day. And John had to walk many miles
to get the water every day. And he was only back
by nightfall. And he did it for the first month,
second month, third month, sixth month. At the
end of the year, it sprouted. After that, fruit
began to grow on it. And his elder took the fruit
to the other brothers. at a common meal and said,
my brothers, here's the fruit of humility and
obedience. Seems kind of radical to us, but when
there is trust, and when there's godly trust,
healthy trust, then miracles happen. The center
of this gospel has to be the recognition of Christ's
power. to make things happen, fruit to be born
in us. What you heard today in this gospel is
not just another story of Jesus going around
and healing everyone. It concerns the slave of
a Roman soldier, a centurion. A centurion is
to command 100 troops. He's a Gentile. He's considered
unclean by the Jews. And it's interesting, in
chapter 8, this is the second healing that happens.
The first is to a leper, also considered unclean,
and an outcast and a terrible sinner, or else
he would not have leprosy. So Jesus comes to
the first two people he meets in chapter 8, who
are not considered righteous by any means by
the Jewish people. And this centurion is part
of the military occupation. Why do we have this
gospel today? What did we hear last week? Think
about it. Why are you anxious about what you're
going to wear, what you're going to eat, what
you will drink? Anxiety, anxiety, anxiety. Seek
first the kingdom of God. Who can say such words?
If I said to you, any of you, Oh, don't worry
about your food. It's all taken care of. Don't
worry about your parents. Don't worry about how
you're going to get to work. Don't worry about
your job. Don't worry about anything. Well, you
look at me as if I was insane, because I would
be insane to say such a thing. But Jesus says
these things, not just to say them and to comfort
us somehow. but because as a son of God, he has
the authority to make it happen for us, for that
trust to be fulfilled and not disappointed. St.
Paul in last week's gospel says, we glory in
our tribulations. We glory in them. We don't
complain about them, he says. We glory in them.
Good courage, my brothers and sisters. Have good
courage during this time. We're in a time, like
the Soviets were, the church in the Soviet era.
We're in a time like St. Paul was in the Roman
persecution and in the persecutions after that.
We're in a time in which we don't have everything
we want, but we have everything we need from
God. Be of good courage. We can trust him. We
have this gospel today to show us that the words
of Jesus last week are reliable words because
it comes from the Son of God, not just from a
teacher. Jesus didn't come just to teach us.
He came to establish the church in which we are
members of his body. This centurion approached
Jesus, pleading with him, praying to him. Sir,
he said, my servant, my slave, my slave is paralyzed,
dreadfully tormented. It would have been easier
for this centurion to just let his slave die.
It would have cost a lot less. Slaves had no
value. They weren't looked upon as humans. How
did Jesus respond to this man's pleading, this
man's request? Considering who this man is, what
would we have said? If there was Twitter or Facebook
reaction, what would that be? Jesus could have
said a great many things. He could have said,
you Romans are the problem here. In fact, you're
going to crucify me. You're going to put nails
into my hands and my feet, and a centurion is
going to stab his spear into my side. You're
unclean. You're sinners. You're violent oppressors.
You're slave owners. pagan idol worshippers,
and God won't return to our temple here in Jerusalem
until you wicked people, along with tax collectors,
prostitutes, and lepers, clear out. This is what
the Pharisees thought. Jesus could have said,
you should, right now, resign from your position
in the Roman army and become a Jew. And you should
oppose any policies of the Roman Empire. That's
what the Pharisees would have said. Drive out
the unclean from our midst and God will restore
the kingdom to us. The Savior said, I will come
and heal him. Because the Lord sees the heart
and knows the person. He doesn't deal with ideologies.
and philosophies, and isms, and movements. He
deals with you and me, the personal. I will come
and heal him. And this centurion, who had humility
and love for someone else, even someone below
him, saw Jesus. who he is, saw the living, true,
good, and loving authority, the grace to actually
heal, to give that which he says he can do. So
it's not a surprise when the soldier says to
the Savior, I'm not worthy that you should come
beneath my roof. Aren't those words familiar
to us? We say them every time we prepare for
communion. Lord, I'm not worthy. that thou shouldst
come unto the roof of the house of my soul. Matthew
says, Jesus is astonished at the man's faith.
He says that this man, this Roman soldier, has
greater faith than anyone else he ever met in
Israel. Imagine the apostles standing there.
The shock. unhearing. You said what? The centurion
came to Christ in supplication, in pleading,
in humble prayer because he knew Christ in Christ
was authority. Not like what you and I experience
in the world. Do this, do that. This law, that
law. No. Not secular authority. Not even worldly
or family authority. No. but the spiritual, godly,
loving, good, and healing authority, the power
of which Jesus, who is the peace, the wisdom,
the word, and power of God, exuded in abundance.
He who made heaven and earth, he who will be
all in all, says St. Paul. Pouring forth eternal
rivers, oceans, oceans of transforming and divine
love. It is he, their, And here now, nothing
to stop him, just because our church doesn't
have a bunch of people in it. Nothing to stop
Jesus from breaking through our personal and
our sinful limitations to make us free, as St.
Paul says. Free from sin. Free from ourself.
The impulses, the compulsions, the fears and
the shame. Free from that. To live the life of
Christ changes our consciousness, changes our
heart, changes our behavior. And we live the
life of Christ. I don't say the spiritual life
because that's not a phrase found in the Bible.
It sounds like something you might purchase somewhere.
I'll get myself a spiritual life. No, the life
of Christ. His life we live. And we know we are
loved by God. And that he seeks. our good he
seeks it constantly and perhaps he's astonished
at our lack of faith not our faith we can trust
him we trust in christ why because we know him
not something i know about him from what i read
in books and theology and heard on podcasts or
even in the bible But faith which comes from
knowledge of God, like I know my friends, like
I know you, brothers and sisters. Not just something
about you. Last week I quoted St. Isaac of Syria,
and I'll give you the same exact quote again
because it's relevant. It carries forward the
thought from last week. St. Isaac of Syria wrote
that we call faith that light which dawns in
the soul by grace and which By the testimony
of the mind, our thoughts, our intellect, establishes
the heart in freedom from doubt through the full
assurance of hope and the hope we have in God's
Spirit. We are not disappointed in it. This is
freely given to us. Remember, however, that in
our first steps to the approach of God, They're
easy because God is extending himself to us.
It's the feeling that we have wings, the enthusiasm
caused by the certainty that we are approaching
God. Father Alexander Elcheninov, one of the
priests in Paris after the revolution, says that
this is followed by a gradually cooling down
by doubt. by cynicism, by troubles, by forgetfulness
of our trust in God. In order to sustain our
faith, he says, it is necessary to make an effort
to struggle to fight for it, to astonish Christ
about our fight for his love, to oppose ourself.
Like any friendship, any relationship, if I don't
put some time... into engaging with my friend,
my wife, my children, my parishioners? What kind
of relationship is it? Effort is required. I
need time to walk with Jesus Christ and no one
else during that moment. I need time to pray
and not let myself get distracted by little things.
I need time to sit with him and only him. be
it only five minutes in the morning. I need time
to plead to him, as this centurion did, for the
healing of my brothers and sisters, this place,
this country, myself. I had a discussion with
Father Maximus Benson yesterday about this gospel.
I said, what's the core? What's the core? Because
we could talk about how Jesus said, there are
going to be many in the kingdom of heaven that
sit down at the great banquet feast with Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob that weren't expected to
be there. Roman soldiers, publicans and tax collectors
going on before the Pharisees. And the children
of the kingdom, many will be cast out into outer
darkness. So there's this story about we should
be careful lest we lose the gift we've been given.
There's humility. There's obedience. But he said,
here's the core. And I believe it. The core of
the gospel passage is recognition. To recognize
real authority awakens in us the spiritual power
to overcome. the sinfully produced limitations
upon our nature, and awaken the God -created
potentials of who we are to rise above, go past
the limitations of our nature and worldly circumstances.
And we live according to the spiritual law of
heaven because we trust Christ. And then we have
genuine spiritual health and holiness and wholeness
and goodness and the ability to receive and flow
with the grace. I am a man under authority, under
obedience, said the centurion. Christ gives us
the perfect example for himself. I can do nothing
on my own authority. As I hear, I judge, and
my judgment is just because I seek not my own
will but the will of him who sent me. This is
a difficult concept for us Americans, especially
on July 4th weekend, because we have been taught
to believe that I am my own authority, and that's
the freedom. We forget what St. Paul taught us
in Romans. The wages of sin is death, and our
own authority is a sinful authority. We need
to be liberated from ourself most of the time.
I am sovereign. But we humble ourselves through
obedience, not forced submission. Christ's love
for us invites us to trust him. We have the gospel.
We have the example of the saints of whom many,
many built a life of saintliness like St. Anthony
on just one One word, one teaching of the gospel
which they took seriously and to which they devoted
their energies, their life, transfigured relationships,
human souls, human lives. Who of us would have
said what the centurion said? Thy word is enough,
O Lord. Don't come. I'm not worthy. Who of us
would have said that? We want a new revelation.
We want a new word from Christ. Let's astonish
Christ by being like the centurion. Perhaps a
great miracle will occur in us. The paralysis
of our soul will become free.