Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, February 7, 2021
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: A Roman centurion surprised and amazed Jesus. What we do and say matters to Jesus.
Jesus had been teaching and healing for some time now. He had encountered hundreds of people. Many were in need, broken, and weary. Many came to him to ask things of him. Then he came to Capernaum and encountered someone he didn’t expect.
A centurion, a Roman guard, had sent some Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come heal his slave. This would have been unusual for many reasons. First, it was unusual for a Roman to pay any attention to Jesus at this stage of his ministry, except perhaps as a nuisance. But this Roman had heard of Jesus’ teachings and must have known that he would be willing to work outside the confines of the Jewish people. Second, it was slightly unusual that someone in power would care so deeply about one of his slaves, as to bother a famous traveling healer with it. Third, this centurion recognized his place in the hierarchy. His station as one under an authority figure gave him a perspective of gratitude and compassion for those under him. Fourth, he recognized that Jesus’ time was valuable and requested that Jesus not spend time traveling to him, but instead simply to heal him from wherever he was at the time. It was a recognition that the Jew, Jesus, was as worthy of respect as the Roman centurion. (There are likely many other reasons this man’s words and actions were unusual. Consider what those might be.)
This man’s unusual ways amazed Jesus. It took Jesus by surprise. Sometimes it’s easy to think that because Jesus was God, he knew everything. But clearly this man took Jesus by surprise and it delighted him. Consider what it might mean that Jesus (and God, too, perhaps) can be surprised and amazed by us. How might we move through our day considering that it’s not already been determined what we will do or say?
How might we make our decisions knowing that we surprise and delight (or disappoint) Jesus along the way?
