The Prayer of the Centurion

By Sharon Piuse csc –

Readings: Gen 18:1-15; Mt 8: 5-17

The Gospel reading speaks about faith. The centurion not only had faith but was also humble before God, though he had great authority and power. This centurion was different from all the others because he had concern for his slave. The centurion had concern towards his servant, he loved him and was worried about him.

We can see in the Old Testament that the slaves were treated like animals. On the other hand, here we see: ‘Sir, my servant lies sick at home. He is paralyzed and suffering terribly (Mt 8:6)’. Jesus respected his concern towards his servant and said, ‘I will come and heal.’ We may ask ourselves what made Jesus to respond immediately.

In the Bible, we often see that Jesus asks many questions to the one who approaches him for healing. We also ask Jesus for favours, often we do not receive any reply from him. We need to think, do I have enough faith in God, and do I have the humility like the centurion? The centurion says, ‘I am not worthy to have you under my roof (Mt 8:8)’.

When we fall into sin, we need to ask ourselves, ‘am I not called to be a child of God? Haven’t we chosen to be followers of Christ? Do I have faith like the centurion?’ Faith helps us to see things beyond our intellect and reason. We need to reflect whether we are willing to suffer to practice our faith in our daily lives and serve others.