Homily on the Centurion (Theophanes Kerameus)

Homily 44

On the Centurion

Fourth Sunday of Matthew

By Archbishop Theophanes Kerameus of Taormina (+ 1152)

The evil one opposes good works, always seeking to harm the excellent. Therefore, even today, stirring up the condemned quarrel, he hastened to bring confusion to our assembly and to abolish the word of teaching, entering entirely into that disordered and half-barbarous man. But you appeared to have knowledge of his artifices, and with more prudence opposed his contrivance. Running to the church, and leaving him alone to be demon possessed with inappropriate shouting and babbling, you showed your attention to the teaching word.

At that time "as soon as Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached Him" (Matthew 8:5). Because the Lord, having filled Judea with miracles, kindled more the envy against Him in the souls of the illiterate, "who put light for darkness, and sweet for bitter", according to the words of Isaiah (5:20), now He transmits the grace of miracles also to the Gentiles, thereby showing on the one hand that He came for the salvation of the whole world, and on the other hand clearly checking the unbelief of the Jews with the faith shown by the Gentiles. For the Gentiles are somewhat more ready and much agreeable to believe in Christ. Behold also the diametrically unequal disbelief of the Jews and the willingness of the Gentiles. For, while the Jews drove Him out with curses, the Syrophoenician Gentile called herself unworthy of grace, and begged to be numbered with the lot of dogs and to share in the crumbs that fall from the table of the Jews, which they completely renounced (Matt. 15:26). But this centurion also considers himself completely unworthy to receive the Lord under his roof. Therefore the Jews also reaped the reward of their unbelief, and the Gentiles received grace, and were saved by faith. But let's start the story right away.

At that time "as soon as Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached Him and begged Him with these words" (Matt. 8:5). Of course, the divinely inspired Luke, recounting this miracle, does not say that the centurion came in person, but that he sent Jewish elders to meet the Lord for this. But this does not show any disagreement in the Evangelists, for those who pay attention with a good disposition, that those who were sent by the centurion attended instead of the sender, and let no attack be given to this by those who want to see errors, just because Matthew says that the centurion himself came, while Luke says that others became the bearers of the petition. For what the Evangelists care about was to describe the miracle with truth, and not to be precise about what preceded the miracle. And nothing prevents us from thinking that both happened. For the centurion out of reverence thought that, because he was a Gentile and foreigner, Christ would not heed his request. He thought, therefore, of sending a separate embassy first, but when he heard that Christ willingly promised healing, he took courage and arrived himself.

The Savior, therefore, is already beginning the preliminaries of the resurrection, and before that He healed both the members and the places that were ill. And because the nature of humans is divided into men and women, He bestows beneficence on both sexes. Because both man and woman fell from God's commandment, therefore they both accepted the beneficence. And He heals the one who is paralyzed in nerves and dissolved in the joints of the body (Matt. 9:1), but He does not leave unhealed even the woman bent toward the earth who was looking at the ground (Luke 13:11). And He freed most of the demon possessed from the power of the demons (Luke 8:27), but He also healed the little daughter of the woman of Canaan who was troubled by demons (Matt. 10:29). He delivered Zacchaeus from the injustices of the customs office (Luke 19:2), but he also cleansed the promiscuous harlot from foul-smelling sin (Jn. 4:7). Simon the Pharisee invited the Lord to a banquet, but Martha also welcomed Him into her home (Luke 7:36; 10:39, 43). He healed the centurion's servant, but rebuked with power the fever that burned Simon's mother-in-law so much that He freed her from the evil, so that she could serve them cured, while before they expected her to die (Luke 8:38, 59). You will see Christ resurrecting the widow's dead son, as well as the little daughter of Jairus (Luke 7:11; 8:49). And He was followed by a group of disciples, but He was also served by female disciples, who became apostles of the Resurrection. Do you see the Master and Creator of all manifesting His benefactions to all? Because some have become so impudent as to say that woman is not a whole man but a part of man, because she was made from the side of man, He thereby stops the unbridled impulses of accusing tongues, showing that in virtue and vice both man and woman are dominant. But we said these things as a parenthesis, so let us return to the sacred words of the Gospel.

"Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed and suffering terribly" (Matt. 8:6). The centurion observed that he was near the very gates of death, for he was lying in the house, so that he could not bring him to the Lord. Luke shows this with more emphasis, adding that he was going to die (Luke 7:2). Some say that this is why they did not bring him, carrying him on a bed, so that he would not die while being carried, because they already expected him to die. But I think that they did not transport him not for this reason, but because the centurion was convinced that the Lord can heal him even in his absence. This is evident from what he said: "Only speak a word and my servant will be healed" (Matt. 8:8).

"Jesus said to him: I will come and heal him" (Matt. 8:7). Why did the Lord obey him so easily and immediately bring the healing, although He was not in the habit of doing this to others? Why is the father who was kneeling for his lunatic child and asking for his healing, previously reprimanded by Him characterizing him as a "faithless and perverse generation" (Luke 9:41)? And to the woman of Canaan, who was facing Him with pain for her daughter, He said to her: "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs" (Matt. 15:26). But as soon as He heard that "my servant is lying at home paralyzed", He immediately wants to heal him. Why? Because He who examines hearts and knows thoughts, knew how great the centurion's faith was. The grace, therefore, which He gives, He measures according to faith, and He quickly promises healing, so that the ardent reverence of the Gentile may be seen in the Jews who follow Him. At the same time the centurion saw the Savior speedily beginning His course, and being filled with awe and excessive fear, because He would welcome God into His house, he says: "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (Matt. 8:8, 9).

What the centurion says is correct. If I, says he, who am in Caesar's army and obey his orders, if I bring the soldiers under my command into subjection by my word alone, so that neither the one whom I send anywhere may not go, nor the one whom I invite may not come, how do You, who are not under authority, but with the authentic power of divinity moves all things by a nod, not command by Your will to heal my servant by Your command? That the word of the centurion was not uttered in adoring contrivance, nor was it adulterated with the bonds of flattery, the Savior testified to this, placing his faith as more certain than the faith of all the Israelites, and at the same time adding: "As you have believed, so let it be done for you" (Matt. 8:13). And the Savior knew the first fruits of the invitation of the nations made through the gospel, and foreseeing that they would be led by this centurion, He foretold of the future that "many will come from east and west and sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the table of the Kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 8:11). Because He did not find so much faith in the Israelite people, He therefore invited the nations from the ends of the earth, and the ungrateful people turned away from intimacy with Him, and instead the nations entered and were saved by faith. That is why He says that the nations will sit with Abraham, because they showed zeal in the faith, like Abraham. And those who were called "sons," I mean the Jews, "shall be cast into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 8:12). He says they will be thrown out of the Kingdom, but they will also be persecuted by the priesthood, and by those holy places, and by the sacrifices of the law that are made according to custom. And they will exchange the divine light for the darkness of ignorance and for the cry of repentance the joy of being close to God. To no avail they will gnash the teeth of the soul, craving excessively for divine food. And the future punishment of sinners is called "outer darkness", because then the double energy of fire is to be divided, and to the righteous the light will be given clean, and without burning, but to the wicked will be distributed the burning fire that will not illuminate. So this darkness is called outer or inner. For even from here, those who do wicked works live as if in darkness, but yet there is for them the hope of repentance. But there darkness is called outer and is hopeless.

But it escaped me, unexamined, what the centurion certainly did to receive such great praise, so that the Lord marveled and said the following: "I did not find such faith even among the Israelites" (Matt. 8:10). So forgive me for being careless. Because the care of the ecclesiastical matters I have, shakes the top of my mind. But nothing prevents us, by restoring speech, to correct what we forgot.

The centurion's words apparently reveal some of the great teachings which the Master marveled at. And the teaching is this: When man turned away from God's command and voluntarily deserted to the tyrant-devil, the goodness of the Creator did not leave our humanity completely helpless, but gave each one of them as an ally in his life an Angel from those who have an incorporeal nature. But the enemy fights against man to harm him, therefore he places an evil demon against him. None of them use violence so as not to harm man's self-determination and freedom, but each suggests and advises the opposite, one the hoped-for rest through virtue, and the other the servile and flattering pleasure. In the middle, therefore, of these two, as if he were a centurion, after our freedom and choice are established, he orders whatever he wants, as to subordinate soldiers, expelling the one and inviting the other. For both to live in the same place is impossible, because things that are opposite to each other do not come into communication. For there is "nothing in common between light and darkness" (II Cor. 6:14), but it is necessary, as darkness recedes, that what one sees is light, and, as wickedness is removed, virtue should come instead of it. And since this is so, if anyone wants to envy this centurion, he will say to him: Go, and it goes. Which one? In that of which the Lord said: "You will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move" (Matt. 17:20), pointing to the demon that brings lunacy. And when he retreats, he will invite not himself, but the desired. For when the ally of wickedness is persecuted, the soldier of righteousness enters in his stead, clothed with the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (see Eph. 5:16-17). And then the slave, that is, the body, fears his master, that is, the mind, and does the service that is due, because the mind of the flesh never again opposes the spirit. Because it is impossible, when the enemy's soldier is present, for the body to obey prudent thought.

Therefore, then, we also, brethren, as long as we are centurions, that is, we exceed many in wickedness, and we are slaves to Caesar, that is, to the devil, the ruler of the world, and if we still acquire the praiseworthy cowardice, let us be ashamed to accept the grace of the word about God - of theology -, for as humans we are not capable of receiving it. And if we become of this kind, so that we can banish passion-filled thoughts, and in their place introduce the virtues into the soul and enslave the body according to the way of life ordained by God, then each of us can say: I have soldiers under my authority, and I say to the wicked, depart, and he departs, and to the good, come, and he comes. And to my body I say: Do the work of virtue, and do it with the help of Jesus Christ our Lord, to Whom belong the praise and the power unto the endless ages. Amen.

Source: P.G. 132, 825-836. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

If you enjoyed this post, please consider supporting the work of the Mystagogy Resource Center: 

Become a Patron!