Homily on the Fourth Sunday of Matthew
The Healing of the Servant of the Roman Centurion
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1964)
The Healing of the Servant of the Roman Centurion
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1964)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, today we have been offered the wonderful Gospel of the miraculous healing of the Roman centurion's servant by our Lord Jesus Christ. The Capernaum centurion, whose servant Jesus Christ healed, is a very bright and kind person and can in many ways serve as an example for us to follow in our salvation. This man was a pagan, but he showed such faith before the Lord that Christ was amazed: He did not find such faith, as the Savior Himself testified, even in Israel.
In what exactly did the Capernaum centurion discover a special faith that surprised Christ the Savior and which we can learn from him?
First of all, the centurion’s request for the healing of his servant expressed a heartfelt and firm faith in the omnipotence of Jesus Christ: “Say only the word,” he said to the Savior, “and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (Matt. 8:8–9). “But You,” the centurion seemed to reason, “You are the Ruler of the whole world, disposing of its powers and the gifts of God. You are the Almighty Miracle Worker; at one word from You, everything You wish will be fulfilled.”
It was this firm faith in the omnipotence of Jesus Christ that was so pleasing and pleasant to the Savior, and it was this kind of faith that He first of all demanded from all who turned to Him with one need or another, with one request or another: "Do you believe that I can do this? According to your faith be it done to you" (Matt. 9:28–29).
And from us, brothers and sisters, if we wish for our petitions on earth to be heard by God, it is imperative above all to have a heartfelt, living, and steadfast conviction that God is everywhere, sees all, knows all, that He is wise, omnipotent, and all-powerful, and that He is also good, merciful, and filled with love – for all these reasons, He can and desires to fulfill our petitions directed to Him. It pleases and delights the Lord when we give Him glory, confessing His greatness, and through our firm faith, we manifest this confession before Him.
The word of God speaks to us truthfully: "If anyone (having steadfast faith) says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him" (Mark 11:23). And the doubter, says the Holy Apostle James, should not expect to receive anything from the Lord (James 1:6–7). "If any man waver, my soul shall have no pleasure in him" (Hebrews 10:38), says God. Let us learn from the centurion's living, unwavering faith, free from hesitance, doubt, and double-mindedness.
Furthermore, in the centurion's plea, there was a humble faith – the faith of a man who is deeply aware of his own unworthiness. Jesus Christ wished to come personally to the sick servant of the centurion; however, the centurion replied: "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof, but only speak a word, and my servant will be healed" (Matt. 8:8). Do you see the humility, the profound awareness of his own insignificance before the Almighty Savior that the centurion displayed? Indeed, heartfelt, firm, and genuine faith is necessarily accompanied by humility. Where the omnipotence and greatness of God is confessed, there too is the insignificance of man acknowledged before that greatness and omnipotence.
And we, dear brothers and sisters, when we address any petition to God, should have a humble awareness of our unworthiness, our helplessness and weakness, our insignificance and wretchedness, and not think of ourselves as being of any significance before God, that we somehow deserve His mercy towards us. All such proud thoughts should be cast away, for it is precisely these that cause God not to fulfill our petitions. "God," as the Holy Apostle Peter writes, "resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (1 Peter 5:5). "And to whom will I look," says the Lord, "but to the humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at My word" (Isaiah 66:2).
Finally, in the petition of the centurion, there was a faith intertwined with love for one's neighbor. It is out of love, out of compassion for his neighbor – not one who is kin, but a stranger, his own servant – that the centurion cares, worries, and humbles himself before the Savior: "Lord! My servant lies at home paralyzed and is suffering terribly" (Matthew 8:6), implores the humble centurion, sensitive to the sufferings of others. For this reason, Divine Love quickly responded to his love and immediately expressed readiness to fulfill the petition of faith.
Often, dear brethren, it happens that when we make our requests to God, we simultaneously harbor hostility and malice towards our neighbors. There are instances when people (though perhaps not many) turn to God with a plea for Him to punish their adversaries with various calamities and misfortunes. How, then, can we expect the Lord to hear such petitions and fulfill them when He states: "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt. 6:14–15)?
There are times when, even though there is no enmity or malice in our hearts towards our neighbor, we nevertheless experience coldness and indifference in our souls during our prayers, and we fail to show mercy to those in need, even when we could. With what thoughts and spirit then shall we turn to the Lord with our petitions regarding our needs? Shall we rely solely on our faith? Yet, only faith, which works through love (Gal. 5:6), holds value in the eyes of God. It is written about the merciless that judgment shall be without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy (James 2:13).
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us turn to God with our petitions with a living, heartfelt, and unwavering faith, infused and permeated with love for our neighbors, and then the Lord will hear our requests and fulfill them, for He Himself said: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things, that is, what is necessary for your earthly life, shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
