Speaker 1: Ju days.
Speaker 2: Know about selvation.
Speaker 1: And the relation of the mystery that was from Molly
Speaker 1: toity in the Balkans, and the history of glory of
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ is see if you wish, my dear brothers
Speaker 1: and sisters in Christ. On many Sundays, when we read
Speaker 1: the Holy Gospel, we find that the.
Speaker 2: People amazed by Christ.
Speaker 1: But in today's Gospel, it's Christ who is amazed. A
Speaker 1: Roman centurion comes to Christ. That fact alone give us
Speaker 1: a little lause. He's not one of the disciples. He's
Speaker 1: not a ruler of the synagogue. He's not a scribe.
Speaker 2: He's not a.
Speaker 1: Teacher of the law. He's not a son of Abraham
Speaker 1: going through the flesh. He's a Roman officer or a foreigner,
Speaker 1: a representative of the occupying power, a pagan, a man
Speaker 1: outside the visible boundaries of the covenanial life of Israel.
Speaker 1: And yet when he speaks to Christ, it is the
Speaker 1: Lord who marvels.
Speaker 2: And that stands very much apart from our usual encounter
Speaker 2: with Christ.
Speaker 1: We often read the crowd's marveling Christ, or they're marveling
Speaker 1: at his words.
Speaker 2: They're marveling and his miracles or his teaching.
Speaker 1: For here Christ marvels had a man, and what does
Speaker 1: he marvel at Not the man's rank, not his intelligence,
Speaker 1: not his power, But he.
Speaker 2: Marvels at his faith.
Speaker 1: Verily, I say to you, I have not found so
Speaker 1: great faith, not even in Israel. This is a gospel
Speaker 1: that is beautiful but is also dangerous.
Speaker 2: It's dangerous to us, it's dangerous to our plight, it's.
Speaker 1: Dangerous to our complacency, and it's dangerous to any commonies
Speaker 1: that we place.
Speaker 2: In religion that is not joined to the living and faith.
Speaker 1: The first thing that we see in the Centurion is
Speaker 1: that true faith recognizes of the authority of Christ. The
Speaker 1: centurion comes to Jesus because his servant is sick. He's
Speaker 1: grievously tormented, and already there's something slightly noble here. This
Speaker 1: is a man of rank pleading for somebody beneath him.
Speaker 2: He's not asking for his son, or his wife or himself.
Speaker 2: He's asking for his servant.
Speaker 1: In the world of the Roman Empire, the servant could
Speaker 1: have been treated as disposable.
Speaker 2: But this man.
Speaker 1: Carries the suffering of his servant as though it were
Speaker 1: his own. His authority has not made him cruel, his
Speaker 1: power has not made him in deferent. He comes before Christ,
Speaker 1: not as a commander barking in order, but as a
Speaker 1: man begging for mercy for another. And the Lord says,
Speaker 1: I will come to child him. But the centurion answers, Lord,
Speaker 1: I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my
Speaker 1: roof to speak the word only, and my servant chlity healed.
Speaker 2: This is the heart of his faith.
Speaker 1: He doesn't need Christ to enter his home or to
Speaker 1: lay hands on.
Speaker 2: The sick man.
Speaker 1: He doesn't ask for a sign, he doesn't demand tangible proof.
Speaker 1: He believes that the word of Christ is in He
Speaker 1: explays that he too, that he is a man under authority,
Speaker 1: and he has holds under him, and he says to
Speaker 1: one go he goes, another coming comes and he says
Speaker 1: to his servant, do this, and he does it. When
Speaker 1: the centurion understands from his own life, he knows what
Speaker 1: command means.
Speaker 2: He knows what legitimate authority is.
Speaker 1: When it speaks, the command is not merely a say
Speaker 1: in the air. It sets things into motion. A soldier hears,
Speaker 1: no obeys, an order is given and is carried out.
Speaker 1: And by this earthly image he recognizes something far greater
Speaker 1: in Christ. He sees that sickness itself is under Christ's authority.
Speaker 1: It's not limited by distance, it's not dependent on the
Speaker 1: assistance of another, but by his own command. Saint John
Speaker 1: Christian says that the centurion did not bring the servant
Speaker 1: because he knew for certain that even a mere command
Speaker 1: was enough to raise the servant. Ah.
Speaker 2: That is the key. Oh.
Speaker 1: The centurion does not imagine that Christ's power is magical,
Speaker 1: that is dependent on place, that it depends upon a
Speaker 1: ceremony or original. He sees authority, He sees lordship. He
Speaker 1: sees that Christ's word is effective because Christ himself is Lord.
Speaker 1: And this matters for us because it is possible to
Speaker 1: honor Christ with our lips while we resist his authority in.
Speaker 2: Our own lives.
Speaker 1: We may call him Lord, but then treat his commandments
Speaker 1: of suggestions. We may confess and as God, and then
Speaker 1: negotiate with him about our own obedience.
Speaker 2: We may now his power but doubted in our own lives.
Speaker 1: The centurion's faith exposes this contradiction. He says, speak the
Speaker 1: word only.
Speaker 2: That is faith.
Speaker 1: That's not simply believing Christ exists, that's not simply.
Speaker 2: Admiring his teaching, but resting his entire.
Speaker 1: Trust on his word, and he joins this great faith
Speaker 1: with humility, as he says, Lord, I am not worried
Speaker 1: that thou shouldst come under my word. This isn't a
Speaker 1: false modesty, It's not self hatred. When we recognize the
Speaker 1: authority of the One True God.
Speaker 2: It's spiritual clarity.
Speaker 1: The centurion sees Christ, and therefore or he sees who
Speaker 1: he is.
Speaker 2: Truthfully, the centurion may.
Speaker 1: Have authority over all sorts of people around him, but
Speaker 1: he believes himself unworthy to even receive Christ under his ruth.
Speaker 1: And because of that, he's already received Christ inwardly in
Speaker 1: his heart, his mouth, his house may not have been ready,
Speaker 1: for his heart was open and prepared. And how great
Speaker 1: is the faith of this pagan centurion compared to the
Speaker 1: crowd Pharisee simon his house Christ entered into bodily, but
Speaker 1: in whose heart there is no place for him. And
Speaker 1: this brings us to the next great mystery of this gospel.
Speaker 1: The centurion is not merely an inspiring individual. His faith
Speaker 1: to him inspires us. But in him the whole future
Speaker 1: begins to appear. Christ turns to those following enemies, says,
Speaker 1: many will come from the east and the West, and
Speaker 1: will sit down with Abraham, Isa and Jacob and the
Speaker 1: kingdom of Heaven.
Speaker 2: What an astonishing thing to say. A Roman soldier.
Speaker 1: Asked for healing, and Christ speaks of the nations entering
Speaker 1: into the kingdom.
Speaker 2: One gentile believes. And suddenly the horizon widens.
Speaker 1: Out of Judead into the entire ends of the earth,
Speaker 1: East and west, gathered together, those far off are brought near,
Speaker 1: and the table of Abraham is open to those who,
Speaker 1: according to the flesh and falconer.
Speaker 2: Abraham was calling, was that in his seat all.
Speaker 1: The families of the earth would be blessed. The faith
Speaker 1: of the Centurion shows that this promise is flowing. This
Speaker 1: Christ walks on his earth. He had not lived. The
Speaker 1: Centurion had not lived inside the preparation of Israel.
Speaker 2: He'd not been raised under the law.
Speaker 1: He'd not heard the prophets, he not sung the songs.
Speaker 2: He'd not spent his white life awaiting him side. And
Speaker 2: he's seen no miracles.
Speaker 1: But hearing only a report of Christ, he believes more
Speaker 1: deeply than many who were seeing him before their eyes.
Speaker 2: Saint Jerome says.
Speaker 1: That in the person of the Centurion, the faith of
Speaker 1: the gentiles is preferred.
Speaker 2: To that of Israel.
Speaker 1: Howardly he may be an alien, but inwardly he belongs.
Speaker 1: And so after we have seen the death of humility,
Speaker 1: the larity of his faith, the power of his.
Speaker 2: Trust, the white hand of.
Speaker 1: The king, and he can understand why Saint John Chrysistem
Speaker 1: refers to the Centurion as the first fruits of the Gentiles.
Speaker 2: He's that first ripe fruit of.
Speaker 1: A harvest that will soon fill the entire known world.
Speaker 2: And he stands in the dworway of.
Speaker 1: The nations, and behind him the Greeks, the Romans, the Syrians,
Speaker 1: the Egyptians, ethiope is, all of the known world, every
Speaker 1: language in every land will be entering in and sitting
Speaker 1: before the table. Abraham and I and Jacob gathered into
Speaker 1: that one true Deenom. And this is where the Gospel
Speaker 1: must convict us, brothers and sisters, because if we are
Speaker 1: not careful, we will hear this passage only as a
Speaker 1: judgment upon others. Are those in Israel who did not believe.
Speaker 1: But the Gospel is not given to flatter us. It's
Speaker 1: not given for us to rejoice.
Speaker 2: In our place. Now the are the words who were received.
Speaker 1: Much we have the Orthodox faith we have the scriptures,
Speaker 1: we have the Fathers, we have the liturgy, the Holy icons,
Speaker 1: and we have the mysteries of which we receive.
Speaker 2: The grace of God.
Speaker 1: We have the entirety of the inheritance that Christ bestowed
Speaker 1: on his apostles.
Speaker 2: And this is true.
Speaker 1: It's precious, the gift that we can't even describe with words.
Speaker 1: But the sons of the Kingdom and this gospel were worn.
Speaker 1: That Israel can be worn, and so can we. The
Speaker 1: dangers not that the Orthodox faith is lacking. God forbid
Speaker 1: the dangers that we may possess the fulness of the
Speaker 1: faith and yet failed to live by it. We might
Speaker 1: have the true Church and still not have the humility
Speaker 1: of the Centurion. We might have the right doctrine and
Speaker 1: not trust the word of Christ.
Speaker 2: We may know the services and not obey the Lord.
Speaker 1: We may stand inside the House of God, yet not received.
Speaker 2: Him into our heart. This gospel is.
Speaker 1: A rebute to complacency, and it's a rebute to triumphalism.
Speaker 1: It's not over orthodoxy, not to the church, God forbid,
Speaker 1: but to triumphalism, to the pride that takes the treasures
Speaker 1: of God and exults ourselves that He gives that weave
Speaker 1: unworthy see and we turn them into a reason for
Speaker 1: despising the mocking authors.
Speaker 2: The centurion wasn't Orthodox, he wasn't even a Jew. It
Speaker 2: is a Roman Paine.
Speaker 1: And Christ praised his faith before all of visord. That
Speaker 1: fact must live in our conscience. It doesn't mean the
Speaker 1: truth doesn't matter. Truth matters eternal. But what it does
Speaker 1: means when we possess that truth without humility, or we
Speaker 1: take that truth and be aflied without love, that can
Speaker 1: become a judgment of this as it was on Israel.
Speaker 2: And if Christ could marvel the faith of a pagan.
Speaker 1: We must be very careful who we mock, or belittle
Speaker 1: or dismiss. Let it not be the very people that
Speaker 1: we are calling into the church.
Speaker 2: We may sometimes meet people who.
Speaker 1: Don't have the fullness of the teaching, but who pray
Speaker 1: with tears, people who don't know the fathers but know
Speaker 1: how to forgive, People who don't know the canons, but
Speaker 1: who can trust God and their suffering. People may never
Speaker 1: stood through the divine liturgy that they can say with
Speaker 1: their whole heart, go and only.
Speaker 2: Speak the Word. And to these people we can do.
Speaker 1: We must bear witness to the fullness of the faith,
Speaker 1: that we must do it with humility, not contend with
Speaker 1: gratitude for what we've been given, not arrogance of our place.
Speaker 1: We must have that sobriet be in our hearts, and
Speaker 1: not self congratulation on our lips. Because the question on
Speaker 1: the last day will not be whether we possess the
Speaker 1: holy things out arly or whether we received them inwardly,
Speaker 1: Not whether Christ entered into our ability, but whether he
Speaker 1: found room in our hearts, and, having made his abode there,
Speaker 1: whether we truly then ministered him in the least among us. So,
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters, as we depart today, let us not
Speaker 1: boast your sons of the Kingdom.
Speaker 2: Let us instead show where we are of the sons
Speaker 2: of the Kingdom.
Speaker 1: Let us not merely possess the faith of the apostles,
Speaker 1: but let us be possessed by the truth of Christ.
Speaker 1: And let us not belittle the faith of others. When
Speaker 1: we should first.
Speaker 2: Ask our own faith whether it would cause Christ to marvel.
Speaker 1: And may the Lord grant us the humility of the centurion,
Speaker 1: the trust of the centraliating, living faith of being who said,
Speaker 1: speak to the.
Speaker 2: Word owner.
Speaker 1: Highcho used to be his own word for the est
Speaker 1: go by way, as though I should leave so deep
Speaker 1: time to be the then father and son the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: Am