The Centurion did not allow any prejudice to block his belief in the power of Jesus to rescue his beloved son from the jaws of death.

Monday Week Four

Reading: John 4: 43-54

When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honour in the prophet’s own country.)  When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival. 

Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official who son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’ The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my little boy dies.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go, your son will live.’ The man believed the word Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive.  So he asked them the hour when he began to recover and they said to him, ‘Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.’ The father realised that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he himself believed, along with his whole household.  Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.

 Reflection

 The mission of the true prophet is to tell the truth from God and to draw people back to God whether they like it or not. In the Old Testament we read where ‘Elijah rebukes King Ahab for abandoning the LORD and worshipping the gods of Sidon (1 Kings 18:16-24) and later Elijah tells the prophets of Baal to prepare a sacrifice and ask their god to consume the offering with fire. The prophets of Baal shout and dance all day, but nothing happens. Elijah then builds an altar and lays a bull on it as an offering to God. He pours water over the offering and the wood, and then prays, “LORD, you are the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel... Prove that you are the God of Israel and that I am your servant” (1 Kings 18:36). The LORD sends down fire on the altar. The people shout “The LORD is God!” (1 Kings 18:39) and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal are put to death in the valley of the River Kishon. (1 Kings 18:25-40)  

The prophet says, “Israel, learn this: The time of punishment has come. The days of recompense have come; Israel cries. The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad! Because of your great iniquity your hostility is great. The prophet is a sentinel for my God over Ephraim, yet a fowlers snare is on all his ways, and hostility in the house of his God. ‘  (Hosea 9: 7-8) In Isaiah 40:3 we read where the prophet Isaiah foretells the ministry of John the Baptist who would prepare a way for the Messiah, ‘A voice cries in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’ In Luke 3:4 John fulfilled this prophecy.  ‘He went into the all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus as Messiah was the fulfillment of the prophecy, he was the highway of God, the one who would bring salvation to all people including many who had not yet come to belief. The non-Jewish Centurion did not allow any prejudice to block his belief in the power of Jesus to rescue his beloved son from the jaws of death. Jesus challenged the centurion by asking him if he would only believe if he saw signs and wonders. Undeterred, the grief-stricken father begged Jesus to ‘come now before my little boy dies.’ Moved by compassion, Jesus responds with the words, ‘go, your son will live.’ The father’s evangelisation had begun. On the road the servants brought ‘news of great joy’ to the father when they told him of the healing of his son. This was no coincidence; Jesus had spoken and promised the restoration of his beloved child and it had come to pass. The unflinching belief of the father in the goodness of Jesus and the healing of his son may have inspired his family and household to surrender in gratitude to the grace of God and come to belief.  Here we see where the mission of Jesus was rejected by his own people and he returned to Galilee.  We are fore warned that anyone who wishes to share the Gospel with others may face rejection. In our own times many countries across the world do not allow free expression of the Christian faith, Burma, China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Vietnam.  Today 365m Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith. 4,998 were killed for faith related reasons last year. 1:7 Christians are persecuted worldwide, 1:5 are persecuted in Africa and 2:5 in Asia. 

 https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/persecution/countries/

We too, may be rejected when we attempt to share the Gospel with the people whom we believe are closest to us.  However, we, like Jesus are to be undaunted in our mission to bring good news to all people.  This is what God asks us to do and through the power of His Holy Spirit we will be graced to do so.  Our desire is to make the name of Jesus known across the face of the earth.We unite our prayer with that of the Psalmist when he prayed;

‘Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart’. The Galileans received Jesus well.  I ask myself; how well do I receive Jesus in his daily visitations in my life- during times of prayer, support of the vulnerable or in times of desolation and loss?  What changes do I need to make so that I can welcome Jesus into the finest details of my life?

I reflect on the many and varied ways in which I delay in asking God for help and where my prejudices get in the way of believing in Jesus or in other people.  This is a call to conversion.

 The Divinity of Jesus allowed him to heal the Centurion’s son in the son’s absence as demonstrated in the words, ‘go, your son will live.’  Filled with compassion, Jesus responded to the cry of a broken-heart father who had placed his faith in him.  This is his same response to all who cry out in faith to him today.  He wishes to offer fullness of life to all if only we would believe.  We are invited to name our deepest and most personal needs so that they can be transformed by his love.  We are asked to place our faith and trust in him who is love.  Like the Centurion, we are invited into ever deeper union with God; our praise and worship are the offering that we make to a God of love.

What actions may your faith community take to support persecuted Christians today.

Do you believe that your prayer and fasting can help to relieve the distress of those persecuted for their faith.

Financial alms are needed to help organisations that support people who have to flee from their homes because of persecution or trauma.

Prayer Lord, I thank you for the many ways you touch my life with love each day.

Open my eyes to see you at work in the deepest core of my soul;Deepen my faith and trust that I may ask only for what is for my good and for your glory;May I give you thanks with my whole life,this day and always, Amen.