UnWorthy

Who would make you feel unworthy to have come and visit you?

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him 6and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress." And he said to him, "I will come and cure him." The centurion answered, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it." When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, "Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; let it be done for you according to your faith." And the servant was healed in that hour. When Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases." - Matthew 8:5-17

There are a lot of reasons to feel unworthy.

If you are a Downton Abbey fan, you may remember the surprise visit by the King and Queen, and all the fuss that made in the household, getting the place ready.

Well, it turns out, that visit wouldn't have happened that way.  When visiting the countryside, His Majesty would have only stayed at the residences of people in his "cabinet" who were local representatives of the Crown, and the visit would have been well planned.

But it still makes us think of being worthy for such a visit.

Worthiness in this sense, not only has to do with being known by the authority visiting, but also being prepared to elevate one's manner of living to do honor to him.

This is what the Centurion was saying about his home and Jesus.

We could say that to feel unworthy of a visit from Jesus is to not understand Jesus and the love and grace of God, for all are worthy in His sight.

But for the Centurion, honor and position meant everything.  He lived under and by authority and respect was critical to existence.

When the centurion tells Jesus he is unworthy of a visit, he is showing him great respect and honor.  You are much greater than I, he is saying.

Who am I to seek help from you?

We don't think that way, but maybe we should, just for a moment, once in a while.

Maybe, if we came to Jesus humbled we might see ourselves differently, a bit more modestly, a bit less important.

That would be a good thing.

More to come...