Daily Gospel Reflection

Who Is Really In Charge?

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we explore the genius of the gospel, looking for a word or a phrase or an idea from the gospel of the day to anchor our day in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew chapter eight, verses 5 through 11.

As he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me, and I say to one go, and he goes, and to the other come and he comes. And to my slave do this and he does it."

When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who were following him, "Truly, I say to you not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you many will come from east and west and sit at a table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." What jumps out at you today?

The phrase that jumped out at me is the centurion says to Jesus, "I am a man under authority." And then he explains, "And I have men under my authority, and I say do this, and they do it," and I say, "Come here and they come here." And I say, "Go there and they go there." And so the centurion explains this concept of authority. But first, he acknowledges, he recognizes, he confesses that he himself is a man under authority. And I am a man under authority. You are a man or a woman under authority, but do we think of ourselves that way? I think not, very often.

I think very often in our society, we're taught to think of ourselves as deciding everything, self-determining everything. And it's easy to forget in all of that that we are under authority, that we are answerable to a great king. Only then do we start to listen to his voice so that when he says, "Come here," we come. And when he says, "Go there," we go. And when he says, "Do this," we do it. Let's try to listen to that voice in a new way today, and to follow where he leads us. Have a great day, and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.