Matthew 8:5-8 “When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and 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.” Today's episode shows us that we don't have to be super holy or religious in order to pray for our loved ones or be used by the Lord. He just wants us to come to Him just as we are. Music: "Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Come As You Are Series - The Centurion
Matthew 8:5-8 “When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and 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.”
When asking the Lord who to talk about next in this series, the story of the centurion’s servant came to mind. The story is short, so I will read it to you in case you aren’t familiar with it. Matthew 8:5-13:
“When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and 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.”
This story is similar to the one we previously discussed, the Canaanite Woman. What is interesting about both stories is that the faith that healed their loved ones came from people who weren’t even Jewish. This is important for us to see because oftentimes we think we are not holy enough to pray for healing for our loved ones. In my family, everyone goes to my dad for prayer. Actually, it isn’t even just in my family. Everyone who knows my dad will ask him for prayer, even if they aren’t Catholic, and sometimes they don’t even believe in God, but if they need a miracle, they will ask my dad. It seems as if my dad has a direct connection to God. He and my mom are both powerful prayer warriors. I think they go to do my dad more than my mom because he is a deacon in the church. We tend to think that priests and deacons have more clout than we do. We tend to think their prayers are heard more than ours.
This story is showing us that we don’t have to be super religious for God to work miracles in our lives. It shows us God is not only healing the loved ones of those who are in church every single Sunday. This story is showing us that anyone can come to God. The centurion soldiers weren’t always kind to the Jewish people, and yet Jesus still healed his servant. We can come to the Lord, no matter where we are in our faith, and He will help us. We don’t have to wait until we go to church every week. We don’t have to wait to come to the Lord until we know exactly what we think and what we believe.
This soldier knew that Jesus had authority and that if Jesus said that the servant would be healed, his servant would be healed. The Jewish people were struggling to see that Jesus had authority. They had expected the Savior to look a certain way and to do things a certain way, and Jesus was not what they had expected. The centurion and the Canaanite woman hadn’t heard all the prophecies of what the Savior would look like, where he would come from, and what he would do. They didn’t have expectations. They saw what Jesus was doing for others, and they wanted Him to do it for them, too.
This is an important lesson for us too! What if we let go of our expectations of who we think God is, what we think we need to do, and who we think we need to be before we come to God? What if we let go of our expectations of how we think God can help us and when He will help us? What if we accept the fact that God has authority and can do anything whenever He chooses? He doesn’t need us to say the right thing or to do the right thing. He doesn’t need us to ask the right people to pray. We can go to Him, just as we are, and we can ask Him ourselves. We can decide to trust that if God has done it before, He will do it again. If He has done it for others, He will do it for us.
We don’t have to worry if our faith is enough. Jesus said we just need the faith of a mustard seed. Think about the Canaanite woman and this centurion. They did not know the Bible. They did not know Jewish law. They didn’t really know anything other than what they saw Jesus do and maybe some things they heard Him say. You don’t have to be a Bible scholar for God to heal your loved ones. You don't have to have all the answers to come to the Lord. He will give you the answers you seek when you come. You don't have to figure things out on your own. He is here to help with all of that. We just have to come to Him and He will do the rest.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening. Lord, we want to come to you. We want to believe that you want us just as we are. We want to believe we don't have to do anything before we come to you. We believe, Lord, help our unbelief. Lord, please help us to come to you. Please help us to trust that you are who you say you are and that you do what you have always done. Help us to truly know that you love us as we are. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with Your Will and in Jesus’s Holy Name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “When you feel tested, my little ones, and things are going wrong, without the fire or the flame of my love to put it out, you cannot go further with me. So draw closer to me.”