Breaking the Word

No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.  And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.  (Jn 3:13-17)

Son of man must be lifted up. Death on the cross is a must for Jesus. St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians says: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” (1 Cor 1: 22-23). Cross was not a positive sign among the Romans. They crucified the criminals on the cross.

Eternal life is offered to everyone who believed on the man who was crucified on the cross. Not any belief was needed for salvation. A belief on the one who was crucified becomes a sign. Belief also is directed to the cross. This is the reason for the exaltation of the cross.

Belief on the cross leads to salvation. Son of man had not come to condemn the world. He has come to save the world. Though the cross was a sign of condemnation, it becomes a means of salvation for a believer because of the son of man.

When he had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, "He deserves to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us." And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. (Lk 7: 1-10)

This centurion is different from the rest of the members of the authority. Roman authorities or those who showed allegiance to the Roman authority persecuted the people. They destroyed their property; they levies heavy taxes on people; they treated the people badly and all these only created revenge and revolt among the people.

The centurion of this passage is friendly with the people he even come to them and asks for help; he has built a synagogue for them and in every way he is helpful to them. His request is not for him and not even for a member of his family but for a slave of his. All his dealings prove that he is different from the rest of the people of authority.

He proves himself to be better than the Jews. His faith is greater than others. That is he does not rely on his authority. He does not make use of his authority to ask Jesus for a favour.  He does not feel himself worthy to approach Jesus. A man of authority who does not hold on to authority or practice authority seems, in the mind of Jesus, a man of faith. He becomes a model for the rest of the Jews.