Let’s begin by sending our minds back to an era a long time ago, when an empire had arisen more fearsome and powerful than anyone had ever seen.

The empire spread to the far reaches of civilization. They dominated shipping and trade. Their powerful legions stamped out unrest with violent atrocities.

Those who attempted to rebel against the empire were destined to be destroyed. And even when they did manage a victory over the empire’s legions, there were always more soldiers on the way.

The emperor’s rule seemed absolute… Until there arose in a remote, dusty province a young leader with the courage and the will to take a stand.

I’m talking, of course, about Luke Skywalker. Like I said, “a long time ago… in a galaxy far, far away.”

It isn’t hard to see that the fictional Galactic Empire of Star Wars was inspired by the historical Roman Empire. There are a lot of parallels.

For example, countless legions of shock troopers crushing all resistance.

A powerful elite ruling from a gilded capital.

Peasants struggling under heavy taxes and oppression in far-flung provinces.

Even a god-like emperor. Now, Caesar Augustus couldn’t shoot lightning from his fingertips, but he was worshipped as a god all over the empire! His power was tremendous.

(By the way, thanks to Chat GPT for creating those images for me!)

Now, I bring up all these comparisons because sometimes I think it can be a bit hard to imagine what it would have felt like to live in ancient Judea under the thumb of Rome.

I mean, sure. Ancient Rome comes up regularly in our sermons, but I don’t think we often understand just how deeply the reality of Roman dominance would have affected the lives of our spiritual ancestors.

The feeling of menace at an incomprehensible power. The daily indignities of a foreign army walking your streets. These were the lived realities for Jesus’ disciples - for Matthew’s first readers.

And so here’s the deal. I want you to feel these stories. But I recognize that ancient history can get a bit boring for some of you.

So, from now on, when we read about our spiritual ancestors interacting with the power of the Roman Empire, you have my permission to think about the Galactic Empire.

Feel the menace. Feel the dynamics of violence and might. Feel the thrill of rebellion against the powers that be.

Especially today, as we read a story which is neat to us but would have been astounding to people in the 1st century.

So, get the sound of the Imperial March in your head, grab your Bibles, and turn with me to Matthew 8

While you’re turning there, let me pray for us.

THE CENTURION

Our story for the day begins in the city of Capernaum, on the north side of the Sea of Galilee. This was essentially Jesus’ home base as he traveled around Galilee preaching and healing.

Matthew 8:5-6

When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”

Verse 5 is a perfect example of what I mean when I say that today we know about Rome, but we don’t really feel it.

A Roman officer comes to Jesus pleading for help. We say, “ok.” But Jesus’ disciples and Matthew’s first readers would have been like, “WHAT?!?” This is an astounding moment.

For one thing, in Jesus’ day, Roman influence in Israel was causing all kinds of unrest. There were revolts and rebellions beginning to spring up. And it was mainly because of the heavy taxes that far-off Rome was imposing.

(Imagine moisture farmers on Tatooine having to send 30% of their income off to Coruscant. This was rough! Can you feel the tension? No wonder Luke wanted to join the rebellion!)

Now, there wasn’t yet a full Roman legion stationed in Galilee, but Herod Antipas, who was the client ruler of the region, had a bunch of Roman auxiliary troops at his disposal.

All foreigners. All serving a distant emperor. Soulless stormtroopers demanding tolls on the road and enforcing Roman order. “Move along.” You get the picture.

And so for a Roman military officer to approach Jesus like this - literally he’s called a Centurion - Roman commander of 100 men - For a centurion to be pleading with Jesus… let’s just say everybody’s eyes would have been huge.

How would you have felt? “What does he want?”

The same feelings would have been true for Matthew’s audience. Remember, they lived about 60 years after this moment, in a time when Roman domination was even more extreme.

In 70 AD, in response to a Judean rebellion, the Roman army conquered the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Imagine the shock of that. The horror. Can you feel it? The city of God, Mount Zion, the temple… in ruins.

The Empire loomed large in their world. So the idea of a Roman centurion coming to Jesus like this would have been a jaw-dropping moment for Matthew’s readers at the end of the 1st century just as it was for Jesus’ disciples.

AUTHORITY

Ok, let’s keep reading. The centurion pleads with Jesus to heal his servant,

Matthew 8:7-9

Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

One of the themes that shows up a lot in the gospel of Matthew is that of “authority.” It’s the Greek word

exousia - power, authority, dominion

And Matthew’s objective in using this word is to show that Jesus has true authority. For example,

Matthew 7:29

He taught with real authority - quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

Jesus himself says,

Matthew 9:6

“I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.”

And of course, as we saw on Easter, Matthew’s gospel ends with the resurrected Christ saying this,

Matthew 28:18

I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

Now, for Jesus or Matthew to talk about authority is one thing. But for a centurion to talk about exousia is something else entirely.

In verse 9 he says, “I know you can heal my servant because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers.”

Anyone who has served in the military will tell you that the chain of command is everything. Those above give orders. Those below follow orders.

Well, in the centurion’s case, he is following a chain of command that goes all the way to Caesar himself. In his case Tiberius, the second emperor of Rome.

In fact the word “emperor” comes from the Latin

imperator - victorious general

The emperor is the one with ultimate authority over this centurion. Every Roman soldier made a vow before the gods when he joined the army (called a sacramentum). Here’s what they swore:

“I swear that I shall faithfully execute all that the emperor commands, that I shall never desert the service, and that I shall not seek to avoid death for the Roman republic!” -Roman military vow

So, bottom line, Caesar is this centurion’s commander in chief. He’s made a vow to him. And yet… what does this Roman officer call Jesus? Look at verse 9. He calls him “Lord.” “Master.” He says, “I am not worthy to have you come into my home.”

Again, I want you to feel this moment, like one of Jesus’ disciples or one of Matthew’s first readers. Use Star Wars if you have to. Imagine one of those stuffy British officers in the space Nazi outfit doing this.

This is a Roman centurion submitting himself to the authority of a nobody on the world stage. A servant of the Empire is bowing the knee to a Galilean rabbi.

Are you feeling the shockwaves of this? I’ve said multiple times in this series that the gospel of Matthew is a “kingdom manifesto.” Jesus is constantly upending the values of our world and this moment is a perfect example.

The kingdom of God is upside-down.

The poor are blessed. The first are last. It’s a kingdom where even Roman officers, part of a global empire more powerful than the world has even seen, are submitting to the Lordship of Christ.

So, that is one significant layer to this story. But there is another one.

ALL THE NATIONS

Let’s finish the story.

Matthew 8:10-13

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.

So, the first layer of this story is the fact that a Roman centurion - of all people - is recognizing Jesus’ authority and power. The second layer, though, is the fact that this man of such great faith is a Gentile.

I explained in week 2 of this series that Matthew’s original audience was likely made up of believers in a city like Antioch in Syria trying to navigate an influx of non-Jewish believers into the Church - Gentiles.

There was a big rift among early Christians about what to do with all of them. Could Gentiles just join this Jesus movement? Or did they have to become Jewish first? Get circumcised, follow the law of Moses, eat kosher, etc… It caused all kinds of division and confusion.

Well, one of the things Matthew works very hard to get across in his gospel is the idea that the inclusion of Gentiles into the family of God was not an accident. This has been God’s plan from the very beginning.

For example, he shows us that Jesus’ own genealogy has Gentiles in it. Then Gentile Magi come from the East to bow before him. Jesus goes on to heal the daughter of a Canaanite woman. He casts demons out of two men outside of a Gentile village. And again, the resurrected Jesus sends his disciples out by saying,

Matthew 28:19

Go and make disciples of all the nations...

The word “nations” there is the Greek ethnos, the word normally translated in our Bibles as “Gentiles.”

And so, coming back to this centurion in Matthew’s story: the fact that Jesus recognizes such great faith in him just continues this thread.

Of course a Gentile puts his trust in Jesus, because that’s where the mission of God has always been headed: The transformation and healing not just of Israel, but of the world.

In verse 11, Jesus says, “many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

What feast is he talking about? Well, Jesus is referring here to an Old Testament prophecy by the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 25:3, 6-8

Strong nations will declare your glory; ruthless nations will fear you… In Jerusalem, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world… There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears.

So you see, this Roman centurion is not an outlier. He’s just the first of many Gentiles who will soon join the family of God.

They don’t need to become Jewish first. The fact that they are Gentiles is precisely the point.

In other words, Matthew’s readers? If your church gatherings are starting to look a bit more like the Mos Eisley cantina? With weird cultures and languages and worldviews breaking bread together? Good. It means God’s promises are coming true.

His mission to heal this broken world and rescue all of humanity from the dark powers of violence and injustice has begun. It’s a rebellion, because

In the kingdom of God, everyone is welcome at the table. Even a Roman centurion.

FAITH

So that is the story. Honestly, the fact that Jesus actually heals his servant feels almost beside the point. What Matthew really wants us to see is the shocking and unexpected faith of a man nobody would expect to believe.

So what do we do with this today?

I mean, there are not stormtroopers marching through our streets (Galactic or Roman). And the Church has been made up of mostly Gentiles for two thousand years.

So how does the story speak into our own, modern faith? Our own lives?

Well, I think there are two questions this story raises that are worth considering this week.

First, let’s think again about what it is the Centurion believed was possible.

Remember, he was a man very used to the chain of command. Verse 9. “I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers.”

He believed that someone with as much authority as Jesus could simply speak from a distance and his servant would be healed. He didn’t ask. He didn’t wonder. He just knew.

And as we ultimately see, he was right. So here’s the question.

How much faith do you have in the authority of Christ?

And I don’t just mean authority to heal. I mean authority to actually change our world.

Do you pray with confidence that God can do the impossible? In your life circumstances, in your community, in our nation? Do you have faith in the authority of Jesus, or do you kind of believe in your heart of hearts that things are never really going to change?

I don’t ask this to shame you in any way. I struggle with doubt in my own prayers sometimes. Especially when things are looking grim.

I ask this because I believe the centurion’s faith can be a model - an inspiration even - for our own. A reminder for us to keep this truth from the Apostle Paul in mind:

Ephesians 3:20

All glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Do you expect deep down that God will do less than you ask? Or, like the centurion, do you have confidence that he can do more?

AN OPEN TABLE

The second question is all about the shocking reality that it was a Roman centurion doing the asking here. That it was an imperial officer calling Jesus “Lord.” That it was a Gentile putting his trust in Christ.

Again, when we start to feel the scandal of this moment, like followers of Jesus in the 1st century, we realize that this is no ordinary story. It is a glimpse into the upside-down kingdom of God that began bursting into our broken world through Jesus.

It’s a moment that gives us a hint of just how wide God’s grace and mercy really is. In the kingdom of God, everyone is welcome at the table. So here’s the question:

Is everyone welcome at your table?

In other words, do you make room in your heart - in your life - for those who are not like you? How open-handed would you have been to this Roman centurion?

This has always been a challenge for Christ-followers. We so easily exclude those who make us uncomfortable. In the early Church in Antioch it was Gentiles.

Today it could be any number of attributes. Political views, personality type, socio-economic class, culture, language, disability, race… We find all kinds of reasons to keep “them” (whoever they are) at arm’s length.

Jesus’ disciples knew - they just knew - that the Roman army was the enemy. The disciples naturally tried to avoid them at all costs. And yet Jesus calls out this centurion for having greater faith than any of them.

Matthew 8:10

“I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!”

Jesus wanted them to understand that this centurion belonged at his table.

How open are you to those God wants at his banquet? Are all welcome at your table? Because you never know who the love of Jesus will transform next.

The powers of this world are clinging to hate, violence, and injustice. And they may seem insurmountable. But God’s kingdom upends these values with self-giving love.

I say it’s time to join the rebellion.