Homily by Fr. Vasyl Motrichenko on the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

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.” (Matthew 8:5).

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we read a passage from Sacred Scripture about the healing of the servant of the centurion of Capernaum. The centurion was deeply concerned and distressed about the health of one of his servants and believed that Jesus could help him. When he heard Christ’s words, “I will come and heal him,” he once again affirmed and professed his faith.

The Evangelist Luke, when describing this encounter between the centurion and Christ, draws attention twice to the fact that the centurion addresses Jesus as Lord. In doing so, he acknowledges His divinity and believes that merely by speaking a word, Christ can help him and heal the sick servant who is suffering greatly. As we can see, the centurion’s faith was truly great because he understood well that miracles take place through the word of Christ alone. Therefore, the word of the Lord possesses great significance and power.

If we look at the books of the Old Testament, we see that the world came into being through the word of the Lord. By His word, God created the human person as the crowning work of creation and entrusted all that He had made into human hands. And God said: “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26–28).

By His word, God also gave the Law, the Decalogue, to Moses on Mount Sinai for the good of humanity: “Then God spoke all these words, saying” (Exodus 20:1). And in the New Testament, in the Gospel according to John, we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, from the context of these readings we can see that this divine Word is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world for the salvation of the human race. The Word of which we hear in the Gospel is nothing other than the coming of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, to us.

As the Lord made His way to the centurion’s house and spoke His word, He did not merely enter a person’s life; He transformed that person from within and restored him to his original state, to a healthy life. He not only restored health to His creature but healed him completely, granting him the fullness of life.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, may our faith also be filled with the light of God’s presence throughout our entire lives. What happened today in the life of the centurion of Capernaum and his servant can also happen in our lives, but faith is required. It must be a faith like that possessed by this distinguished man. Having come to know Jesus and having experienced Him in his own life, he witnessed a great miracle: through the word of Christ, his servant was healed. Today Christ, present in the Most Holy Eucharist, continues to work miracles for us in a special way. He has not abandoned us; He has not left us alone. Rather, He remains constantly with us under the appearances of bread and wine. Yet in order to recognise and comprehend this reality, faith is needed—sincere faith and a pure heart, such as the centurion possessed.

“And Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.’ And the servant was healed that very hour.”

See also

March 28 Homily by Fr. Vasyl Motrichenko on Palm Sunday November 29 Homily by Fr. Vasyl Motrichenko on the Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost November 27 Representatives of the Melbourne Eparchy Meet with Diplomats from Latin America in Canberra