Mathew chapter 8 continues ....2

Mathew 8:5-13

The second person Jesus met with after the leper was a centurion, a man of much authority, a military leader. He could motivate and mobilize platoons by his authority. But when it comes to the case of  health or mental welfare he was helpless. Authoritarian can exercise his authority on his subjects and can exploit them but often cannot maintain and mend their welfare. That need concern, kindness and compassion towards other people. Authoritarianism doesn't  posses these spiritual qualities. Jesus has authority but it over spirit. He can motivate, mobilize and rejuvenate spirit. One cannot be a spiritual enlightener, leader,  until and unless he/she can motivate and rejuvenate spirit. But most of the time we see so called spiritual  as well as social leaders crush soul and spirit and make people passive, paralysed, painful and diseased as they exercise authority over people like this centurion. 'How the soul is so the man is'. This centurion understood he cannot heal anyone who suffer, with his authority and power. So he visited Jesus and begged him to heal his servant.  Why? He mentions why he came to Jesus to heal his servant. He has authority so if he says someone to go, he goes and to say do this he does that but he cannot command disease to move, or he cannot command a diseased soul, only a healthy body. But Jesus was not for healthy, but for diseased and sinful.  

Jesus agreed to accompany him and heal the servant but centurion was not ready to take Jesus home. he said," Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof". Why it is so? The centurion was under the roof of a political system where law and regulations in force to mobilize and activate society, but no righteousness prevailed. Where there is righteousness there no need of a government, law and regulations. Where righteousness dies there rise up a government and its laws and regulations to control unrighteousness.  In nutshell, we can say government's foundation is an unrighteous human society. That's why centurion prevent Jesus from coming to 'under his roof', the roof of authority , the roof of law and regulations, the roof of polity. Jesus amazed in the discriminative power of this centurion and he said,   "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

What does it mean? It means that this discriminative power to understand, to distinguish between the kingdom of God and kingdom of polity is an inevitable one to follow Jesus, or there begins real faith. As soon as this centurion made out this difference in his conviction his servant cured. If we cannot make out this difference in its full depth, we cannot be spiritual . We are not in line with real faith.

Mathew, chapter 8:1-4

Mathew 8: 1-4

By the chapter seven, as I mentioned earlier, the sermon on mountain finished. In chapter eight Jesus comes down to the ground reality from sermon on mountain. Verse one in this chapter indicates so. There he sees diseased people. All the diseased lack one thing, mercy . That valley, where Jesus came down to, was like a grave yard, all were dead bodies, because of lack of mercy,  love and other positive emotions and their involvements, lack of spirit, but law and authority. The first person he met with in the valley was a leper, one socially rejected and untouchable. As soon as the leper saw Jesus, he begged to heal him. Jesus touched him and healed. Touching a leper is a very rare deed in those days, need much immeasurable mercy and love. That kind of mercy and love provided the leper with immeasurable immunity against such a terrible disease and thereby he survived. Emotions divine such as love, compassion, mercy, kindness etc. among people strengthen themselves, immunize themselves and help themselves to survive many obstacles. Otherwise, God works among people  through  such divine emotions or God is such divine emotions. Emotional welfare is not luxury but essential for social welfare. Without this welfare nobody can bring any other kind of welfare to society. Otherwise all other kind of welfare such as financial and health are basically depend on this primary welfare , the emotional welfare or spiritual welfare.  But, think about the state, if it is hatred, envy, jealousy etc. in place of them. No welfare is effective or possible, that is happening today in our world. 

No religion or religious work can bring such a welfare in to human society, don't misunderstand. That's why Jesus told the healed man to show himself to the priest and to offer the gifts Moses commanded as a testimony. Means, to convince priestly hood that God works outside such religious frame work and fabric, God doesn't work only under priestly hood and religion but priestly hood under God. God works independentely .