In Matthew 8:5-13, a centurion approaches Jesus to ask for his servant to be healed. Two things strike us about this. One, the centurion simply approaches Jesus. This story appears among a cluster of other stories in which Jesus touches diseased, unclean, demon-possessed people. All these people, the Gentile centurion included, would have aroused an "ick" from the Israelites of that day. But as we've seen in the post on 'cleaning,' Jesus lives by Spirit in the flesh, and spreads health to the sick bodies.
Many societies with caste systems have had a social bottom rung. Often they are called untouchables. What led to Israel having this caste system? Not the Bible itself! Marilynne Robinson writes:
"The provisions for the poor which structure both land ownership and the sacred calendar in ancient Israel, the rights of gleaners and of those widows, orphans, and strangers who pass through the fields, and the cycles of freedom from debt and restoration of alienated persons and property, all work against the emergence of the poor as a class, as people marked by deprivation and hopelessness." (When I Was a Child, 77)
This echoes what we've seen, that Torah (levitical law) was not a means of separation from God chiefly, but was a way for people of flesh and under the power of death to have real access to Eden again. Robinson's quote helps us to see the true liberality of Torah to "work against the emergence of the poor as a class."
Torah is not opposed to the promise of Abraham, but rather is part of carrying it out. It is part of God's larger program of putting flesh to death. In this way, Israel would be the carrier of blessing to the Gentiles. Gentiles were only a problem if Israel lost her moors and became like the Gentiles. But as long as Israel followed her charter, the blessings flowed. Peter Leithart writes:
"Yahweh's life, blessing and gifts were available in the sanctuary, and he drew near to Israel to distribute those gifts, not only to Israel but also through them to the world. He gave his oracles to Israel so that Israel may become a light to the nations and a teacher of the wise. While Israel alone was the priestly people, the caretaker of Yahweh's house, Israel cared for the house on behalf of the nations. At the Feast of Booths, she offered seventy bulls for the seventy nations, and so offered up the world to the Creator." (Delivered, 103)
Leithart maintains that "in Torah, a Gentile is no more defiling than an Israelite." (103) No caste system. No untouchables. In fact, when Israel becomes like the Gentiles, when they start to boast in the flesh that God is at war against, when they live like Gentiles and set up hierarchies and caste systems, God turns to the Gentiles. And Israel has indeed become like the Gentiles in Jesus' day. They're not fulfilling their mission, causing what we earlier called a 'traffic jam' that is keeping blessing from reaching the nations. Jesus comes as a new Israel, the 'seed' of Abraham who fulfill this vocation. (Gal. 3:16) When Jesus acts like a true temple, bringing healing to lepers, demoniacs and Gentiles like our centurion, they oppose him more and more.
The second thing that strikes us about the centurion is his faith. He recognizes, as other Israelites don't, that Israel's prophets have healed, but never like this. Where others like Elijah and Elisha have called upon God to heal, they never healed simply by their own authority, as Jesus does. The centurion identifies this. Jesus is impressed and it inspires him to speak of things still to come:
"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. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 8:11-12)
Jesus is speaking about Pentecost and also about the ultimate destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. God will come at Pentecost and through his Spirit will make a temple of all nations in Jesus' followers. This will fulfill the promise to Abraham that the nations will be blessed in his 'seed,' Jesus.
The Gentiles who were far from God are brought near. In Jesus' healing of the centurion's servant, they are brought so near that Jesus' word of healing leaps across the city blocks of Capernaum. The curse of Babel is not yet overcome. The promise to Abraham not yet fulfilled. The world is yet to be brought fully into God's fold. But here we see Jesus extending his welcome and fellowship to the world. In Jesus, God has crossed over from the holy of holies, passed through the outer holy place, ventured beyond the courtyard into fellowship with the Gentiles. The ladder between heaven and earth is here. All that was promised to Abraham is coming to pass.
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