Authority: The Roman Centurion

 I'm a teacher. I spend most of my day with 12-16 year old young people... trying to teach them, inspire them, guide them... Most of the day, I have the authority. I get to tell people what to do. I get to set the rules and dole out the discipline (positive and negative). I look the part. I have the big desk. I stand at the front. But one of the most amazing thing I've learned from teaching is that authority isn't just having the big desk or having a different dress code. Having authority is about responsibility and faith more than maybe anything else.

In this amazing story, Jesus pops into Capernum and immediately encounters a Roman Centurion. I tried to find a good picture online, but most of them look like this, and are a bit laughable. I think it would be something like walking into town and having a member of the SWAT team run up to you with a stun gun or something. So, this man's servant is dying and he asks Jesus to come heal him. And when Jesus agrees, the Centurion says something remarkable...

Matthew 8: 8-10: The centurion answered, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, “Go”, and he goes, and to another, “Come”, and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this”, and the slave does it.’ When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith."

The Centurion took responsibility for his servant. This servant was probably the only family he really had. We've all (hopefully) seen Gladiator. Maximus had his faithful servant who went to war with him. His wife and son were in Spain, waiting for the Roman wars to be over, but on the road, and at home, his servant went with him everywhere and was his entire life. His servant would tend him if he were wounded, clean his clothes, take messages for him, give him advice... his servant may be the only family he had if he weren't married.

Centurions, as their name implies, were commanders of 100 men. They were responsible for training, for welfare, for the rations men got in war, of who got medical attention. Centurions were responsible for the lives of their men. If something didn't happen, or did happen, or both, the men AND he would be punished, since he was their leader. There were no fingers to point elsewhere. There were no accidents. It was his responsibility.

Still, he says he is "under authority," as though it's something he both has and is subject to. He has to keep his men in line because of the officer he works under, and ultimately the Emperor and the gods. The Centurion saw in Jesus that he had heavenly authority over illness and disease. He saw that Jesus could make anything on earth his footstool. His authority recognized Jesus' authority.

(In our day today, I think we find it very difficult to recognize true authority. We seem to equate it with popularity or sometimes prowess, but true authority seems very different than this to me. Our society questions authority, which is not bad, but it questions it without seeing it. It questions it blindly, dismissing it, much to our own disadvantage.)

So how does faith factor into it all?

The Centurion has faith in his men... in my mind, this is one of the biggest factors of owning your authority. Believing his men could complete an order once given was part of the force that make it happen. There is something about the confidence and the essence of a person who trusts that their orders will be followed. They may ask nicely, but everyone knows it is a command, and everyone knows it must be obeyed. From orders as small as opening a window to completing homework to relaying secret messages and attacking enemies in battle, the momentum of our conviction of our wards, our men, our students, whomever... that momentum propels obedience forward.

My students are fairly fragile when it comes to confidence.... isn't it the case with teenagers much of the time? Sometimes they don't believe they can learn iambic pentameter or how to understand the abstract motifs in texts, I have the faith for them. I believe that they can learn. I believe they will learn, if only they keep working at it.

This confidence, this faith and responsibility held in balance synergizes to make an entirely different kind of energy in people... an authority which people can feel. When used properly, this authority helps people feel safe, but it also inspires people to be better, to work harder, to follow orders appropriately.

Jesus' authority, of course, is divine. Everything is under his feet. Everything is subject to him as the King of the Universe. The thing is that the Centurion could see this. He believed it, he believed in Jesus' authority as much as his own.

It may sound very 90's motivational-speech-ish, but how little do we believe in ourselves, or in what Jesus can do? In the midst of our trials and triumphs, is He the King who's making the world his footstool? Are we claiming the authority Jesus has given us as co-heirs in Christ? Do we own Jesus' authority and ours? Or do we complain and bitch, but do nothing? Or do we sit passively when we could be victors? Or do we try to make it on our own (very limited) steam?

I don't think I've adequately covered everything that can be said about authority, or how it can be used to everyone's disadvantage... but I think I've grasped onto a glimpse of what Jesus' authority could mean for  our lives, or our own empowerment, for our community, for our world.