Once again, we’ve made it through another liturgical year to the beautiful season of Advent. Advent is the season in which we prepare to celebrate the first coming of Christ into the world on Christmas. But Advent is also a time in which we look forward to the coming of Christ again, as he promised, when the world as we know it will pass away and Christ will come to judge the living and the dead.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus proclaims the kingdom of heaven. It’s not a physical place, but a place where God’s love, peace, justice, mercy, and forgiveness reign forever. Jesus’ miraculous cures and feedings, parables and teachings are all signs of the kingdom. In the three years of Jesus’ public ministry, he is often surprised when his proclamation of the kingdom is rejected by the religious leaders of his day. You would expect them to be the ones most receptive to Jesus’ ministry! At the same time, Jesus’ message was embraced by those considered public sinners: the outcasts, the unclean, prostitutes, tax collectors, and Gentiles.
In today’s Gospel, we encounter one such person: a centurion who humbly asks Jesus to cure his servant. The man is not Jewish. Furthermore, he’s a Roman soldier, a member of the army which occupies Palestine. When the centurion makes his request of Jesus, note that Jesus does not hesitate to go to his house to cure the servant. No one is excluded from God’s love and mercy. Then the centurion professes his faith in words so incredible that we repeat them every time we receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. When Jesus hears these words, he is amazed!
After hearing the centurion’s words, Jesus proclaims that many will come from the East and the West to join the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven. The banquet is open to all, regardless of race, language, or nationality. This Advent, we pray that each of us will be admitted to that great heavenly banquet, attended by the saints and angels in the presence of God for all eternity. As Jesus was amazed at the faith of the centurion, may we too be amazed at the faith of all who sit at the table in the heavenly banquet.