{"id":18603,"date":"2022-01-25T06:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T06:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-tuesday-25th-january-2022"},"modified":"2022-01-25T06:15:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T06:15:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-tuesday-25th-january-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-tuesday-25th-january-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion Tuesday 25th\u00a0 January 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

St Luke 7: 1 – 10<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.  A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. <\/p>\n

When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, \u2018He is worthy of having you do this for him,  for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.\u2019  And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, \u2018Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof;  therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.  For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, \u201cGo\u201d, and he goes, and to another, \u201cCome\u201d, and he comes, and to my slave, \u201cDo this\u201d, and the slave does it.\u2019  When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, \u2018I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.\u2019  When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n

This passage troubles me as it\u2019s not clear in the Greek who the sick person is for the Centurion.  The Greek text doesn\u2019t use the word for \u201cslave\u201d but the word \u201cboy\u201d.  This latter term might have meant slave, probably didn\u2019t mean son, but might have meant a younger same sex lover – a type of relationship we\u2019d now recoil from and report to the authorities.  The Romans had very different sexual mores than we do – same sex love between women was utterly despised, yet sexual relationships between men were accepted if there was a power or social imbalance.   A Roman citizen might have relations with his wife, his slaves or prostitutes (of either sex), or with young males before they were deemed to be adults.<\/p>\n

If the Centurion was asking Jesus to heal his younger lover this passage is all the more remarkable than if he was asking for a slave to be healed – but still troubling to modern sensibilities.  If the boy was a slave shouldn\u2019t Jesus have told the Centurion to free him and ensure he was enabled to make an independent living?  If he was a same sex lover, albeit in a pattern which was common in the ancient world,  then Jesus is remarkable for not telling the Centurion off but for praising his faith to the crowd.  <\/p>\n

This passage is troubling as: <\/p>\n