One of the biggest problems people have with Christianity? When it becomes an aesthetic.
When the people who are supposedly real Christians (whatever that means) are more concerned with looking like they live their Faith (what they wear, what they do, where they live, how they vote) than actually living their Faith.
It’s not just that their aesthetic, their image of what a Christian should be that keeps them from doing things that Jesus directly tells us to do. You won’t bump into these folks when you’re feeding the hungry or visiting people in hospitals (see Matthew 25 for details). That’s bad enough.
It’s that they use their image of what a Christian should be to gatekeep the Faith. To keep people away. Because they don’t fit the aesthetic.
Which is why things like today’s Gospel (where Jesus heals the centurion’s servant) need to be heard. Over and over. Until we get it.
This isn’t just another Jesus-heals-somebody story.
Think about who the centurion is for a moment. The centurion isn’t just a foreigner, an outsider, a non-believer, a not one-of-us.
The centurion is an officer in the Roman army. The foreign power that’s occupying Jesus’ home. If the order is given to burn down a synagogue or to arrest some Jews (or worse), this is the guy who makes sure that it happens.
This is as not-one-of-us as it gets.
Jesus has every reason not to help this guy. And yet this is exactly who Jesus helps.
Jesus helps the wrong people.
Think about what that says for a minute. Because this isn’t the only time it happens.
Jesus helps the father who doubts He can help (Matthew 17). And the extortionist who sells out to Rome (Matthew 25). And the enemy solider. And on. And on.
Jesus helps the wrong people.
Something to keep in mind whenever we use our image of what a Christian should be to gatekeep the Faith. Whenever we push people away, because they don’t fit the aesthetic.