under orders

I’m reading this morning about Jesus’ encounter with the centurion. Here it is, from Matthew 8:5-13:

“When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Shall I come and heal him?’ The centurion replied, ‘Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, “Go,” and he goes; and that one, “Come,” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it.’”

“When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 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.’

“Then Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.’ And his servant was healed at that moment.”

I remember when I too was a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I remember the weight that orders had. Not following orders wasn’t just a bad idea. It wasn’t just a relational problem with your superiors, or a threat to your job. It was criminal. It was a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, punishable by anything from loss of pay or rank to imprisonment. That’s the context I always have for this passage: Jesus’s complete control of the situation, understood by a man given complete control of his unit.

This morning, though, I’m haunted by another thing. I’m still under authority - Jesus’ authority - and I have my orders. “These commands I give you,” Jesus said, and then he gave orders like care for the widow and orphan, spread the good news, be holy as I am holy. Stuff like that.

I wonder how I, as a former military man, can regard these orders so casually. Oh, I’m not ignoring them (well, some days I might be). But I’m taking my sweet time on them. I’m working on them when I’m not busy with other things.

I wonder how my life would change if I obeyed Jesus with the same focus and urgency as I used to obey military orders. A lot, I bet.