When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” 

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. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 

And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.” And the servant was healed in that hour.

When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

In Exodus 15:26, God tells his people whom he has brought out of Egypt, “I the Lord am your healer.”   The Gospels depict Jesus as healer. His ministries of deliverance and healing are a major part of his public ministry, along with his ministry of teaching.  

In today’s Gospel, there is Jesus’ healing of the servant of a pagan Roman centurion in Capernaum, a city at the north end of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus has chosen to base his public ministry in Galilee.  There follows his healing of Peter’s mother-in-law in Peter’s house across the street from the synagogue in the same city.  

Then there is a summary statement about the deliverance and healing ministries of Jesus which are said to fulfill a prophecy of Isaiah: ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases’ (Isaiah 53:4).  This verse is found in the fourth and last of the songs of the Servant of God in Isaiah (52:13–53:12). which is the First Reading of the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday.

We ask the Lord Jesus to come to us and give us whatever deliverance and healing we need—in spirit, mind, heart, or body; in our relationships with God, ourselves, other people, and the rest of creation; and our thoughts, words, and deeds. Thus, we will know more fully his love.

And we ask him to make us instruments of deliverance and healing for others, just as he shared these ministries of his with his Apostles and disciples.

—Fr. Bob Hagan, SJ, is a member of a community of senior Jesuits at Saint Ignatius Hall in Black Jack, Missouri. He does limited spiritual direction, mostly online; gives sacramental care to the lay Catholics at the adjacent retirement community; writes occasional reflections for Jesuit Prayer; posts various daily items and a longer weekly reflection on the Sunday Mass readings on his Facebook site at Bob Hagan SJ; and drives fellow Jesuits who no longer drive wherever they want to go.

Lord Jesus, I pray now as we pray before receiving you in Holy Communion at Mass: “Lord, I am not worthy, that you should come under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul will be healed.”

—Fr. Bob Hagan, SJ