Contemplative Bible Reading

Luke 7:2 (New Living Translation)

2 At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death.

Jesus healed the slave of a Roman officer. Jesus then praised the faith of this non-Jew and contrasted it to the lack of faith of so many Jews.

Uh, wait, this was a slave. Maybe there is something in the translation that is lost here. A slave? Surely Jesus would not in the slightest manner endorse slavery by not demanding that the Roman officer be condemned for having a slave or demanding the slave be freed or demanding this or that or whatever Jesus would demand to ensure we know that slavery was wrong.

Again, maybe something has been lost in the translation. Maybe we are not told the entire story of what the Roman officer did later. Maybe this and maybe that and maybe something else.

We are told that Jesus healed the slave of a Roman officer. This is one of those (hi)stories about Jesus where He just didn’t seem to know how to act. A good Jew wouldn’t have anything to do with a an officer of an occupying army. A good Jew wouldn’t have anything to do with slavery. A good Jew wouldn’t (surely we can find some other things a person who knew how to act would or would not do here).

But here we have Jesus relieving suffering first. Other things would come later. Hmmm. Pretty good example for me. Relieve suffering first, now, here. Creating systems to solve the world’s systemic problems can come later.