“Christ and the Centurion”, a work by Francisco Caro from the Prado Museum and painted in the second third of the 17th century, is one of the representations of this well-known episode of the Gospel, still the subject of debate. National Museum of the Prado
For centuries, theological debates have often targeted a word, a nuance, a philological doubt, which, reinforced by the religious perspective, can assume extraordinary proportions. One of the most common episodes refers to an episode in the life of Jesus recounted in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. It's a well-known story: In the usual translation, when Jesus is in Capernaum, he receives a request from a Roman centurion who asks him to perform a miracle to heal his seriously ill “servant.” When Jesus goes into his house, the centurion comes out and tells him that it is not necessary for him to enter his house because he is considered unclean, but that he knows that he can only work the miracle with his word. When the centurion returns to his residence, he actually finds the sick man healed immediately. It is an episode so popular that millions of believers recite a variation of his words at the Catholic Eucharist before communion: “I am not worthy of you entering my house, but one word from you will be enough to make me to heal.” The story, which Matthew and Luke tell in a similar way, offers several interpretations. In general, it is used not only to confirm the miraculous ability of Jesus, but also as an image to illustrate the strength of faith capable of desiring that the miracle of healing be performed at a distance and only with words . This is what leads Jesus to say, “Not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” With these words the episode ends.
The most advanced version so far. However, for years there have been occasional controversies between different areas of the church, which have come at the expense of a philological debate. Was the sick man really a “servant” of the captain? Several theologians and Bible experts have warned that the Greek term “pais,” which appears for him in the text of Matthew's Gospel, in the military language of the time refers not to a simple servant – “doulos,” as Luke uses it – but to someone who establishes an emotional and sexual relationship with his master. A lover or a homosexual couple, although not on equal terms, given the social differences between the two. If so, this story would be the only direct allusion to the phenomenon of homosexuality in the Gospel, although most translations have omitted this interpretation and opted for “son” (which is doubtful since centurions were forbidden from having offspring) . and family) or simply “servant” (but “very dear to this one,” according to Luke's words, which suggest a relationship beyond servitude).
The relationship between the centurion and his servant is not based on an eccentric interpretation, but on a widespread one. It is normal to find it in books and articles that deal with Catholicism from the LGBTI perspective. There is even an Argentine Catholic LGTBI association whose name, El Centurión, refers to this reading. This year, his reach has expanded beyond those circles. The book Gospel 2023, the guide to biblical readings according to the liturgical calendar published annually by the San Pablo publishing house, one of the oldest and most respected in the Catholic publishing scene, takes up this interpretation in the commentaries that accompany this fragment the reading from the Gospel from the first Monday of Advent. The person responsible for the comments, the Spanish Framework, has clearly advocated the integration of the LGTBI community into the Church. His interpretation of the verses of the Gospel of Matthew is consistent with this idea. According to the commentary he wrote, the Centurion is “a hard man, a professional in war, a wounded man because his servant/lover is sick; Man hated by many Jewish nationalists and despised by other, more legalistic supporters because of his possible homosexual behavior. To come as he comes, he had to “overcome” (give up) his military pride and his alleged sexual humiliation and beg Jesus for help.” In other cases, says Pikaza, Jesus dares to break through the invisible barrier that prevented him from approaching the lepers, “here he soothes the soldier's pain with 'irregular' behavior and shows himself ready to enter his barracks house even if it is unclean.” He does not demonize him or cast him out, but heals him so that he can heal his servant/beloved.”
The 2023 Liturgical Guide was not the first time that Pikaza had approached this episode. In an article published in 2015 on his blog on the specialized portal Digital Religion, he carefully analyzed the impact of this fragment, an old controversy that, despite everything, remains an open wound in certain areas of the Church. On December 18, the pope made an unprecedented decision by approving blessings for gay couples, which, while far from being equated with marriage – and the Vatican is being restrictive here – represents an evolution and openness compared to the previous position . Church official who claimed he “cannot bless sin.” However, weeks before the announcement, after the inclusion of Pikaza's comment in the reading guide became known, certain circles on social networks called for a boycott of the publisher San Pablo y Paulinas because of this space for, in their opinion, heretical interpretations (“outrageous heresy”) ) allows. ranks it as one of the most combative in the New Testament. The reaction from Pikaza's circle came in the form of an article defending the theologian's academic and intellectual work against the arguments of his critics and denouncing the campaign launched by conservative media.
The mysterious Centurion, a figure whose name we do not even know with certainty, once again raises a lively and as yet unresolved debate. They may seem like Byzantine discussions, but they are part of the phenomenon described by Frédéric Martel in his influential research Sodom, according to which all allusions to homosexuality are violently attacked within the Catholic Church in order to deny and hide the secular presence. of homosexuality in their own power structures. However, in recent years, various voices, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world, have called for the need to build bridges between the Catholic Church and the LGTBI community. In his 2015 article, Pikaza cited theologians such as Halvor Moxnes and John Boswell, who in two influential books (Resemblance Weddings and Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality) examined the acceptance of homosexual relationships and unions in the 1990s, before the 14th century . In our time, the theologian James Alison, author of the seminal book “A Faith Beyond Resentment” (2003, translated into Spanish by Herder Publishing), has defended the possibility of reading the Bible in a gay tone, recalling a detail that is often forgotten: that what does not appear in the Gospels is a direct condemnation of Jesus against LGBTI people, who have been the subject of persecution, punishment and mistreatment by the Church for centuries.
Another advocate of openness is the American Jesuit James Martin, who is close to Pope Francis and wrote his essay “Building a Bridge” on the subject. How the Catholic Church and the LGTBI community can build a relationship of respect, compassion and sensitivity has become a minor bestseller. The translation into Spanish by Messenger, published in Harper Collins in 2018, is now in its third edition. In this book the Centurion appears strangely, not as a homosexual, but as a symbol and almost a parable. “I've heard this interpretation and it's very interesting that the centurion, at least in Matthew, does not use the word doulos, which is almost always used in the gospels to define 'servant' or 'slave,'” Martin tells ICON . “As Xabier Pikaza points out, the term pais is used, which means boy or young man. Of course the centurion must have felt great affection for his servant; otherwise he would not have asked Jesus to heal him. But were they two lovers? Is this why the centurion is saying that he is not “worthy” of Jesus entering his house, as was claimed? “I'm not a Greek expert, but most New Testament scholars say this interpretation is unproven.” Despite his reluctance to accept this reading, Martin, director of the Catholic portal LGTBI Outreach, suggests a narrow interpretation. “But even if pais just meant 'servant,' this story shows Jesus addressing someone completely outside the Jewish context. In other words, the centurion was probably not a monotheist and certainly not a Jew. But instead of driving him away by calling him a “heathen” or a “sinner,” Jesus treats him with great respect, praises his faith, and gives him a great gift. “It is an early example of how Jesus treats marginalized people and therefore, whatever the country means, it shows how we should treat anyone we consider to be 'the other', including LGBTI people.”
The church's gesture of openness towards LGBTI couples suggests that part of the Vatican thinks like Martin. In a church plagued by infighting and conflicting theological currents, cornered by the sexual abuse scandal and its own contradictions, something as simple as a story repeated a thousand times can trigger an entire media storm. The nameless centurion – although there are people who call him Gaius from another source – who came to Jesus to heal the man he loved (his servant, his lover, or his partner), was there from the beginning, in a gospel in which there was no explicit condemnation of sexual diversity by Jesus. Something that much of the church has taken for granted for centuries.
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