Fr. Dimitrios Bokos: Servant and Master
By Fr. Dimitrios Bokos
The servant of a Roman centurion fell gravely ill. The centurion, although a pagan, had recourse to Christ. He was favourably disposed towards the religion of the Jews; he was rather oriented towards the search for the one true God. It seems that, because of this inclination of his, he followed and knew the things concerning Christ, which created within him the conditions for a true relationship with Him. And Christ testified about him, indirectly, that he is a partaker and a child of the Kingdom of God (Fourth Sunday of Matthew).
The true relationship with God always passes through the relationship with one's fellow human being. And the centurion showed that he had reached the correct relationship with his fellow human being. He loved his servant. In an age when servants had no human status in law, when they were counted among things, among the possessions of their masters, the centurion gave worth to his servant. He did not consider him a thing, which one may do with as one pleases without owing an account to anyone. He considered him his equal. To him he was a beloved, precious human being.
The centurion reached a relationship of love with his servant, which is the highest thing sought among human beings. The servant was obedient to his master. "I say to my servant, do this, and he does it," the centurion confesses. The servant faithfully carried out the commands of his master. But not out of fear. Not out of self-interest, in order to obtain a reward. Not moved by some need. Not acting against his will. Not regarding their execution as a chore. Not carrying them out with distaste, with aversion, hating what he does. Not in order to purchase the favour of his master. Nothing of all this.
The servant obeyed, kept and carried out the commands out of pleasure, out of pure love for his master. So as to be always united in a relationship of love with him. He was not a labourer of fear or of wages, but of love.
A relationship of love is what God asks of us too. He loves us and has shown in deed that He does not want to love us secretly. And He became man in order to give us "the experience of the greatest love," to show Himself "loving with the utmost love," that He is seized by the most vehement love for us (St. Nicholas Cabasilas, On the Life in Christ, Discourse 6, PG 150, 645B).
A corresponding love He also expects from us, through the faithful keeping of His commandments. Not for a self-interested transaction with Him, not in order to pay off some debt towards Him, or to appease Him. But so that our nature may be re-fashioned, healed of sin, and be able to be united with Him in a union of absolute love. His commandments are our saving medicines, a means of restoration to health, the highest proof of our love for Him, a sure guide to deification.
Accustomed to the Western legal way of thinking, we usually conceive of our relationship with God upon the polarity of master and servant.
But this stands very far from the truth.
God desires with us a relationship of father towards children, a relationship of deep loving union, in a spirit of supreme loving ecstasy.
