Allowing the Lord In
- Lauren
- Jan 22
- 4 min read
“And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, ‘Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.’” - Luke 7:6-7
Scripture is full of amazing examples of putting trust in the Lord.
In my own faith tradition, I believe there is also great healing found in the heart of the Catholic mass: the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
In the Order of Mass, in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, Catholics utter the words: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” These words are said right before the congregation goes forward to receive the Holy Eucharist. This powerful statement of intent, based in scripture from the Gospel of Luke, contains incredible words of trust in the Lord.
Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof
In the first part of this response, it is acknowledged that we are not worthy to receive Christ into our hearts. This acknowledgment of unworthiness is a recognition of emotional, spiritual, mental or physical weakness. There are many situations that can make us feel unworthy to receive Christ. And the Enemy wants us to get hung up on these feelings and mistakes we have made. But the mass encourages us to give these feelings over to Christ.
In the scripture that this statement is based on from the Gospel of Luke, a powerful story is told about a man’s boldness to ask for help. The story goes that a Centurion requested that Jesus come to his house so that he could heal his slave. Jesus answered the request and went to the Centurion’s home. Yet, before he got to the home, “. . . the centurion sent friends to say to him, ‘Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore, I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word and let my servant be healed’ (Luke 7:6-7).
As it is said in the verse, the Centurion did not actually approach Jesus personally; rather, “when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave” (Luke 7:3). And what is interesting is when the elders talked to Jesus about the Centurion’s request, they said, “. . . ‘He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us’” (Luke 7:4-5).
Does this sound familiar to you? The person seeking help says they are unworthy, but others affirm that this person is indeed very worthy. The Centurion felt so unworthy, that he did not even want to approach Christ personally.
Yet, Christ calls us to approach Him personally. In my own Catholic tradition, the Eucharist is a personal experience with Jesus Christ. When I say in the mass, “Lord, I am not worthy”, I acknowledge first before approaching Christ in the Eucharist that I am a sinner. God knows this about me, but it is important that I acknowledge it. And God wants me to approach Him personally.
Freedom in Christ
Like the Centurion in Luke 7, it is important to recognize our unworthiness of receiving Christ into our lives. But, the gift is that this unworthiness does not prevent the Lord from uniting Himself with us. He knows our faults, sins, and struggles, but He chooses again and again to love us. All we must do is choose Him too.
We can be confident that it is safe to let the Lord into our lives. It is safe to allow Him to forgive us, even when we struggle to forgive ourselves. Scripture provides us with many stories of how those who went before us went through the same struggles as us. Even thought the Jewish elders (and probably others too) could see the Centurion’s worthiness, he himself could not see it. And he let it prevent him from going personally to Jesus to ask for help. I think this is incredibly true for us too. We sometimes are so blinded by our own hurt, we are unable to see that we are still truly worthy to approach and receive the Lord.
Put your trust in the Lord today. He assures us in scripture to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
In Christ,
Lauren
All scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible
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