Proper 4, Year C,
2016
1 Kings 18; Ps 96; Gal
1:1-12; Luke 7:1-10
Rev. Adam T. Trambley
May 29, 2016, St.John’s Sharon
In the gospel this morning, we find Jesus healing from a
distance the slave of a centurion. As
the story unfolds, we see examples of a number of approaches to God, all of
which receive a response from Jesus. Yet
we also see the most powerful and important one, a faithful recognition of
Jesus’ power and authority over everything that we might encounter, including
ourselves.
Jesus has just finished his “Sermon on the Plain,” which in
Luke’s gospel describes a great teaching event of Jesus that parallels much of
Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. We
shouldn’t be surprised that this important material was shared by Jesus on more
than one occasion in different locations. Jesus now returns to Capernaum, which
is his “home base” in Galilee. This area on the north shore of the Sea of
Galilee, like all of Palestine, was under Roman rule at the time of Jesus.
The gospel says there was a centurion there with a slave
whom he valued that was very ill. A
centurion was a high ranking Roman officer that would have been traditionally
in charge of a 100 soldiers. Centurions
were some of the highest ranking Roman military in their areas and were charged
with keeping the peace. The more
enlightened centurions would use their connections and resources to be civic
leaders in ways that endeared them and the Romans to the native people. In Jewish communities, some of them were true
God-fearers who worshipped the God of Abraham but never officially converted,
while others basically bought influence with focused philanthropy.
Centurions also had slaves, but Roman slavery was not the
same as later American slavery. A
household or professional slave could become a trusted friend and important
piece of centurion’s life in a foreign land, so the slave’s serious illness
could have been very troubling for the centurion.
The Centurion hears that Jesus, this miraculous healer, is
in town, and his first approach to Jesus is through the local Jewish
officials. They come and tell Jesus how
worthy the Centurion is to be healed. He
is a good man who helps them and loves them so much that he even built their
synagogue. This message probably came
with more than a little bit of self-interest on the part of the Jewish elders,
since if they could get the Centurion’s favorite slave healed by Jesus, they
could probably leverage that for favors later.
Then the gospel states, simply, “And Jesus went with them.”
When Jesus is a short distance from the Centurion’s house,
some of the Centurion’s friends come with another message and that message has
two parts. The first part is their
message to Jesus to stop because, “I am not worthy to have you come under my
roof.” We can assume that there is a
true humility here on the Centurion’s part.
He probably does feel unworthy to receive this holy man having done
whatever manner of things he would have had to do to rise through the ranks to
become a Roman Centurion. At the same
time, he is also probably savvy enough to know that if Jesus actually comes
into his house, there will be all manner of trouble for Jesus, and maybe for
others. At that time, a Jewish person
couldn’t go into a Roman house without suffering religious and social
consequences. Now it is more than a
little ironic that a Jewish person couldn’t to the home of the guy who paid to
have their synagogue built, but that was the way things were. By saying he was unworthy, the Centurion not
only expressed his feelings, but he also gave Jesus a safe out.
Of course, the Centurion still wanted his slave healed, and
he followed up the confession of his own unworthiness with, “But only speak the
word, and let my servant be healed.”
Then he goes on to explain that he is under authority and he has people under
him who do what he tells them. While the
Centurion doesn’t spell it out, what he is also saying is that he recognizes
Jesus authority over his slave’s illness, and maybe his slave’s life, and
probably over a whole lot of other things, as well. The Centurion is saying who Jesus is – even
if he doesn’t use words like Messiah or Son of God. Jesus recognizes what the Centurion is
saying, too. Jesus is amazed and says,
“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” The Centurion’s friends return home and find
that the slave is in good health.
These three approaches to Jesus parallel the approaches we often
take to God.
The first approach is the “Look, I’ve been very good and am
worthy to have you help me, God” approach.
We may not come out and say we’ve built the synagogue, but people often
have some expectation that God helps people who have been good or who are
involved in church. People fall back to
whatever they think they have done that might “put in a good word” or even
anything they can draw from family or other connections, trusting that such works
can be used to merit the assistance of God or his people.
The flip side of this approach is the bargain with God. “I’m not worthy now,” we pray, “but if you do
this for me, I’ll do whatever you want” usually followed by some particular
promise. Now we know that we can’t
really merit God’s love. It is freely
given, and God’s care for us is not dependent on what we have or haven’t
done. Yet, at the same time, we see
Jesus willing to respond to this approach.
The Jewish elders say that the Centurion is worthy, and Jesus comes with
them. He may have come with them with a
slight smile – he loves the Centurion’s slave and would have been happy to heal
him without bunch of testimonials. At
the same time, if that good work gives someone hope that God will listen to
them and provides a connection, God will use it. Without the Jewish elders, the Centurion
might not have believed that Jesus would come, so if the best we can do is tell
God, “Hey, I did a good thing once, so please help me,” God will take the crack
in the door of our life to burst it open with his love.
The flip side of the first approach is the second, which
just says, “I’m not worthy to have you come to me, Jesus.” These words are true, but if they stopped
there they would still be incomplete, because it still makes the whole thing
about us and what we have or have not done.
Jesus would no more avoid us because we haven’t been good than he would
run to us faster if we have been better.
Of course we are unworthy, but our sense of our unworthiness can either
come from a true humility or from our own ego’s desire to protect itself from
God and other people by claiming unworthiness.
At its healthiest, telling God we are not worthy of him
coming to us is merely an expression of his incredible awesomeness. We recognize the gulf between him and
us. Then, ideally, we, like the
Centurion, move from this confession to a profession of faith in God’s power
and love.
Too often, however, our unworthiness becomes a barrier to
try to shut the door to God. We
dishonestly tell ourselves that we are unworthy of love when in fact we are
children of God whom God has created as worthy of love and being loved. No matter what we have or haven’t done,
nothing can take that special status away from us. Nothing.
None of us have fully lived into the blessing that God intended for us by
making us his children, but this falling short is why we have the cross and
forgiveness and grace and mercy. Sure,
we aren’t worthy, but God doesn’t care and he has done a lot to reach out to
us, and he will continue to do so, no matter how unworthy we are or how much we
are afraid to let him in.
The third approach to God, and the one Jesus commends, is
the faithful acknowledgement of Jesus’ authority. The Centurion combines it with what is best
in the second approach, “I am not worthy, but only say the word and heal my
servant.” Actually some traditions use
this as part of the preparation for receiving communion – “Lord, I am not
worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.” Here we are acknowledging that Jesus has the
ultimate power and control over whatever we are praying about. We are actually opening the whole situation
to him in prayer and letting him take control.
This step may seem obvious. I
mean, why pray if we don’t believe that Jesus is more powerful than the
situation and is able to fix it. Yet, too often, we do ask God for help, but
without any belief that he might be able to fix it, or without a willingness to
accept the way he might decide to fix it.
We hear the Centurion, “I tell people to go and they go, to do something
and they do it.” Are we able in prayer
to say, “This situation is under your authority, Lord. Tell us what to do and we’ll do it, and we
know you’ll take care of the rest.”
These prayers are bold ones and powerful ones. “We know you can do this, God, so come into
the situation and make it right.” When
we ask in this way, God usually does come into the situation and starts to make
it right. Then we have to decide to
either go along with it or not.
This approach to God is also the basic one of the twelve
step programs. The steps tell us to
admit that we aren’t in control, that there is a higher power who is in control,
and that we need to turn things over in obedience to that higher power. We here know that the name of that higher
power is Jesus, the Son of God, who now sits at the right hand of God the
Father Almighty with all things in subjection under his feet. The God we worship has this much power and
authority, but he gives us control of ourselves and our own lives. Our prayer of faith is to recognize his
authority and turn the situations of our lives that need healing and
restoration over to him. Whether we feel
worthy or not, whether we have been good or not, whether we are scared to death
to ask him to come to us or not, if we recognize him and invite him to come, he
will, just like he did for the Roman Centurion two thousand years ago.
I would encourage you today, as you come to the altar, to
come with these words, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the
word and I shall be healed.” Repeat the phrase together. Open your life, especially in its broken
places, to God in humility, and faithfully ask for his healing. Then pay attention in the coming days, weeks
and months to see just what God does.
