Sunday, February 5, 2017

Sermon for February 5, 2017



The reading

Luke 7:1-17

After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death.  When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave.  When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, "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."  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.  For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, "Go,' and he goes, and to another, "Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, "Do this,' and the slave does it." When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."  When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town.  When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep." Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!" The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen among us!" and "God has looked favorably on his people!" This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.

The message

Today’s reading is placed in a very important spot in Luke’s Gospel.  It comes at a time when Jesus has clearly established his power. Even though there was no Twitter, Facebook, text messages or phones, stories of his teachings and works of faith and power have started to spread quickly.  Jesus has already exorcised demons, cured diseases, cleansed lepers of their sickness and exclusion from society, and healed a man with a withered hand (again treating his sickness and his exclusion from society).  Right before Jesus heals the Centurion’s slave and raises the widow’s son, he preached the Sermon on the Mount. This famous message to the world about what the kingdom of God looks like included the beatitudes, love for enemies, welcome for strangers, the command to not judge others and building your relationship with God on a good stone foundation. 

After all this, we find Jesus, along with hundreds of his new friends, entering Capernaum, a major city in the area that was a center for economic activity and trade.  News of Jesus arrival reaches a very anxious and frustrated centurion, who is desperate to find help for a dying slave he cares deeply about.  A centurion was a low level, non-commissioned officer in the Roman military. Most of them were outsiders, non-Romans from conquered places. Many were serving because of the promise that if they put in 25 years of service, they would be granted the highly prized Roman Citizenship.  Centurions did not have the status or power of real officers but were in charge of 100 men (for those who remember random bits of Latin ,centurion shares the same root with words like century and the penny or cent).    The centurion reaches out to Jesus, this wandering preacher and healer, for help.   Out of respect for cultural and religious boundaries, he sends some Jewish leaders to Jesus to make the request.  From the report of that group, it seems like the centurion was respectful, caring and good. They make a strong argument that he deserves Jesus’ help, highlighting the desperate man’s fairness, love for the Jewish people, and construction of the synagogue.   After all, Jesus has helped Jews and non-jews, beloved leaders and hated tax collectors, he has healed in front of huge crowds, controversially on the Sabbath and in relative secret, no one can make sense of how Jesus decides where to go or who to help.  The argument about deserving is what they know and seems as good an approach as any other.

Seeing the centurion as deserving or for some other reason, Jesus agrees to help (after all, Jesus just taught people to love your enemies and many viewed the occupying Roman force as enemies, not a bad way to practice what you preach).  As Jesus approaches the centurion’s house, another group is sent to Jesus. Now it is the centurion’s friends (we assume there to support and help in this difficult time) who go to Jesus with a message of polite, professional, practical humility, do not bother wasting your time coming any further, just speak the word and my servant will be healed.  Jesus is amazed by this man’s faith, his understanding of God’s power over the world.  The centurion knows that Jesus is not some magician or miracle worker with a pocket of tricks, cures and super powerful prayers, he is something much greater.   With an analogy about his own power over the soilders entrusted to him, the centurion declares the amazing power of God.    
     
The slave is cured and Jesus, again with a few hundred or now, maybe thousand of his new friends, travels to the city of Nain.  Here, two large crowds of opposites meet.  There is the excited, amazed and joyful group praising God and following Jesus to see what’s next, Then there is the funeral parade for a man who died, leaving his mother in a very bad situation. People proclaiming “God is great” and “with God all things are possible”, “God keeps God’s promises” are meet by mourners, weeping, wailing and asking “where is God, why did this happen”.  That poor lady, what is this group of idiots so happy about, This is life vs death.   

Here, we know exactly why Jesus helps this woman (and her son).  Jesus is filled with compassion, a Greek word with the same roots as “intestines”, meaning a deep, gut wrenching empathy an experience of someone’s pain, a time of being present with someone inconsolable, that everyone else would rather get away from, who friends and family have no idea what to say to.  Jesus, a person of his time and place in the world, knew how bad life would be a widow with no son, society was built around men as sustainers and earners.  All that would not change overnight (some would argue it still hasn’t changed) but it would change for this woman and her family right then and there.
  
As these two crowds meet it is an encounter of people who know, who have seen what God can do entering a space of doubt, mourning and anger. Here compassion wins, life defeats death, love overcomes fear, joy overwhelms mourning.  This is what we are called to do as church.  We are invited to be that joyful parade, to bring the grace of God with us into the world, into places of fear, anxiety, suffering, into places where people do not want to hear or see it, to places so separated, gathering as the diverse, loved people of God seems impossible to know we have something to offer and offer it.   

Next week, we will look at the events immediately after this long distance healing, the raising of the dead and restoration of life for the widow of Nain.  We will hear the questions of a very anxious, angry and frustrated John the Baptist who is in prison and moments away from being killed.  The two events we heard about today are a big part of Jesus answers.

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