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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