Luke
7:1-10
June
2, 2013
Ordinary 9
William G. Carter
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.
BC: We have an
occasional custom of asking a graduating senior to help with the sermon on this
day. I had one in mind. I asked and she consented, so I would like to invite
her forward at this time. And then, we sat down together to read the scripture
text.
MC: I
wasn’t impressed. Who picks these passages, anyway?
BC: Most
of the time, it’s a committee …
MC: Of
course, it’s a committee. A camel is a horse designed by a committee.
BC: Well,
the texts are picked by an ecumenical committee.
MC: Does
that make it better?
BC: To tell you the
truth, neither of us thought much of the text. It’s the story of a rich Roman
citizen who wants Jesus to do something for him.
MC: It sounds like
he wants to get his way because he is rich. A lot of rich people are used to
getting their way.
BC: And
this guy is a centurion.
MC: That’s
a soldier, right?
BC: It is the
commander of a battalion of soldiers. A hundred soldiers are commanded by a
centurion. He had great responsibility and significant authority. He was paid a
lot better than the average soldier.
MC: But it’s
surprising to hear people say, “He is a nice guy.” Not the usual picture we
have of a Roman centurion!
BC: And it’s
equally surprising that the people who say so are Jewish leaders. Israel
maintained a racial boundary between themselves and the Romans. As the Jewish
Mishnah said, “The
dwelling places of Gentiles in Israel are unclean.”[1]
MC: Still, these
Jewish leaders were willing to go on behalf of that Roman centurion.
There is something about him that they respected: he had concern for a slave,
and he was highly regarded by the whole Jewish town of Capernaum.
BC: And don’t
overlook: not only was he rich, he was generous.
MC: Did you see the article? J.K. Rowling, who
wrote the Harry Potter books, is no longer a billionaire. She gave away too
much money to charity last year, mostly to charities for single mothers and
their families. In fact, she gave $160 million dollars to charity. Now she is
merely a millionaire.
BC: I looked up the
story in Forbes magazine after you told me about this. She said, “You have a
moral responsibility when you’ve been given far more than you need, to do wise
things with it and give intelligently.”[2]
I think there should be a special place in heaven for people who are so
generous.
MC: Well, maybe this
Roman centurion thought there should be a special place for him. He was very
generous. The local Jewish leaders said he financed the building of their
synagogue.
BC: I have been to
that synagogue. They have excavated the foundation stones in Capernaum . . .
MC: Are
we going to hear another Pastor Travel Story?
BC: Oh no, no
travel stories until September. J But I
did learn that Capernaum, way up north, had a track record for diverse people
getting along. The town was along the trade route, along the ancient route from
Babylon to Egypt. It would not have been unheard of for a Roman soldier to show
kindness to Jewish townspeople.
MC: This soldier was
pretty remarkable. He was seriously concerned for one of his slaves. He valued
him and didn’t want the servant to die. So he called on Jesus for health care.
He’s a really good guy. The Jewish leaders that he sends to Jesus say as much.
“He is worthy of having you do this for him,” they say. “He loves our people.
He built our synagogue for us.”
BC: As Luke tells
this story, he puts it just right. The local people say about the Centurion,
“he is worthy.” But he communicates to Jesus, he says, “I’m not worthy.”
MC: Is
he faking it? Is this false modesty?
BC: We can’t say,
and he’s not around to ask. And it does blow the stereotype of a Roman soldier
out of the water. Those guys had a reputation for being brutes.
MC: Well, he knows
that he is not in charge of everything. He has authority over a hundred soldiers,
but he cannot command an illness to flee his servant. So he hands over the
matter to Jesus, and says, “Just speak the word, and my servant will be
healed.”
BC: Just speak the
word . . . There are a lot of situations where we want him to speak the word.
Every person who gets written down on our prayer cards is a person who needs a
word of healing.
MC: Every person who
gets put down or pushed aside is a person who needs a word from Jesus.
BC: The girl with
the screaming headache, the woman with the spot on the Cat scan, the man with
the confused mind, the parents still waiting for their kid to come home – at
some time or another, all of us need a word from Jesus. Just speak the word,
and we shall be healed.
MC: There is so much
in our lives that is out of control. We try not to let it show, but we hunger
for somebody to be in control, for somebody to take charge, for somebody with
authority to make us well.
BC: So this tame
little story that we originally didn’t like is really a much bigger story about
prayer.
MC: How
so?
BC: Prayer is the
practice of handing over control. We ask the God that we meet in Jesus to speak
the healing word, to do what we cannot do. We call on him from a distance, even
relying on our friends if necessary to relay the message.
MC: What strikes me is that both Jesus and the
centurion “phone it in”. The centurion sends Jewish leaders to notify Jesus of
the need. When he hears Jesus is coming to his house, he sends more friends to
say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself.” There is no evidence that he ever actually
meets Jesus face-to-face.
BC: Likewise, Jesus does not need to be in the
man’s house to perform the healing. He doesn’t need to be physically present.
He doesn’t need to take the slave by the hand and say, “Be well!”
MC: The centurion seems to know this. Maybe
that’s why he calls Jesus “Lord.” “Lord” means “master.” What’s the Greek word,
O scholar father?
BC: The word is “kurios”. It signifies “the
one in charge.” It points to the One who has authority, the One who can make
the decisions.
MC: A Roman soldier is going to know about
giving orders. This soldier orders the Jewish leaders to go see Jesus. Then he
orders some friends to say, “Don’t trouble yourself.”
BC: Sounds like he can’t make up his mind.
MC: Actually I think he sounds humble.
Appropriately humble. He wants Jesus to be Jesus: to be the Lord who has
authority and power to heal.
BC: So there is the message for all of us: to
hand over to the Lord what we can’t handle, to trust that he will do what needs
to be done.
MC: Even if we are as powerful as a Centurion,
we trust God’s power is greater than our own.
BC: Even if we are as weak as his favorite
servant, we can be healed by a Lord that we may never see.
MC: Just say the word, Lord. Just say the word
and we shall be healed.
BC: Today, this is the Word of the Lord for
us.
MC: Thanks be to God.
------------------------------
With thanks to Meg Carter, who wrote and delivered this sermon with me
(c) William G. Carter. All rights reserved.
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