Luke 7:1-10
May 29, 2016
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.
For Memorial Day, Luke remembers a soldier. He was a centurion for
the imperial army of Rome. He was stationed in Capernaum, the small fishing
village on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. You might not think that is a
plum assignment; it’s not the seaside city of Caesarea, nor is the political
hot house of Jerusalem. But Capernaum had a history. It was on the general
route stretching between the ancient powers of Babylon and Egypt. If one empire
planned to march upon another, they would travel through Capernaum, the little
fishing village where no much happened.
This particular centurion, who is unnamed, is remarkable for a
number of reasons. It’s not merely because of his military record, which was
probably significant. He is a military commander. “Centurion,” as in “century,”
signifies a hundred. That is, he commanded a hundred soldiers. No one is given such
a command through incompetence. No, this guy is a lean, mean fighting machine,
the best in the Roman Empire. He has great responsibility and significant
authority.
But here is the remarkable thing: he has friends. Specifically,
this Roman fighting man has friends. I looked up the word in the Gospel of Luke
to make sure. Yep, that’s what Luke says. The centurion has “philos,” friends,
and he sends them to Jesus. It’s hard to imagine a military commander with
friends – you don’t get an army promotion by having a lot of friends. But this
man has people in town who like him.
Not only that, they are Jewish religious leaders, and their
friendship is unusual. It was the Jewish Mishnah that said, “The dwelling places of Gentiles in Israel are
unclean.”[1]
There was a firm racial boundary established between the people of
Israel and the Roman soldiers that occupied their land. But they liked this
guy. “He built our synagogue for us,” they said. What an incredible act of
generosity!
So maybe that’s why they reach out on his behalf. One of his
household servants is very sick, close to death. The centurion has heard about
Jesus, how he has gone about healing the sick people in the region. He says, “I
value this servant very highly. Could Jesus come to heal him?” This is his
request. It’s not an order, it’s a request. And that, too, is remarkable. This
is a man accustomed to giving orders.
When a seminary classmate said she was going to enlist in the military,
a few of us wondered how it was going to turn out. Margaret has a pleasant
personality, she’s very kind and compassionate, and she’s a little bit short.
As I recall, when she preached her senior sermon in the chapel, she may have
needed to stand on a box for people to see her. It was an impressive sermon,
she is an impressive person.
After basic training, she was assigned to the Marine base at
Quantico, and then Camp Lejeune. Margaret became the first female chaplain at
the Naval Academy. In time, she became the chaplain of the entire Marine Corp,
and then the chief chaplain of the United States Navy. These days, she is a
Rear Admiral.
Some time ago I asked her, “What’s the best thing
about your work?” She said, “When I tell somebody to do something, it happens.”
This centurion is accustomed to getting his way. He
says “jump,” they ask, “How high?” This man has extraordinary authority. But he
can’t make his favorite servant well. So he makes a request of Jesus, that
unusual prophet who speaks in parables and heals the sick.
And his friends make the appeal. You have to do this, Jesus. He’s a really
good guy. He loves our people. He loves his adopted homeland. And for goodness’
sake, he built our synagogue. He is worthy.
It’s that last word that sticks out – worthy. He
is worthy. It’s the strangest description of a centurion in the whole Bible –
the worthy centurion. If it’s not a contradiction in terms, it is certainly a
paradox. And we know from the parables of Jesus, he liked a good paradox. He
told stories about the unjust judge, the humble tax collector, the prodigal
son, the dishonest manager, the rich man who went to hell, the grateful leper,
the good Samaritan. Now, here is a worthy centurion!
This gets Jesus’ attention. The soldier has made his request, his
friends say, “Jesus, you have to do this. He’s a really good man, a worthy man
. . .” -- if only all of us might be worthy of the healing touch of Christ!
But then something happens. Did you hear what it is? As Jesus
draws near, the centurion tries to slow him down. He sends even more friends (for
a Roman soldier, this man has a lot of friends!). And the friends speak on his
behalf and say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself. I wasn’t worthy to come to you,
and I’m not worthy to have you come to me.”
Now, what’s all this about?
There is some debate among the scholars. Some of them say he’s being
modest. Perhaps he has second thoughts about having a preacher in his house. Do
you really want a holy man to come that close?
Others point out the awkward differences between them. The centurion
must live in a big house. He has servants, and as a Roman soldier, he could
take any house he wanted. And here’s Jesus, the itinerant preacher with no
permanent place of his own (9:57-58).
Still others remind us of the racial differences between them. Jew
and Gentile, clean and unclean. They inhabit different planets. If Jesus came
under his roof, that would signal they are neighbors, that they have more in
common than what separates them on the surface. How extremely awkward for a
rich Roman soldier to beg the mercy of a poor Jewish carpenter, and then to
have that be the story that gets written down forever in the Bible!
Yet when all the mixed feelings are sorted out, the soldier’s
misgivings are easy to explain. He is accustomed to getting his way. He
understands the nature of authority. If the person in charge says, “do that,”
it gets done. This centurion can direct and control a hundred soldiers, but he
cannot control a life-threatening illness that might take the life of somebody
in his own household. So he hands over the matter to the One who does have the
authority. Somehow he can perceive that, even though the two of them never
meet.
“Just say the word,” the centurion declares to Jesus, “and I know
my servant will be healed.”
When a story like this is told in the Gospel of Matthew (8:5-13),
the centurion comes out of his house and appeals directly to Jesus. In most
every other way, the story is identical. But Luke says he does his talking through
his friends. The appeal is second-hand, probably out of respect. When the
friends try to convince Jesus to heal the man’s servant, they squeeze it to
say, “He’s worthy.” Yet the man says, “I am not worthy.” There is some distance
maintained between the one who makes the request and the One who has the
authority to grant it.
Yet here’s the thing: Jesus heals the man’s servant, regardless of
whether or not he is worthy. That’s the essence of grace. If God-in-Christ had
to wait until all of us were “worthy,” none of us would ever be healed of any
illness, none of us would ever be forgiven, none of us would ever be given a
second chance, much less a first chance. Because it is never about how “worthy”
or “unworthy” we are; it’s only about how good is the God that Jesus embodies.
Christ doesn’t wait for the centurion to shape up before he does
something kind for him. Please take note of that. But also take note that the centurion
asks for help. He may be in charge of a hundred soldiers, but he is not in
charge of the universe. He is skilled in commanding a battalion, but he has no
command over the illness of somebody he loves. So
he hands over the matter to Jesus and says, “Just speak the word, and my
servant will be healed.”
Just speak the word. There are a lot of situations
where we want him to speak. Every person who gets written down on our prayer
cards is a person who needs a word of healing. Every person who gets put down or
pushed aside is a person who needs a word from Jesus. The girl with the
screaming headache, the man with the spot on his lung, the senior who gets
confused, the parents still waiting for their kid to come home – at some time
or another, all of us need a word from Jesus.
For 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 take charge,
for somebody with the authority to make us well.
In a way, then, this is a story about prayer,
because prayer is the practice of handing over control. We ask the God that we
meet in Jesus to speak the healing word, to accomplish what we cannot do. We
call on him from a distance. Sometimes we even rely on our friends to relay the
message.
Sometimes we even downplay the request, so that
we won’t be disappointed. “Don’t trouble yourself, Lord.” I call it “putting
cushions on the floor,” because if you put a cushion on the floor, you won’t
fall quite so far.
But here’s the final detail I want you to notice.
For Jesus, reaching toward us in grace is really no trouble at all. It is the
essence of his mission to the world to give the joy, the peace, the healing,
and the love of God. He might not always “fix” us or do what we command, but he
is present with us always and this is our healing. He does discriminate between
Jew and Gentile, worthy or unworthy.
In fact, did you notice how the story ends? He
heals that servant without even saying the word. The friends go back to the
centurion and the servant is already healed.
I tell you, this is the grace of God. It is not
restricted to something that happened a long time ago. There is grace all
around us, given freely from the generous heart of God. And the Lord of life is
going to do what he can to make all things well, both for those who believe
themselves worthy, but especially for those who don’t.
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