Stephen Baldwin
OT: Psalm 96
NT: Luke 7.1-10
Healing Hurts
If a friend asks you for a favor, do you help? Sure, of course. If a friend of a friend asks for a favor, do
you help? Well, maybe. Depends.
What if an enemy, or even a friend of an enemy, asks for your help? Highly doubtful.
Who’s asking matters more than what
they’re asking for, doesn’t it? If your
parent or spouse asks you to do something, you don’t have much choice. You do it.
If a friend asks, you’re happy to help and put yourself on the line for
them. But putting ourselves on the line
for someone we don’t know, well that’s a different matter. And if that someone happens to be an enemy,
then forget about it.
I’m not talking out of school here, am I? That’s human nature. We are inclined to help our friends and we
are not inclined to help our enemies.
That’s no secret or revelation.
It’s just the way things are. But
is it the way Jesus wants things to be?
Today’s reading comes just after much
of Jesus’ main teachings—Sermon the Mount, Beatitudes, & so forth. He’s taught the disciples how to be a
Christian, and in our story he’s given an opportunity to show them when asked
for a favor.
Verses 1-3.
Who is this centurion? A
centurion was an officer of the
Roman army, put in charge of about 80 soldiers.
It was a middle management position. Anyone in that position would’ve
been a Gentile, or a non-Jew. Yet,
surprisingly, he is respected by the Jewish community. He knows elders in the church well enough to
ask them for a favor, and they know him well enough to grant that favor. A slave assigned to the centurion was gravely
ill, and the centurion would stop at nothing to see the slave cured. Why was this slave so highly valued? We don’t know because the text doesn’t
say. And that’s a minor point compared
to what the story’s purpose is.
Verses
4-5. The centurion’s friends go to
Jesus, asking him for help. They make
their argument by saying, “He loves our people.” Why would they have to say that? Because we’re talking about a centurion--the
local face of an occupying military force--who is by definition an enemy of the
Jews. The elders say although this man
wears the uniform of their enemy, he is not their enemy. After all, he put his unit of 80 men to work
on the people’s behalf, building them a temple.
Keep
in mind Jesus was asked for these sorts of favors all the time. People constantly stopped him asking for
help. The sick wanted Jesus to cure
them; the blind wanted Jesus to make them see; the lame wanted Jesus to make them
walk. They asked for themselves. But this centurion, this natural enemy of
Jesus, asks for a favor not for himself but for his slave.
Verses
6-8. Apparently intrigued by the unique
nature of the request, Jesus sets off on foot towards the centurion’s
house. Towards his enemy’s house. An enemy who apparently has a heart. Before he arrives the centurion sends his
friends outside to say, “Don’t come in, for I’m not worthy to have you inside
my house.” But that’s not the end of
it. He’s not saying he doesn’t want
Jesus’ help. He just doesn’t think his
house of worthy of Jesus’ presence. So
he continues, “I do know what it’s like to be in a chain of command. I can tell someone to come, and they
come. I can tell them go, and they go.” The implication is clear. “You can command my slave’s life, and it will
be done.”
Verse
9. Jesus is amazed at this man’s
faith. His enemy, a centurion, a Roman
officer, places his faith in Jesus and says he believes that if Jesus orders
the slave to be well, he will be well.
Verse
10. Jesus doesn’t visit the slave. Doesn’t touch him. Doesn’t even speak the word. But the slave is well, for Jesus wills it.
If
a friend asked you for a favor, you’d probably grant it. But if an enemy asked, would you even consider
it? This is where the rubber hits the
road. This is where Christianity is put
into practice, because until Christians act like Christ all we do is talk.
Jesus
taught his disciples earlier in Luke to love their enemies. We’re all taught the same thing. And it sounds great, but it’s nearly
impossible to do. So when Jesus finishes
talking, he is presented with a live scenario of an enemy asking for a favor. He grants it, showing that his love extends
even to enemies, even to non-Jews, even to those who are outsiders to his
faith. Sometimes we read these stories
so casually the radical nature of God’s will for our lives is lost on us. Jesus doesn’t just talk about forgiving
enemies; he heals enemies! Jesus doesn’t
just expect us to believe in forgiving enemies; he expects us to do it!
A
young slave’s life is restored not just by Jesus, but by an entire community
who bands together, risking their own reputation and skin, to call in
favors. It takes a whole slew of people
to make it work.
Here’s
the point. Real healing hurts. I’m not talking about miraculous healing
& the stuff of fairy tales; I’m talking about real world, everyday healing in
our broken relationships and our own broken souls. I’m talking about enemies you have a hard time
seeing in public and the enemy you sometimes don’t want to look at in the
mirror. I’m talking about what occupies
our thoughts when we drive down the road and lay in bed at night. Healing in those situations, with our
enemies, means everyone involved has to give something up for it to work.
It
surely hurt Jesus to help the very man who oppressed his people, but he was
willing to do it because the man showed faith and the community showed faith in
the man. Everyone sacrificed something
for the greater good of helping someone in a world of hurt. That is our calling as Christians today just
the same as it was 2,000 years ago. The
names have changed. So have the
places…and the prices. But our calling
is just the same. Love your
neighbors. Forgive your enemies. Do favors for everyone, even if it hurts a
little, because that’s what Jesus did.
Not just what he said to do. What
he did. Amen.
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