Pilgrims Sermon Luke 7:1-10

Luke 7:1-10 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum.  There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this,because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

My sister is absolutely the worst at introducing new people to each other.  Every time I’m back in the states she wants me to meet some new friends.  So – she begins by telling her new friends about me at least once a week for at least a couple of years.  She mentions me in stories – she talks about how cool I am.  And she tells me all about her new friends.  And she tells me about the funny jokes they tell and the funny situations they find themselves in.  She talks about how cool they are. 

And then the day comes along when I’m back in the states and I finally get to meet these new friends that I have learned so much about.  And it’s always so awkward – because I’m meeting these people for the first time … but I know everything about them.  I know about their families and the marital problems they’ve had.  I know their funny jokes and about the terribly painful warts on their feet. 

And it’s awkward for them because they’ve heard all the stories about me – about my time in Ukraine and my childhood hip surgeries.  They’ve read things I’ve written and seen my picture.

 

We know so much about each other that it is awkward when we finally get to meet.  She has hyped us up so much to each other – that there is a huge letdown.  She promised how much we would laugh at the others jokes and we end up just waiting to see who will say something funny first.

 

I end up just dreading returning to the states and meeting all of the people that she promised I will “just love.” 

The centurion is promised a lot out of today’s interaction. 

First, let’s step back and look at the situation.  The centurion is a wealthy, powerful, military man who represents in every way the oppressor.  The Jewish people were a small, repressed minority – and the centurion soldiers were the ones walking around reminding them of their occupied status.  The scripture states that he “sent some elders of the Jews” to go to Jesus.  These were not his friends, these people did not work for him - these were Jewish men who were important and respected in their culture and religion.  But, he had the power to order them around and to tell them what to do.  And this day he ordered them to go and find this Jesus.

He had heard about Jesus. 

Well, what exactly had he heard about Jesus?   

Who is this man?  What does he have to offer?

He had heard of the great and powerful miracles Jesus had performed.  He had heard of Jesus healing the sick, and he had heard that Jesus was gaining a large following.  But, more than that, this Roman centurion had heard that he should fear this great and powerful man – his job security would be destroyed when the messiah led the uprising against the Romans.  The roman centurion had overheard the hushed tones as the Jews talked about how the Messiah would destroy the invading Romans. 

And what is most interesting is that this Roman centurion ignores all of the warnings, and focuses entirely on his present need.  He hears that this wandering preacher is also some kind of magician and medicine man and maybe Jesus can heal his trusted servant. 

Because this man hasn’t heard the full story about Jesus; he doesn’t know that Jesus will be brought before Pilate and will be executed by the government this soldier represents.  This soldier doesn’t know that Jesus came to die for the forgiveness and restoration of the whole world.

What’s interesting about today’s scripture is that two groups of people are interacting around Jesus.  Officials representing the Roman occupation and the Religious Elite of the Jewish faith.  At the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry we see these two groups coming together again to plot and see who would take the blame for Jesus’ death.   

But this man was different than the other Roman soldiers.  This man respected the Jewish culture and faith.  He had spent his own money to build a synagogue.    

And so the Jewish leaders gladly went on his behalf.  This was also an opportunity for them to meet this wandering preacher without having to confront him directly. 

These religious elite – they really wanted to trick Jesus.  We see this again and again throughout scripture.  These men were insightfully brilliant.  If Jesus didn’t go and heal the servant – they could tell the people not to believe in him because he couldn’t really heal.  If Jesus did go and heal the servant – they could go to the people and share that Jesus was on the side of the oppressors. 

This is a perfect trap – and the Jewish leaders didn’t even have to set it. 

Because everyone is asking the same question.  “Who is this man?”  The people in their town had heard of his miracles – and they so desperately wanted to believe that the Messiah was finally here.  The Roman centurion was interested in this small, antiquated religion called Judaism and he was interested to see if this man coming toward his house was the promised future of it. He built a house of worship for them because he didn’t think that the God of the Jews was any threat to the Roman rule – but this Jesus was promised to have some power. And these Jewish leaders, they desperately wanted to hold on to their power by proving that this man was a fraud.   

And Jesus is in the center of this.  The brilliant trap is set just for him and he moves right into it and evades it entirely at the same time.  Jesus heals the servant – without even being physically present with the boy.  And he steps up to the challenge given by the Pharisees and he looks them directly in the eye and he shames them for their actions.  He doesn’t heal the soldier’s servant because the soldier has given money for a building to be built. No.  He heals the servant because the soldier has great faith. 

Jesus takes a terrible situation – a terrible trap - and he makes it a wonderful opportunity to share the good news.

Jesus answers the question that everyone is asking.

“Who is this man?”

This man is the messiah.  He is the promised one.  He is the savior.

But, Jesus expands the question.  “Who will this man save?”

Because everyone in Israel had missed the point that throughout the scripture God again and again casts a vision that the whole world would believe in the Messiah.  These Jewish leaders thought they would shame Jesus, but in the end they are shamed for not seeing the bigger picture.  They are not rewarded for their faith – but this man, this man who represents all the disgusting, bourgeois realities of the Roman occupiers, this man is rewarded for his faith(?). Jesus answers the question that everyone is too timid to ask.  Jesus is the savior – and he is the savior of all. 

He is the savior of the religiously faithful jews.  He is the savior of young men held in service by the Roman occupation.  He is the savior of the occupying forces of Rome. 

He is our savior, too.

We know the things we were taught as children.  We know the stories from the Bible.  We know the things our parents and grandparents taught us.

We know that many of our grandparents and parents were willing to risk persecution in order to follow him and to continue to be active in the church during the Soviet days. 

But it is easy to look at the easy answers – to see the painted face of Jesus and think of him belonging to ancient story books – but Jesus is our savior as well.  He died for our sins.  He calls us to follow him – he is as real to us today as he was to this soldier 2000 years ago – he is as real as our own skin. 

Jesus, the savior, who looked controversy in the face and chose to make a young boy well to prove to those around that he was the savior of all the earth.  That Jesus is the same savior who looks at the mess we make of our lives and promises to make us well, too. 

Today we place the cross on this table.  This cross is the universal symbol of Jesus.  But, let us not forget, this was a means of execution.  This was what they used to kill people. When the Roman officials and Jewish religious elite gather again to talk about Jesus – they decide to put him on a cross to die.  This is a symbol that Jesus is our savior.  Jesus takes things that are so bad and so terrible and he changes them.  He took this terrible weapon of torture and turned it into the symbol under which millions of Christians live and celebrate.  He takes the mess of our lives and changes it into the joy of being a follower of Christ. He gives us worth.