Sermon 3rd June 2007
Today our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches, based on the reading from Luke 7:1-10
Have you heard the one about nuns running an orphanage in Saudi Arabia? Their car ran out of petrol just outside the nearest town. Unfortunately, they didn't have a jerry-can with them so they had to make do with a potty to carry petrol back to their car. They were spotted pouring the contents of the potty into the petrol tank by a passing sheik. You can easily picture the look on his face! He was so amazed that he stopped to comment. 'I do not share your religion', he said. 'But I certainly admire your faith!'
By way of contrast, the classic definition of faith as given in the Bible is this: “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see / Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”. X2. Well, have you ever wondered what that looks like in practice? If so, wonder no more – because, metaphorically speaking, we have just seen it!
To be clear, I am talking about our Bible story rather than the one about the nuns! Today adults return to the gospel of Luke – with a bang! We began the year studying this book – which adults did right up to Easter. After a break to look at Peter's first letter, we are now coming back to Luke. We're going to stay with it right through to this summer. And there could be no better place to pick things up than with this story of the faith of the Roman officer / centurion.
Luke's main purpose in writing his book about Jesus was so that his readers could respond to the person at the centre of the story. As I said at the start of the year, Luke wanted everyone to respond to Jesus. He was a Gentile himself, a non-Jew – just like this officer / centurion. So Luke knew from his own experience that the good news about Jesus was for all people. Luke hadn't been disciple himself. But he had spent much time with the key figures of the early church. He even made personal appearances in the second book he wrote – Acts. Luke was one of Paul's constant travelling companions on his mission to spread the good news about Jesus far and wide. Through Paul, Luke had met many of the original disciples. He had been able to hear their stories about Jesus, as he sought after the truth of just who he was and what he had done.
Luke was convinced that Jesus was the Son of God, the saviour of the whole world. And he wanted to convince others of that truth too. That was why Luke wrote his first book: to give an accurate, scientific record – Luke was a doctor, remember – of what Jesus had said and done. Luke always planned to write a second book. So in Acts he then set out how what Jesus had said and done impacted the lives of people all over the known first-century world. But the story of changed lives began – as it continued – with the person of Jesus; just as it did with this Roman officer / centurion.
To put this event in context in Luke, we left the story back in February, with Jesus calling his first disciples to follow him. After bouncing around Luke a little in Lent, we're now picking it up a chapter or so later. Most of that chapter sets out Jesus' teaching, in Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus ended his teaching with a challenge to his hearers to build their lives on what he'd said. And here, at the start of chapter 7, we have a great example of someone who did just that. The Roman officer / centurion was someone who had heard, or had heard about, what Jesus had said, believed it – and then simply acted on it.
Do you know, there are only two occasions in the gospels when Jesus expressed amazement at people's faith. This was one of them, obviously. The other was when Jesus was amazed at how little faith people in his home town had in him. So this is only time that Jesus was positively amazed by someone's faith. And note that it was at the faith of an outsider, a Gentile – a Roman soldier, even! The picture that most of us carry of occupying forces – even if we lack any experience of them ourselves – is usually negative. And with good reason! By definition victorious armies look down on the people they have conquered. The Romans in 1st-century Palestine were no exception, which is why they were so hated. But there are often exceptions to the rule – and this officer / centurion was clearly one of those.
In Luke – unlike in Matthew's version – it was a group of Jewish elders who approached Jesus on his behalf. It was the officer's / centurion's idea to approach Jesus for help. He had at least heard about what Jesus had done round Capernaum, if not seen it for himself. And he clearly had a personal interest in what was going on spiritually. He was a good man, from what the elders said – and sympathetic to their faith. The officer / centurion had even paid for the local synagogue to be built. So he deserved Jesus' help, the elders told him – and Jesus appeared to agree.
As we heard, Jesus went with them, to do what had been asked of him, presumably. And, in case you missed it, that meant to heal the officer's / centurion's servant. He was so ill that he was about to die – a detail which wouldn't have passed Dr. Luke by! But Jesus never made it as far as the officer's / centurion's house. Another group of messengers met him before he got there – with another message from the officer / centurion. It's very interesting that the Roman disagreed with what the elders had said on his behalf. He didn't even think that he was worthy to come to Jesus himself, these messengers said. He certainly didn't deserve to have enter Jesus his house. And Jesus didn't need to come in person anyway, they told him!
This was the part that so amazed Jesus. The second message from the officer / centurion was that Jesus simply needed to give the order / say the word – and his servant would be healed! No wonder Jesus was amazed by his faith! How much, how great a faith does that show? To believe that Jesus is capable of healing someone that sick, with just a word – and one spoken when not even there at that? That is what the officer /centurion believed; and that is what he told his messengers to ask Jesus to do. And, as we heard that is what then happened – astounding as it may sound.
Now, to be fair, the Roman officer / centurion did live in a different world to the one we do. He was, in one sense, simply applying what he knew about how his world worked to the problem he had. He was a soldier, an officer and an owner of slaves. In his world, what he said went: his word was law. As his messengers pointed out to Jesus, people did what this officer told them to – just as he did what those above him told him. Or else! It is a pretty foreign notion to people like us in the 21st- century western world, perhaps; but that is how it was back then. So in one sense it was a simple step for that officer /centurion to take, to ask Jesus to give the order, and just expect it to be done.
Let's not miss the implication of what that soldier asked for – and believed, though. He was saying that Jesus had the same authority over sickness as he, the soldier, had over other people. He believed Jesus could order the sickness to go – and that it would! And he was right! By the way, neither Luke nor Matthew even record that Jesus gave the order. They simply say that the second group of messengers went back to the house, and found the servant well!
This story must make us re-examine our understanding of God's authority. That could be hard, given that none of us are used to that kind of authority structure. But maybe that says more about our culture than it does about what God is like. In the same way, this story may also challenge us about whether we truly believe what we say that Jesus is able to do. If we believe it, perhaps we'll act like it's true rather more often than we do. It might just need to have an impact on our prayer life too. Perhaps it should get us asking God much more directly to do things – even if we don't always get the answers that we want.
I'm conscious that the whole area of healing is a very raw one for many of us at the moment. At both churches we have just lost people much younger than we think is right. These are people we have prayed for, and not had the answers we've wanted. There is no simple or easy answer to the 'why' question, but we need to press on in faith and trust in God in these challenging times. That's something Jocelyn & I had personal experience of this week. After 3 years on the transplant list – and praying for the right thing throughout that time – Jocelyn was called in on Tuesday night. We had a big decision to face, about whether we'd put our faith and trust in God – no matter what the outcome.
Of course it didn't go ahead, or I wouldn't be here! But we had a challenging five hours in the hospital, waiting for the final decision, knowing the risks if it did happen, and if it did not. All we could do was to trust God, and to have faith that he'd see us through, no matter what. But I won't pretend that it was easy – because it was far from it. It's at times like this that the rubber hits the road in our faith, though. When we face difficult times – as we all have to do – who do we put our trust in? Who do we turn to? And do we believe that God is able to do what we're asking him to?
So we can't lose sight of the fact that Jesus was amazed by this man's faith either! In many ways this was as big a step for that Roman officer /centurion to take as it would be for any of us to do the same today. The important thing is that he took it. He asked Jesus to do this huge thing, in faith and trust – and his prayer was answered. So this story must encourage as well as challenge us. It doesn't matter who we are, how on the outside we feel. We can, &and must, come to Jesus, and put our faith and trust in him. We may just discover, as that officer /centurion did, that it is a truly life-changing experience.
Over the coming months we'll see and hear other stories of how Jesus changed peoples' lives, in a whole variety of ways. What we'll need to keep in front of us is that Luke wrote all these stories down to help his readers know who Jesus was and is. His aim was for them – us – to encounter Jesus, and to be changed by doing so. He wanted them to put their faith and trust in God at all times – not just in the hard times. And so let's pray that, encouraged by this story we'll do just that day by day as we meet this Jesus.
Have you heard the one about nuns running an orphanage in Saudi Arabia? Their car ran out of petrol just outside the nearest town. Unfortunately, they didn't have a jerry-can with them so they had to make do with a potty to carry petrol back to their car. They were spotted pouring the contents of the potty into the petrol tank by a passing sheik. You can easily picture the look on his face! He was so amazed that he stopped to comment. 'I do not share your religion', he said. 'But I certainly admire your faith!'
By way of contrast, the classic definition of faith as given in the Bible is this: “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see / Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”. X2. Well, have you ever wondered what that looks like in practice? If so, wonder no more – because, metaphorically speaking, we have just seen it!
To be clear, I am talking about our Bible story rather than the one about the nuns! Today adults return to the gospel of Luke – with a bang! We began the year studying this book – which adults did right up to Easter. After a break to look at Peter's first letter, we are now coming back to Luke. We're going to stay with it right through to this summer. And there could be no better place to pick things up than with this story of the faith of the Roman officer / centurion.
Luke's main purpose in writing his book about Jesus was so that his readers could respond to the person at the centre of the story. As I said at the start of the year, Luke wanted everyone to respond to Jesus. He was a Gentile himself, a non-Jew – just like this officer / centurion. So Luke knew from his own experience that the good news about Jesus was for all people. Luke hadn't been disciple himself. But he had spent much time with the key figures of the early church. He even made personal appearances in the second book he wrote – Acts. Luke was one of Paul's constant travelling companions on his mission to spread the good news about Jesus far and wide. Through Paul, Luke had met many of the original disciples. He had been able to hear their stories about Jesus, as he sought after the truth of just who he was and what he had done.
Luke was convinced that Jesus was the Son of God, the saviour of the whole world. And he wanted to convince others of that truth too. That was why Luke wrote his first book: to give an accurate, scientific record – Luke was a doctor, remember – of what Jesus had said and done. Luke always planned to write a second book. So in Acts he then set out how what Jesus had said and done impacted the lives of people all over the known first-century world. But the story of changed lives began – as it continued – with the person of Jesus; just as it did with this Roman officer / centurion.
To put this event in context in Luke, we left the story back in February, with Jesus calling his first disciples to follow him. After bouncing around Luke a little in Lent, we're now picking it up a chapter or so later. Most of that chapter sets out Jesus' teaching, in Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus ended his teaching with a challenge to his hearers to build their lives on what he'd said. And here, at the start of chapter 7, we have a great example of someone who did just that. The Roman officer / centurion was someone who had heard, or had heard about, what Jesus had said, believed it – and then simply acted on it.
Do you know, there are only two occasions in the gospels when Jesus expressed amazement at people's faith. This was one of them, obviously. The other was when Jesus was amazed at how little faith people in his home town had in him. So this is only time that Jesus was positively amazed by someone's faith. And note that it was at the faith of an outsider, a Gentile – a Roman soldier, even! The picture that most of us carry of occupying forces – even if we lack any experience of them ourselves – is usually negative. And with good reason! By definition victorious armies look down on the people they have conquered. The Romans in 1st-century Palestine were no exception, which is why they were so hated. But there are often exceptions to the rule – and this officer / centurion was clearly one of those.
In Luke – unlike in Matthew's version – it was a group of Jewish elders who approached Jesus on his behalf. It was the officer's / centurion's idea to approach Jesus for help. He had at least heard about what Jesus had done round Capernaum, if not seen it for himself. And he clearly had a personal interest in what was going on spiritually. He was a good man, from what the elders said – and sympathetic to their faith. The officer / centurion had even paid for the local synagogue to be built. So he deserved Jesus' help, the elders told him – and Jesus appeared to agree.
As we heard, Jesus went with them, to do what had been asked of him, presumably. And, in case you missed it, that meant to heal the officer's / centurion's servant. He was so ill that he was about to die – a detail which wouldn't have passed Dr. Luke by! But Jesus never made it as far as the officer's / centurion's house. Another group of messengers met him before he got there – with another message from the officer / centurion. It's very interesting that the Roman disagreed with what the elders had said on his behalf. He didn't even think that he was worthy to come to Jesus himself, these messengers said. He certainly didn't deserve to have enter Jesus his house. And Jesus didn't need to come in person anyway, they told him!
This was the part that so amazed Jesus. The second message from the officer / centurion was that Jesus simply needed to give the order / say the word – and his servant would be healed! No wonder Jesus was amazed by his faith! How much, how great a faith does that show? To believe that Jesus is capable of healing someone that sick, with just a word – and one spoken when not even there at that? That is what the officer /centurion believed; and that is what he told his messengers to ask Jesus to do. And, as we heard that is what then happened – astounding as it may sound.
Now, to be fair, the Roman officer / centurion did live in a different world to the one we do. He was, in one sense, simply applying what he knew about how his world worked to the problem he had. He was a soldier, an officer and an owner of slaves. In his world, what he said went: his word was law. As his messengers pointed out to Jesus, people did what this officer told them to – just as he did what those above him told him. Or else! It is a pretty foreign notion to people like us in the 21st- century western world, perhaps; but that is how it was back then. So in one sense it was a simple step for that officer /centurion to take, to ask Jesus to give the order, and just expect it to be done.
Let's not miss the implication of what that soldier asked for – and believed, though. He was saying that Jesus had the same authority over sickness as he, the soldier, had over other people. He believed Jesus could order the sickness to go – and that it would! And he was right! By the way, neither Luke nor Matthew even record that Jesus gave the order. They simply say that the second group of messengers went back to the house, and found the servant well!
This story must make us re-examine our understanding of God's authority. That could be hard, given that none of us are used to that kind of authority structure. But maybe that says more about our culture than it does about what God is like. In the same way, this story may also challenge us about whether we truly believe what we say that Jesus is able to do. If we believe it, perhaps we'll act like it's true rather more often than we do. It might just need to have an impact on our prayer life too. Perhaps it should get us asking God much more directly to do things – even if we don't always get the answers that we want.
I'm conscious that the whole area of healing is a very raw one for many of us at the moment. At both churches we have just lost people much younger than we think is right. These are people we have prayed for, and not had the answers we've wanted. There is no simple or easy answer to the 'why' question, but we need to press on in faith and trust in God in these challenging times. That's something Jocelyn & I had personal experience of this week. After 3 years on the transplant list – and praying for the right thing throughout that time – Jocelyn was called in on Tuesday night. We had a big decision to face, about whether we'd put our faith and trust in God – no matter what the outcome.
Of course it didn't go ahead, or I wouldn't be here! But we had a challenging five hours in the hospital, waiting for the final decision, knowing the risks if it did happen, and if it did not. All we could do was to trust God, and to have faith that he'd see us through, no matter what. But I won't pretend that it was easy – because it was far from it. It's at times like this that the rubber hits the road in our faith, though. When we face difficult times – as we all have to do – who do we put our trust in? Who do we turn to? And do we believe that God is able to do what we're asking him to?
So we can't lose sight of the fact that Jesus was amazed by this man's faith either! In many ways this was as big a step for that Roman officer /centurion to take as it would be for any of us to do the same today. The important thing is that he took it. He asked Jesus to do this huge thing, in faith and trust – and his prayer was answered. So this story must encourage as well as challenge us. It doesn't matter who we are, how on the outside we feel. We can, &and must, come to Jesus, and put our faith and trust in him. We may just discover, as that officer /centurion did, that it is a truly life-changing experience.
Over the coming months we'll see and hear other stories of how Jesus changed peoples' lives, in a whole variety of ways. What we'll need to keep in front of us is that Luke wrote all these stories down to help his readers know who Jesus was and is. His aim was for them – us – to encounter Jesus, and to be changed by doing so. He wanted them to put their faith and trust in God at all times – not just in the hard times. And so let's pray that, encouraged by this story we'll do just that day by day as we meet this Jesus.
posted by Parish Administrator at 9:21 am
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