In the name of Jesus. Amen.
I love that these two stories are placed together like this;
the first story, about the Roman military leader (called the centurion) and the
second story about widow and her son. I believe that you cannot read one
without the other.
In the first story, Jesus was walking around in the country,
teaching and preaching in the Jewish churches. He shows up to an area of the
country called Capernaum. When he shows up, a high-ranking Roman soldier hears
that he is in town and sends some of the old Jewish elders to go get Jesus. The
soldier’s slave was very ill and close to death.
When Jesus arrives, the Roman soldier can hardly believe
that Jesus had actually showed up. In fact, he sends out some friends before
Jesus gets there to tell Jesus not to come.
I’ve always wondered exactly why the soldier does this. He
asks Jesus to come and when he does, he tries to send Jesus home. He says that
he doesn’t want Jesus there because he doesn’t deserve to have him come, but
why doesn’t he deserve it? Is it because he’s a Roman soldier and not a Jew?
Has he done something bad in his life that he doesn’t want Jesus to know about?
Is he ashamed of the laundry on the floor and the unmade bed? Is it like when I
show up for a visit at someone’s home and they feel they have to ask me to
excuse the mess?
For the Roman soldier, there is something about Jesus that
makes him feel unworthy. He doesn’t even want to see Jesus face to face. And
yet, he still asks Jesus to heal his slave. “But only speak the word, and let
my servant be healed.”
The funny thing is, Jesus never really does show up at the
house. But when the soldiers’ friends return to the house, the slave who had
been ill and close to death had been healed. Jesus is amazed at the faith of
the Roman soldier.
This first story is an odd one to me. It’s odd because the
faith of the Roman soldier, not even a good Jewish man, is what seems to get
Jesus to heal his slave.
I don’t know about you, but in my experience a person’s
faith has never been able to predict whether a person is healed or not. More
faith does not equal greater healing. And less faith does not equal less
healing. The only thing that faith and healing have to do with one another, in
my experience, is that having faith when you are ill means that you believe in
the power of God to do anything God chooses, including healing. God could heal
if God wanted to, but my having faith or not having faith won’t force God to
make the decision. God will decide when and how God will heal.
So this first story is odd, because on the surface it seems
like the Roman soldiers faith is what brings healing to the slave who is close
to dying.
But this is why I like the two stories together. The second
story is about Jesus going into another little town, called Nain. In Nain, a
large crowd and Jesus’ disciples are following him. As Jesus gets to the gate
of the town, a funeral procession makes its way past him. Being carried out on
the funeral bier is a young man. His mother and a large group of mourners are
following. When Jesus sees the young man who had died and his mother, the
widow, Jesus’ heart breaks.
Interrupting the funeral procession, Jesus reaches out and
touches the funeral bier. And then Jesus speaks, “Young man, I say to you,
rise!” And the dead man sat up and began to speak.
In this second story, faith has nothing to do with Jesus
raising the young man from the dead. Instead, Jesus simply interrupts the
funeral procession, the widow, and the eternal sleep of the young man. By his
compassion and his word, Jesus raises the boy from the dead. It has nothing to
do with the faith of the widow, or the crowd, or the young man. It only has to
do with the love of Jesus spoken through his word.
Many of us have our own stories of miraculous healing. Unfortunately,
many of us also have our own stories of illness that leads to death. Sometimes
it is true that God chooses to heal us. And sometimes it is not. Some of us
struggle with loved ones who pray for healing for years and years and years.
Some of us struggle with our own illnesses, wondering if God will ever heal our
bodies, trapped as they are in sickness. Our stories are filled with struggle
and illness.
But more importantly, what we learn from these stories this
morning is that God will always interrupt, always break in, always intrude on
our funeral processions with a word of resurrection moved by his great love of
his people. When it really matters, God looks at us and in only the kind of
love and compassion that God could have for his creation, raises us up and
gives us the promise of eternal life.
But we don’t have to wait to benefit from that kind of love.
It’s the kind of love that works even now. God has already taken one look at
your life, dead in sin, and forgiven you and spoken the word: “rise!” We have a
God whose compassion knows no limits, whose love knows no laws, who looks upon
his creatures with stars in his eyes and says, rise up, my people! You are mine
and I am yours.
The beauty of these two stories together this morning is
that they are the living word of God for you, right now. In sickness and in
health, in life and in death, this God takes one look at you, moved with love
and compassion, and speaks that simple word of resurrection, rise!
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
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