Public Reading: Luke 7:1-17
(An audio file of the sermon can be found here)
The Story:
• Jesus just finished the “Sermon on the Plain” and went into Capernaum
• At this point we see two short stories that most of time are separated
o The Healing of the Centurion’s Servant
o The Raising of the Widows Dead Son
• However, I believe these two stories are connected with each other and with the Jesus’ teachings on the plain.
• St. Luke often told things in pairs (male and female)
o Birth Narrative
* The angel’s visit to Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father
* The angel’s visit to Mary, mother of Jesus
o Purification at the Temple
* The prophetic word of Simon at the temple when Jesus was a baby
* The prophetic word of Anna at the temple when Jesus was a baby
o Healing
* The Healing of the Centurion’s Servant
* The Raising of the Widows Dead Son
o Parables
* Man who lost a sheep
* Women who lost a coin
• This is in mind, let us look at the similarities of these two stories
Two Stories; One Message
1. They were both at the end of hope; they were desperate
a. The Centurion’s bondservant was dying
i. ‘bondservant’ => a slave who chose to stay with his master instead of becoming free
1. The Kingdom New Testament says that the slave was “particularly precious” to the Centurion
ii. A Centurion was a Roman Officer who commanded 100 men
1. This was someone with authority and social status (well, the eyes of Rome)
iii. He would have had access to the medical doctors of the Roman Army
1. Nothing had worked
2. He had to humble himself greatly to ask for help from a Jewish prophet
b. The widow’s only son had died
i. At that time and place, a women’s livelihood was depended upon their father, husband or son
ii. To have her only son die was to cut off her support and livelihood => who knows if her father was still alive or if she had anywhere to go or any money to support herself
2. They both were surrounded by people
a. The Centurion asked his Jewish friends, the elders of the town, to go to Jesus and ask him for help
i. It is interesting that this man cared enough about the Jewish people that he build them a synagogue (most likely the same one Jesus had preached in earlier)
ii. Even most strange is the fact that the Jewish elders LIKED this guy enough to go to bat for him
b. The widow’s fellow townspeople carried her son out of the town and cried with her
i. It was common practice for family and friends to join the funeral march, carrying the dead on a bier supported by four men on their shoulders
ii. We don’t know much about this lady, but apparently she was well loved in the town of Nain as a “substantial crowd of the townspeople” were with her
c. To me, this speaks of the need for community, for fellowship with others
i. It is easy to retreat and hide away
ii. But we each need each other, even if we don’t think we do, we really do.
iii. This life was never meant to be lived alone; this is why God created two people – this is also why St. Paul tells us not to forsake the gathering of the people of God
3. Jesus showed up and spoke words of life
a. For the Centurion, these words were spoken from away
i. This says something about our prayers that are spoken from a distance
b. He was up-close for the widow’s son
i. Even if we can pray from afar, we are to comfort folks up close => to join with them in their grieve and ask Jesus to come and change things
4. The Kingdom of God broke into their lives
a. Centurion’s slave was healed
i. This was more than just a healing a sick man, this was the rule and reign of God going outside the chosen people of God to touch a Gentile => this was what was supposed to have happened all along, but did not.
1. God’s promise to Abraham was that the blessings of God would go through him and his family and touch all the people of the world
2. Here it was in practice
ii. The Kingdom New Testament states that the Jewish elders came to Jesus asking him to “rescue” the slave
1. The Greek word “diasōzō” means:
a. to preserve through danger, to bring safely through
i. to save, i.e. cure one who is sick, bring him through
b. to save, keep from perishing
c. to save out of danger, rescue
iii. A lot of Jews thought of the Rome as the enemy => Jesus had recently told the crowds near Capernaum that there were to love their enemies
1. “Love your enemies! Do good to people who hate you! Bless people who cure you! Pray for people who treat you badly!” –Luke 6:27b-28 (KNT)
iv. Jesus went even further and ‘rescued’ the slave for death who is the real enemy
b. The widow’s son was raised from the dead
i. While Jesus only hinted at the real enemy with the centurion, he conquered it with the widow’s son
ii. The resurrection of the dead, which was to come in the next age when all evil was destroyed and God himself walked among his people, started to happen with Jesus
iii. The key or the climax of the passage is in Luke 7:16:
“Terror came over all of them. They praised God. ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ they said. ‘God has visited his people!’”
1. God had indeed visited his people! The promises of old were being fulfilled in their midst
Conclusion
• There has been a lot of grief and death in this valley
o I went to the post office yesterday and saw a sign that someone else had passed away
• In the midst of all this, we can start asking the question of where is God…slowly our faith in his touch disappears.
• We have to live in the tension between the two ages…
• There are two pitfalls that we fall into when we pray and nothing happens
1. We start thinking that God is not able
2. Or that he doesn’t want to heal/answer us
• These two stories address these pitfalls
1. The centurion placed his trust in the authority of Jesus to heal
* That Jesus had the power and the ability to heal
2. The story of the widow speaks to Jesus’ heart as his “heart went out to her” when he saw her
* In other words, he wants too
• This is the power of these stories, to keep in living in the tension of the here and not yet.
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