"Who is It?" (Luke 7:1-10)

"Who is It?" (Luke 7:1-10)
Preached 5/11/18 at Christian Theological Seminary (Indianapolis, Indiana)

Exegetical Presentation Link

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant

7 After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. ² A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. ³ When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. ⁴ When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, ⁵ for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” ⁶ And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; ⁷ therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. ⁸ For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” ⁹ When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” ¹⁰ When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

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"Who is It?"

What makes me a decent pastor (if that’s true), makes me terrible at dating. As a pastor - dare I say as any person of faith - we are trained to love by default. I fall in love with everyone, everything. I look past faults, things that might be harmful to my own emotions and sense of being and jump right to love. In this sense, though not for everyone, love is easy. To be clear, love isn’t always a synonym for joy or forgiveness, but the act of choosing love is a keystone to our Christian faith. My former boss and mentor likes to say that love is the easiest part of being in a relationship. Living together, that’s hard. Paying the water bill, that’s hard. Raising kids is hard. Making it work, that’s hard. Sometimes too hard. But loving, I can check that box.

I’d like to suggest that the story of the healing of the Centurion’s servant is primarily a story about choosing love over all else. There is a lot going on this passage. If you like passive-aggressiveness, you are going to especially love this story. Under the backdrop of an oppressive empire, Jesus is faced with a request from an agent of that empire to heal someone close to him. Like choosing love, Jesus choosing to heal is the easy part of this story. Not one to bury the lead, hear that good news: there is a need, Jesus learns about it, and Jesus heals. Amen to that. We can stop there, go home and feel warm and fuzzy about this result, but that is not what we are called to do.

We still need to talk about how this healing came to be. We are dealing with a powerful man. As Luke tells us, people come and go at the whim of this Roman military official. It’s safe to assume that the Centurion lived a comfortable life, not wanting for resources or sustenance and with access to all of the privileges his rank had to offer. We can also assume that if something or someone besides Jesus was available to heal this servant, he likely would have taken advantage of it. Even for someone who seemingly has it all, the love he has in heart for this servant isn’t enough. It’s too easy. Only through faith in Jesus is the Centurion able to have his heart’s desire fulfilled. The Centurion puts aside all of the baggage of power and politics and takes a risk in having faith in this outsider, this rebel, to help him out on behalf of someone he loved. The Centurion’s demonstration of faith through this act of love is evidence that the last relics of the old world are starting to fall apart.

We need to talk about how this person was healed. Jesus is presented with a chain of events that includes the use of Jewish advisors who likely had a patronage based - that is a tit for tat - relationship with the Centurion, evidenced by the pride expressed for the Centurion’s role in building a synagogue. When Jesus is finally face to face with the Centurion, he is greeted with a confession of faith that starts with flattery and ends with some strutting - people do what I say, the Centurion says. Jesus seems like a pretty smart guy. He must have known many motives were at work in this request, but we’d never know it from what he tells the crowd. Jesus says, “not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

We need to talk about why this person needed healed and who this person really is. Luke tells us he is ill and close to death. Matthew says he is paralyzed. But, why? Is it a physical illness or is he paralyzed from the weight of being told he is not enough, less than, unwelcome and unwanted. Not so, communicates Jesus without saying a word. Neither illness nor oppression will keep God from ushering in the new realm. Without seeing the man, his hand heals. No test of faith, no investigation, no questions asked.

Who is the person being healed? My favorite part of this text is that there are a lot of possibilities. Our pew Bible tells us the person is a slave. Older translations use the word servant. The parallel story in the Gospel of John says the healed is the official's son. The synoptic parallel in Matthew uses a Greek work that has been translated quite inconsistently. The word suggests it could be a slave, a servant in the sense of serving Christ, a child, a political advisor or even a lover. The truth is, we don’t know the exact identity of who this person really is, but I know who I hope it is.

I hope it is a slave. His healing an act of love that suggests that there is no room in the new realm for such an appalling practice.

I hope it is a servant of Christ, working from inside the system to bring about change to the Empire.

I hope it is a child who, in being healed, says children are more than laborers and future soldiers … they are souls who need love and nurturing.

I hope it is a political advisor who, after being healed, cannot forget the glimpse of potential he saw in the new realm and who then passes the love forward by being the faithful voice of opposition against oppressive leadership.

I hope he is the Centurion’s lover, his healing providing a window of affirmation for people whom many today would still exclude from the Church.

I hope it is all of us striving to find our place in the new realm of Christ that Luke is promising.

Remember, Jesus didn’t know who it was either. He didn’t see the person, he didn’t ask questions. He sensed a need, he embodied love, and he moved forward. That is our call. To the extent that faith can heal, it heals for everyone. In our capacity to love, we are called to love everyone. It’s scary. There are lots of things that could go wrong but, in the new realm of God, there is so much more that can go right. Amen.