PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION



PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Holy God, Author of Life, through the power of your Holy Spirit, may we hear and understand what your Word has to tell us today. Amen.

SCRIPTURE LESSON Matthew 8: 5-10 NRSV

5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.”

8 The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed.

9 For I also am a man 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.”

10 When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. CHORAL RESPONSE

My church calendar tells me that today is the 6th Sunday of the Easter season.

My kitchen calendar tells me that this is Memorial Day weekend, which some consider to be the official start of the summer season.

But, the ink on my calendar tells me that we are in the season of graduation.

Graduation may be a gradual process, but once you’re there, boom, a lot of things hit all of a sudden.

I have spent the past week attending graduation events of various types. There were parties, there was commencement, but my most favorite were the awards ceremonies.

In between the bestowing of awards, various students took turn sharing their thoughts.

A high school junior stood up and explained why, next year, he would miss the graduating seniors. He called them his “role models.”

I am not sure that the 18-year-olds in the room had ever thought of themselves as role models before. After all, they had just become adults. So, for the first time in their adult lives, they were in command. They had people under them to whom they could say, “Go, “and they went, or, “Come,” and they came.

They found themselves in the same position as the centurion in this morning’s Scripture lesson.

He, too, had people under him. And, he was equally aware that he had people over him.

At first glance, this seems to be a story about a faith healing. And the message seems to be, “If I believe hard enough, Jesus will heal me.”

But, this is not a story about faith and healing. This story is about faith and authority.

Jesus said that the centurion had more faith than anyone in all of Israel, which is pretty amazing when you stop and think about it.

He was a Roman, but Jesus said he had more faith than the Jews.

He was a Soldier, but Jesus said he had more faith than the Priests.

He was a Gentile, but Jesus said he had more faith than the Pharisees.

In fact, because the Centurion was a gentile, if Jesus would have stepped foot in his house, Jesus would have defiled himself. He would have become “unclean” according to the laws of the Pharisees.

The Centurion knew about those laws. So, when Jesus expressed his willingness to defile himself by coming to his house, the Centurion stopped him, not so much out of personal humility, but out of respect for Jesus.

And that show of respect started a conversation about authority and faith.

A Centurion was someone who knew what it meant to be under authority –and- a Centurion was someone who understood what it meant to have authority over others.

If faith is about understanding authority, then we would do well to reflect upon the various chains of command in our own lives. And as we reflect and define where we rank, we also need to understand the social order in light of our faith.

For some reason, human beings have a tendency to create hierarchies.

When God came to Israel in the form of Jesus the Christ, there was a definite social ladder with the Unclean on the bottom rung, the Priests at the very top, and everyone else at various rungs in between.

Jesus came to turn that ladder on its side and create a level playing field, an egalitarian society, a world where everyone was equal – not only in God’s eyes, but in the eyes of one another as well.

But, that was not to be.

Even in a country that declared its independence by saying, “All Men are created equal,” inequalities still exist and we have created various hierarchies within our government, our workplaces, our families, and even in our churches.

And so, we do well to work to understand why Jesus called the faith of the soldier “amazing.”

First, we need to understand what it means to be under authority.

Many of you who have been soldiers understand exactly what it means to be under authority. Everything that happens in military training is designed to prepare a soldier for the ultimate mission – to do battle. And when in battle, it is never more critical that the soldiers do as the officer commands.

It is a matter of life and death.

We may not understand why the commanding officer is telling us to fire in this direction or retreat to that direction, but disobeying the command could well result in the loss of life – our life and the lives of others.

Trust in authority is essential.

Trust in God’s authority over us is essential. When we override God’s commandments, when we ignore God’s commandments, we risk losing our souls and we harm the souls of others.

God has commanded us to love others. God has commanded us to love strangers. God has commanded us to love our enemies.

Our commander-in-chief has given us quite a challenge. Suddenly, we realize that love isn’t red hearts and doilies or chocolate candies or bouquets of roses.

Love is a battle, a battle of the wills; God’s will versus my will.

And so, we also need to understand what it means to have authority over others.

Some of you may supervise staff. Others may exercise parental authority. Some of you may have expertise in a certain field and so you may be called upon to lend your authority on the subject in certain situations. The elders in our church have been given a measure of authority in the church.

We do well to examine the way the centurion practiced authority.

Most importantly, he cared for those under his command.

When his servant was sick, he did not terminate his employment. The Pharisees would have labeled the sick servant as “unclean” and set him outside of the gates of Capernaum.

But, the centurion did not buy into that kind of thinking. He not only kept his servant, he looked for ways to heal him. Apparently, he had heard of this teacher and healer by the name of Jesus who seemed to operate under some sort of Higher Power, so the centurion sought him out.

I doubt that he knew Jesus would find his faith to be amazing.

And I doubt the centurion knew that he would be a role model for us.

We, too, ought to go to great lengths to care for the people whom God has placed in our care.

In the church, those placed in a position of leadership are called to care for the people in their committees and for the church as a whole.

And that’s because the church is called to set the example for the world around us.

If the church can demonstrate God’s love, perhaps authority in schools and workplaces and in families and even in government could learn from us.

We are called to be the light for all the world to see.

My oldest son graduated from high school this past week. During the commencement ceremony, the principal of the school made a speech.

He pointed out that the school building had been under construction the whole time my son’s class had been there and that the construction was finally completed in their senior year. Since they were the first class to graduate from the new building, he called them, “First Class Students.”

He told them to always be First Class. Be the First to help others. Be the First to forgive others. Be the First to give others a second chance.

As the Principal was talking, I realized, he was quoting Scripture – indirectly – but it was Scripture, nonetheless.

He was applying today’s Scripture lesson to the school setting and he was charging the seniors to do God’s will in life.

I was amazed. I thought to myself, if this principal’s pastor was here, he would be so happy to know that one of his parishioners heard the good news of the gospel and is applying his faith to his life’s work.

I was pleased that my son had such an excellent role model throughout his four years of high school.

And so, I would charge each of you with this: Go into your homes, Go into your schools, Go into the marketplace, Take your understanding of faith and authority with you – Go and be amazing.

Let us pray:

Holy God, give us the grace we need to have amazing faith. When we are under authority, may we show respect and deference. When we are over others, may we show care and concern. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, may our faith deepen through each person we encounter, for we pray in the name of the one who was sent to save us, Jesus our Lord. Amen.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download