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spent0204
Worthy or Not
Text:
Luke 7:1-10
Date: Pentecost 2 
6/13/04 Battle.LAN 0.6
From
whence does faith arise? From where such faith as this? “I tell
you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” Not even in Israel!
Amazing words. Shocking words. Jesus' words concerning a soldier,
a Gentile, one belonging to the occupying forces of Rome. Yet one
who evidenced love and kindness even among those he was set to rule,
to watch over and to control.
Not
even in Israel such faith? But what about the great heroes of faith?
“For by it the people of old received their commendation.” The writer
of the letter to the Hebrews lists them: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham,
Isaiah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, “and what more shall I say? For time
would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David
and Samuel and the prophets…” [Heb. 11:2, 4-32 (ESV)]. It seems
that great, God-given faith is plentiful and abounds everywhere.
But is this such faith greater than even these? Well, maybe not
those. But an example of faith greater, at least, than that which
Jesus was finding represented in the Jewish officialdom of his day,
the Pharisees and scribes and priests. What was so great about this
outsider's faith? What was wrong with the faith of those who were
ostensibly there to teach it?
Whence
does faith arise? “Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and
at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion
heard about Jesus, he sent to him.” Yeah, it was just despair. It's
like the lawyers and the police that laugh at how most convicts
when they are sent to prison suddenly get religious. But that's
not it. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word
of Christ” [Romans 10:17 (ESV)]. Faith arises not from ourselves,
though it is personal, and not from our circumstance, though they
may bring us to more clearly see our need. Faith arises simply from
hearing, and hearing the word of Christ, the word from Christ, the
word about Jesus Christ. Wherever that Word is preached, taught,
read, explained, shared, there the Holy Spirit reaches into hearts
to create faith where and when he wills in those who hear the Gospel.
That's where such faith comes from, always!
But
there's more. When Jesus called it “ such faith” he was
referring to it's boldness, it's tenacity, it's humility, it's strength.
The
centurion sent elders of the Jews to ask Jesus to come heal his
servant. I suppose the elders may have been thinking that he sent
them because of his position, bossing them around as slaves. Of
course they gladly carried his request to Jesus, even trying to
impress Jesus by saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him,
for he loves our nation, and,” pointing to their little ledger book,
“he is the one who built us our synagogue! We owe him. YOU owe him!”
He's a man who puts his money where his mouth is! “He is worthy,
he is worthy!”
So,
Jesus went with them. He went with them not, however, because this
soldier was so important or worthy from a worldly, political, beneficent
point of view. He went with them because there is no God like him,
in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing
steadfast love to his servants who walk before him with all their
heart. Solomon asked “but will God indeed dwell on the earth?” Here
is God's “Yes.” God indeed dwells on the earth in Jesus and in his
Body the Church. And not only for his covenant people Israel, but
through them so that when even a foreigner, who is not of his people
Israel, comes from a far country for his name's sake (for they shall
hear of his great name and his mighty hand, and of his outstretched
arm), when he comes and prays he will hear him in order that all
the peoples of the earth may know his name and fear him, as do his
people Israel [1 Kings 8:22-43]. Jesus went with them because he
is Immanuel, God with us.
But
the faith! This faith! “When he was not far from the house, the
centurion sent friends, saying to him, ‘Lord, do not trouble yourself,
for I am not worthy.'” The elders said he was worthy. He says, “I
am not worthy.” “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof….
But say the word, and let my servant be healed.” First, he respects
Jesus as a Jew knowing that he cannot enter a house of a Gentile
without defiling himself. Little did he even guess that Jesus wouldn't
let that stop him. But, second, his faith is humble yet strong—humble,
“I am not worthy,” but strong, “say but the word.” Not only does
this soldier understand how authority works, he believes Jesus has
such authority over sickness and disease as to be able to command
it. Yet, not only does Jesus have authority over sickness and disease
and everything sin has done to enslave and kill us, he also has
the desire, the goodwill, the love to use that authority, as he
said in his initial sermon in Nazareth, “to proclaim good news to
the poor…to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” [Luke 4:18
(ESV)]. That's why he came. Of course he is going to heal the man's
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