Theme: A bold faith from the Centurion June 9, 2013

“Jesus wants people with nothing to offer!”

Luke 7:1-10

Dearly Loved by our Lord,

There is a TV show called “THE BACHELOR” where a handsome guy carefully makes his selection of a potential wife from among a group of some 2 dozen lovely ladies. After many conversations and exotic dates, he narrows down the field of candidates on the basis of their personality, talents, appearance, and compatibility. He says good-bye to those who just don’t click with him and gives red roses to those he likes. Then after 10 weeks, he makes his final choice on the woman he thinks is the best of all 25 and invariably winds up proposing. There are lots of tears and broken hearts through it all, except for the one left at the end.

There is no bachelor/bachelorette game with Jesus. He has only 1 Bride in mind, the CHURCH. Jesus doesn’t select his Bride with the most beauty, talent, personality, or appearance. He doesn’t weed out candidates as to who He wants in His CHURCH. He doesn’t look at all the good of the candidates in His Church. He selects people because of his great love for the Church.

Today we hear of an unusual story of unexpected humility coupled with a childlike trust, not from a bachelor, but from a high-ranking soldier. And the story we are about to drop in on shows us that………..

“Jesus wants people with nothing to offer!”

1.Who humbly seek His help

2.Who graciously get what He offers them

1

Capernaum was Jesus home port for much of his earthly ministry. Located on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus spent a lot of time with his disciples, especially those who came from Capernaum, e.g. Peter, James, John and Andrew. Also stationed in Capernaum were the troops of Herod Antipas, one of whom is the prime character in our text. There was a Roman Centurion who, as the title suggests, was commander of 100 men assigned to protect the trade routes through the city.

This Centurion was no ordinary guy. Sure, he likely had an impressive military career. Sure, he was highly decorated and respected amongst the ranks. But we also have evidence that he was Gentile believer, ie. one who was not a Jew. By his dealings with them, he became pretty “buddy-buddy” with them. Tradition said that a Jew and Gentile never befriended each other. But this Centurion was a Jewish convert which helps us understand his greatness in the eyes of the people.

The Centurion had a major crisis on his hands. He had been in battles before, but he had no control over this one. His favorite servants was dying. We don’t know from what, but he was not going survive. He had only a few days and there was really no hope of his condition getting better. It was only a matter of time!

Why should that matter? After all, soldiers died all the time, and so did their servant comrades. But he was different than all the rest. The Centurion sent a delegation of Jewish leaders to Jesus and they were willing to appeal to Jesus to heal this servant. We’re told: WHEN THEY CAME TO JESUS, THEY PLEADED EARNESTLY WITH HIM. These Jewish elders went to bat for this Centurion as they continued to beg and plead their case of why Jesus should heal the servant.

The Jewish leaders’ reason for Jesus’ healing was A TRIBUTE to this man’s love for God. THIS MAN DESERVES TO HAVE YOU DO THIS, BECAUSE HE LOVES OUR NATION AND HAS BUILT OUR SYNAGOGUE. As an expression of his faith in the O.T. Scriptures and the promises of God, he had taken upon himself to build this place of worship for the Jews. Since Jesus healed many other Jews in their time of need, surely this faithful centurion was worthy of Jesus’ consideration at his time of need.

Jesus wants people with nothing to offer to HUMBLY SEEK HIS HELP. And that’s exactly what this Centurion did. However he didn’t expect Jesus to physically come into his house. The Captain sent messengers to Jesus with the message: LORD DON’T TROUBLE YOURSELF, FOR I DO NOT DESERVE TO HAVE YOU COME UNDER MY ROOF. THAT IS WHY I DID NOT EVEN CONSIDER MYSELF WORTHY TO COME TO YOU. BUT SAY THE WORD AND MY SERVANT WILL BE HEALED. What a fine example of humility seeking Jesus’ help. He took God at his word, at face value with doubting or questioning his wisdom. The Holy Spirit had created a humble faith in this man –to put aside all his authority, his own physical power and personal rank, to strip himself of any and all glory, and humbly fall on his knees before one who was greater than all: Jesus Christ.

Here was a Commander of 100. He orders people around. He tells his soldiers “GO” and they go…”COME” and they come. When he says “JUMP”, his troops ask: “HOW HIGH?” This is the kind of leader we’re dealing with here, and yet he tells Jesus I AM NOT WORTHY TO HAVE YOU COME UNDER MY ROOF…I am not worthy to be in your presence, to stand on the same ground as you.

Would we want Jesus to come under our roof? Why should he? We are not famous soldiers, we are lost sinners. We slap Jesus everytime we get a little too full of ourselves and claim that Jesus owes us good things. We anger Jesus by not using every chance to hear his Word of our dreadful sin and its ugly consequences in hell so that we can humbly seek Jesus’ help. We put a knife in Jesus’ back when we neglect worship and instead claim: “I’m too busy, I’m too tired, I’m too tied up” to feed my faith on the menu of grace in his work of redemption. We shuffle on every day when life’s good completely forgetting who is helping us. And then when the tornado of disaster hits our health, our homes, our wallets, or our jobs – then we’re real quick to put God at the top of our blame list. We’re part of a society which now claims its own right to redefine marriage and its sexual boundaries, redefine lifestyles, redefine when you can live with someone, or redefine when you can abort a life still inside a mother’s womb.

We claim those rights, but God hasn’t given any those rights. This is sin. The only rights we have is that God judge us and condemn us to an eternal disaster in everlasting damnation. Yes, even in 2013, the wages of sin is still death.

Jesus wants people with nothing to offer who humbly seek his help. Humility doesn’t claim rights, but strips away our sinful pride and arrogance to bring us to our knees knowing we are dying a slow death of destruction without Jesus. Without Jesus Christ, we are spiritually dead and will remain that way forever. We need Jesus. We need to have him come under our roof and rescue us from our sins. We need Jesus to shower us with His love like the pouring rains showered our land last week. You’ve come to worship today, the right place to humbly seek his help. That’s who Jesus wants……..He WANTS YOU!

2

Not only do we seek his help, but we ALSO GET WHAT JESUS GRACIOUSLY OFFERS.

The Gospel shares what Jesus offers. For the Centurion, Jesus offered a commendation of his brilliant faith and courageous trust. I TELL YOU, I HAVE NOT FOUND SUCH GREAT FAITH EVEN IN ISRAEL. This commander’s faith was great because it was marked by humility and a complete trust in Jesus’ word. He was a Gentile, and to this point, Jesus hadn’t seen this kind of courageous faith in the Jews. No wonder Jesus marveled at him. This man’s faith made him a member of God’s kingdom where the blessedness of heaven was promised him. On top of that, the servant was healed. He instantly recovered from His near fatal illness. No doubt the Centurion shared what Jesus graciously offered his servant the first time he saw him alive and well again.

Dear friends, I hope you have come to church today humbly seeking Jesus’ help. The Gospel graciously offers what Jesus gives. Today you have help from the Lord Jesus who loved you with a love that took him to the cross. He gave his life and shed his blood to heal your souls of the fatal disease of sin. His shoulders carried every wrong of words, action, and thought and paid the price of God’s judgment by dying on the cross. He took on the wages of sin and completely wiped your slate clean of all your sins. You are forgiven – (not might, not maybe, not hope to be), YOU ARE. God sees you as redeemed children of his getting what Jesus graciously offers in His love. His love restores you and makes you completely healed.

Now Jesus graciously offers the promise that I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, TO THE VERY END OF THE AGE. (Matt 28:20). NEVER WILL I LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU. (Heb 13:5) He graciously offers His love in Word & Sacrament to hold on and fight the good fight of faith…and know that there is in store for you the crown of righteousness, which the Lord will award to me on that day. (2 Tim 4:7)

Look in the mirror and what do you see? A candidate for “The Bachelor” or “Bachelorette”? Nah, too many flaws! That’s exactly the people Jesus Christ wants…people who are seeking His help to graciously get what He offers: His love and mercy that covers our sinful flaws and makes us gorgeous in God’s sight in heaven forever. And at the end of our lives, that’s the ROSE we want! AMEN