Jim Gill March 4, 2007
“March Forth”
Luke 7:1-10
Welcome to the one Sunday a year when the date is an order. March Forth!
It’s an order for us Christians, and an order that very well may have been given by the main man in our gospel lesson this morning. Attention! Maaaaaaarch Forrrrrrrrth!
In the chapter 6 of Luke we saw how in the sermon on the plain Jesus commanded his followers to love their enemies. The man we are going to read about today WAS the enemy. At least he was of the same nationality as the enemy. He was a Centurion, or a general over 100 troops in the occupying army of Rome! This morning we are going to see a living example of an enemy that loved them. Hear the word of the Lord from Luke 7:1-10.
Let’s pray. Lord thank you for this vivid example of faith from a most surprising source. Use this to stir up in us our own faith that through your word and through even us you can continue to …..speak the word.
******
Will Rogers. He was was an American comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, and actor. He was born on November 4, 1879 and died on August 15, 1935. His entree to being an entertainer was through rope tricks. But his ability to read the papers and comment on them that evening on the vaudeville stage is what really set put him on the map. I guess he was the forerunner of the Tonight Show Monologue. He used to start his routine with “All I know is what I read in the papers.” He starred in many silent films and later in the talkies, but one of the lines that he uttered off the screen for which he is most famous is the line, “I never met a man I didn’t like.”
This week I’ll be flying to Oklahoma City to serve on the staff of Oklahoma Presbyterian Cursillo #37. Oklahoma Cursillo is the community that brought Cursillo from North Carolina west of the Mississippi. They have had a hand in starting every Cursillo community in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, and Illinois. When I went up for a weekend training to meet the staff a month ago. I noticed that the airport is named after Will Rogers. Interestingly enough it’s called the Will Rogers World Airport. Here in Houston we have the George H. W. Bush International Airport, but in Oklahoma you don’t just book flights between nations, you book them between worlds. I guess it comes in handy when you want to go see someone from whom you’re worlds apart!
There’s a lot of stories about Will Rogers. One day Rogers was entertaining at the Milton H. Berry Institute in Los Angeles, a hospital that specialized in rehabilitating polio victims and people with broken backs and other extreme physical disabilities. Of course, Rogers had everybody laughing, even patients in really bad condition; but then he suddenly left the platform and went to the rest room. Milton Berry followed him to give him a towel; and when he opened the door, he saw Rogers leaning against the wall, sobbing like a child. Berry closed the door, and in a few minutes, Rogers appeared back on the platform, as jovial as before. (1)
Will Rogers hurt on behalf of those people for whom he was performing. Real men have always had tender hearts. They hurt when those around them hurt. And if they can help, they do.
The Centurion in our gospel lesson had a tender heart. The centurion had a servant who was quite dear to him. But now this servant was critically ill and the centurion was quite upset. He was concerned about his servant and he wanted something done.
This centurion was determined to help his servant. That was the kind of man he was. But what could he do? He was no doctor ” and even if he were, what could be done with the primitive medicine of that day? Then he heard about Jesus and we learn a second thing about this centurion: he was a man who respected other people’s beliefs.
The centurion heard that Jesus was a man who had the power of healing. "Ah," he thought, "maybe he can do something for my servant." And he made plans for soliciting Jesus' help.
Instead of personally approaching the Master, though, he sent a contingent of Jewish elders to plead his case for him. I thought it was very telling what the elders said to Jesus about the centurion. "He is worthy to have you do this for him," the elders said, "for he loves our nation and he built us our synagogue."
Apparently not all the Romans were oppressors. Here was a man of power and authority, but he was a man who had respect for those who believed differently than he. He even helped them build their synagogue.
I am thankful that there is a new generation of men who are rising up who are supportive of their wives, who respect the opinions of others, who listen and care. I believe such men make better fathers, as well as better husbands and better neighbors. This centurion was that kind of man. He was a man who respected others. But here's a third thing we learn about him: he was a man of genuine humility.
The elders told Jesus that the centurion was worthy, but the centurion himself felt he was not worthy to approach Jesus himself. That’s why he sent the elders to plead his case. Jesus was persuaded by the testimony of the elders and went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him saying, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof."
Here is a man of wealth, power, and authority and he is saying to an itinerant Jewish rabbi, "I am not worthy to have you come under my roof."
Is there any quality more appealing in a man or woman than genuine humility? I'm not talking about that form of low self-esteem that causes persons to become doormats ” allowing others to walk all over them. Certainly the centurion was no doormat. But he recognized Jesus' power and he was humble enough to ask Jesus' help.
If the centurion had been a proud man, he might have never sent for Jesus. But he was a caring man, he was a man who respected the beliefs of others, he was a humble man.
There is one final thing that must be said about this centurion: he was a man of faith. He not only respected other people’s faith, he had faith of his own.
He believed that if Jesus said the word his servant would be healed. He said, ‘Say the word and my servant will be healed.”
The centurion sends a message to Jesus: "Lord," he says, "Do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed "
When Jesus heard this, Luke tells us, he marveled at him, and said to the multitude that followed him, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." Jesus liked a man he never met! Jesus and the centurion never met. All of this encounter takes place through messengers. And when those messengers returned to the centurion's house, they found the slave well.
The centurion was a commander. Commanders give commands. He had between 80 and 120 men under his command and when he said jump they said “How high SIR?” He recognized that Jesus was a commander too. He recognized that Jesus could just say the word and his servant could be healed.
The centurion was a man who believed that Jesus could do what he said he would do. There are many of us who need that same faith.
Jesus said the word and the servant was healed. But what struck me about this story is that Jesus was surprised. He was amazed. You have to go some to amaze Jesus. Jesus was amazed that this commander knew and believed in Jesus’ power to heal. Jesus was surprised that such faith could exist in a person who was considered to be out of the loop.
Today, 2,000 years later we are in the loop. Those of us here this morning have the benefit of knowing what the Centurion could not know. We have generations of testimonies of how Jesus has said the word and folks have been healed.
In 1973, Kevin had Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was given months to live. He was so weak he couldn’t even dress himself. His father was a Presbyterian minister in Pittsburgh. But it was his mother who took him to a tent revival. At that revival Jesus said the word through someone and Kevin was healed of Lou Gehrig’s disease. The only lingering effect was that he couldn’t stand cold weather. So he moved to the only place he knew a person who lived where it wasn’t cold all the time. He moved to Galveston, Texas.
At the time I was the youth director at First Presbyterian Church and as such had a rent free house a block from Stewart Beach. Kevin came to church and soon came to live with me and the other 4 or 5 guys living in the house.
Today, Kevin is a lawyer living in Baton Rouge and runs a state-wide agency he founded that does advocacy for mentally ill, and mentally Impaired youth and adults.
Kevin’s mother had heard that there was a place where healing could take place and she took her son there. Thorough someone there, Jesus said the word and Kevin was healed.
There’s more than one kind of healing, that people need to experience. I read the story of a woman named Mary. "She and her husband were down at Lake Murray in Oklahoma one weekend water skiing with their three children. And it so happened on this occasion that Mary was driving the boat and pulling her young seven-year-old son Scott on the ski's behind. He was a good skier, but a big wave rolled by and he took a tumble in the lake and Mary circled back to pick him up. Well, Scott decided that he had had enough, that it was time for him to get out of the lake. But then it happened. As he was pulling himself on board in the back, Mary accidentally hit the throttle with her elbow in such a way that the boat went into reverse. And, yes, young Scott was knocked off and got caught in the propeller. They rushed him to the hospital in Ardmore, and they waited and waited for some word from the doctors in surgery. And after they were there for more than two hours, finally the doctor came out and said, "I'm sorry, but Scott didn't make it."
Mary had to be hospitalized for a couple of weeks because she simply could not function; and even after she was released from the hospital, she was still in a state of shock and dismay. You could tell it by looking at the lifeless expression on her face and in her eyes.
Well, one day, a couple of months later, she went by to visit with the minister of her church one morning. She was in such inner anguish that she couldn't bear to live with the pain anymore. She had even thought of suicide because she couldn't see any way to get rid of her horrible guilt. But an interesting thing happened in her minister's office that day. At one point, she said, "I can't go on like this any more. I don't deserve to live. I deserve to die. I just can't forgive myself."
And do you know what her minister said. He said, "You're right. You're absolutely right. You cannot forgive yourself at all, and you will never be able to do so."
Well, Mary looked at him with the most puzzled expression on her face. She didn't expect to hear those words at all, and certainly not coming from her own minister.
"What do you mean?" she said. "What do you mean that I can't forgive myself? Never?"
And do you know what he said. He said, "That's right, Mary, never. You will never be able to forgive yourself." He paused for a moment and then said, "But, you can receive God's forgiveness, and that, Mary, will set you free." (2)
Jesus spoke the word through the tent evangelist and my friend Kevin was physically healed. Jesus spoke the word through a pastor and Mary was healed of her grief that wouldn’t allow her to forgive herself for a tragic accident.
It doesn't matter what the issue is or what kind of healing we need, the answer is trust. Like the centurion we must trust and believe in Jesus because only he can do what we cannot. And as he works through us we can have the conviction and the courage to live up to today’s date. We too can March Forth!
This morning, as we celebrate communion I will be at the kneeler and available to pray with any of you who would like prayer for healing. I have some anointing oil that I can use if that would be meaningful to you. You may come before you partake of communion or after. If we run out of time you can come after the service is concluded and some elders will join with me in praying for you. I believe Jesus is still saying the word. In the words of the song we sang earlier, I believe He’s here now. Standing in our midst. Here with the power to heal now and the grace to forgive.
I believe Jesus is here now and I believe that he is able to go one step beyond Will Rogers. I believe Jesus never met a man he didn’t love.
Let us pray. Lord Jesus, when you walked on this earth, you discovered faith in people whom we might consider rather unlikely candidates--prostitutes and lepers, tax collectors, party people, and pagan soldiers. This is not what our list of the "chosen" would look like. Lord, it is a good thing you do the choosing! Our "list" would be more restricted. Your kingdom did not stop growing when we became a part of it! We are invited to be a blessing to others. We are invited to share the joy of your kingdom as it unfolds everywhere! It is exciting to witness the discovery of faith in the most "unlikely" people.
Gracious and eternal God, today we come to you seeking to deepen our understanding of the ways in which you are present and working in our lives to heal us of our afflictions.
You have called us to have faith in You even when the world around us denies that any hope exists. Touch our hearts anew, Lord, and fill us with Your joy and hope.
Compassionate Father, who hurts because we hurt, and yet who can touch us with healing at the same time: Dry our tears with your pity for us when we grieve in sorrow. May we find comfort and healing in your compassionate presence.
"Lord God of all nations, you have revealed your will to your people and promised your help to us all. Help us to hear and to do what you command, that the darkness may be overcome by the power of your light; through your Son, Jesus.
O Lord hear our prayers this morning. (lift up prayers and praises from the cards turned in) Hear us as we mention by name others that we are mindful of….
(1) Rupert Hughes, "When Will Rogers Wept," in FOLKS SAY OF WILL ROGERS, comp. William H. Payne and Jake Lyons, (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1936).
(2) Norman Neaves, "You Cannot Forgive Yourself"
