Luke 7: After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered

Transcription

1 Luke 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. 1

2 Kingdom and Empire Have you heard the name Oskar Schindler? If not, perhaps you re familiar with the movie that was made based on events in his life [SLIDE] Schindler s List. At first glance Schindler doesn t seem like someone who would be the subject of a movie, certainly not one that shows him in a positive light. To begin with, he was a member of the Nazi Party. In modern European culture, villains don t get any worse than Nazis. But Schindler wasn t a soldier, he was an opportunist who made his money buying and selling goods on the black market fresh fruit, chocolate, cigarettes, and the like. As an opportunist, with the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, Schindler saw opportunity. After Germany conquered Poland, he purchased a factory there. This factory produced enamel kitchenware, like pots and pans. Through his many contacts in the black market, and a few well placed bribes, Schindler was able to secure a contract to sell kitchenware to the German military. A unique feature of Schindler s factory was that it employed Jews. Schindler hired Jews because he could pay them less than local Polish workers and thus keep more profit for himself. Jews were cheap labor. Nor would they raise a fuss about their pay, because for a Jew to have a job in German-occupied Poland was to be saved from being sent to a labor camp, where they would be used as slave labor, or an extermination camp, where they would face almost certain death. Starting out with just forty-five employees, Schindler s factory grew to employ more than a thousand people, most of whom were Polish Jews. The factory was profitable, and as a result, Schindler lived quite well. He had expensive tastes, and he spent money freely on fine food, liquor, and women. The contrast between Schindler s lifestyle and that of his Jewish employees was dramatic. 2

3 As the war intensified, the Nazis treatment of the Jews grew more brutal. Schindler witnessed some of this firsthand. As a result of what he saw, he began to see the Jews he employed as more than just cheap labor. He developed sympathy for them. He looked for ways to keep as many as he could in his factory and out of the hands of the Nazis. He invented reasons to hire more workers, regardless of whether they had the necessary skills. Any time German officials threatened to deport some of his workers, Schindler would provide a black market gift or bribe to save their lives. In 1944, with the German army losing ground in Poland, Schindler received permission to relocate his factory. He was told to make a list of workers that he wanted to bring with him. Anyone not on the list would be sent to Auschwitz, a death camp. Schindler compiled a list with the names of 1,100 people, all of whom he affirmed were essential to the German war effort. The scene we re about to see shows Schindler and his factory manager compiling the list [VIDEO]. As the clip showed, Schindler spent a great deal of his own money to buy the lives of his factory workers. For all that he did to save Jewish lives, Schindler was declared one of the Righteous Among the Nations. This is a special designation given by the State of Israel to describe non-jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews. Schindler, a one-time Nazi and an opportunist who took advantage of cheap Jewish labor, came to be viewed as righteous by the Jewish people themselves. That such a person could be regarded as righteous is similar to how the Roman centurion is viewed by the Jewish people in today s passage. A centurion was a commander of a hundred soldiers in the Roman Legion. A centurion was a living symbol of the oppression of the Jewish people by Rome. Yet this particular centurion is regarded as righteous. A group of Jewish elders go to Jesus on his behalf with a request, saying, He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people and it is he who built our synagogue for us (Lk. 7:5). 3

4 But before we take a closer look at this remarkable centurion, let s get situated with where we are in the Gospel. It s been a while since we ve read from Luke, and we re going to spend much of the summer and fall reading from this Gospel, so it s a good idea understand where we are as we begin the journey. The passage begins [SLIDE], After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum (Lk. 7:1). After Jesus had finished all his sayings all what sayings? What Luke is referring to is the Sermon on the Mount, which in Luke s Gospel actually occurs not on a mountain but on a wide plain. In the sermon, which occurs in Luke 6, Jesus issues a series of blessings upon different types of people, but they are not people that we would think of as being blessed. They include the poor, the hungry, those who are weeping, and those who are hated for their relationship with Jesus. It s a surprising list, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is full of surprises. And the surprising nature of the list of blessings prepares us for the next surprise that s to come. We are given a hint in the very next verse [SLIDE]: A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death (Lk. 7:2). A centurion, a Roman commander, is portrayed in a surprisingly sympathetic light. He values his slave. He doesn t regard him as disposable and easily replaced, as slaves were. He values him! Somehow this centurion has heard about Jesus. When he learns that Jesus is a healer, he immediately sends a group of Jewish elders to find Jesus and ask him to come and heal his slave. The manner in which he calls Jesus is yet another surprise. He doesn t bark an order, demanding that Jesus come to him, which he certainly could have done. He sends messengers to ask Jesus to come. This is not the picture of the stern, domineering Roman soldier that Jews were accustomed to meeting. This centurion is surprisingly different. In fact, the Jewish elders assure Jesus that he is a friend to Jews. He is deemed worthy of having Jesus do this favor for him. 4

5 There is still another surprise to come. Jesus agrees to go to the centurion s house, but before he arrives, the centurion sends messengers to say to Jesus that he should not trouble himself with coming all the way to the house. The messengers go out to meet Jesus and share with him the centurion s words [SLIDE]: Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof (Lk. 7:6). To call the centurion s words surprising doesn t do them justice. They re shocking! A centurion, a commander of soldiers with the full power and authority of the Roman Empire behind him, has just called a Jewish peasant preacher Lord. This officer of the Roman Legion considers himself unworthy of having Jesus enter his home. He even says that he did not presume to come to Jesus. He didn t want to be so forward, so he sent messengers. The centurion is an officer in the most powerful army in the western world at this time, but he s showing a degree of faith and humility that is nothing short of shocking, even scandalous. The centurion understands authority. As a soldier, he is part of a rigid hierarchy, and as an officer, he is pretty high up in that hierarchy. He is someone who is used to giving orders and having them obeyed [SLIDE]. He says to Jesus, 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 (Lk. 7:8). As a product of the Empire, the centurion understands authority. He himself embodies authority. But in Jesus, in this Jewish peasant preacher, he recognizes a higher authority. The centurion is an officer of the Roman Empire, the greatest power in the Mediterranean world in the first century. But in recognizing the authority of Jesus, he understands that he is part of something even greater than the Empire the kingdom of God. The centurion is a sign of something remarkable. He is a living symbol that even in the midst of the Empire, even in the midst of worldly power that is contrary to the power of God, God s kingdom is breaking out. God s kingdom has come, God s will is being done in the Roman Legion as it is in heaven. 5

6 We see signs of this today. God s kingdom is continuing to break out in the most unexpected places [SLIDE]. One of those unexpected places is China, a country that is officially atheist. There are 60 million Christians in China. That may not seem like much in a nation of 1.3 billion people. That s less than five percent of the population. But to put the number into perspective, the entire population of Korea is 50 million. So there are more Christians in China than there are people in Korea. If the number of Christians in China continues to grow at the present rate, by 2030, less than fifteen years from now, it will reach 250 million, placing it above the United States for overall Christian population. The Chinese government the empire, if you will has taken note of this trend. After years of tolerating, and even encouraging the growth of Christianity, the government has changed their policy. Last week there was an article in The New York Times about the Chinese government s campaign to remove crosses from the steeples of churches across one region of the country [SLIDE]. The government has sent workers to literally saw off the crosses from the roofs of churches. Thus far, all the churches have been from one particular province known to have a large and active Christian population. More than 1,000 churches have had their crosses cut down. Some, like the one shown here [SLIDE], have taken steps to defend their crosses. Pastors of churches who have resisted or protested have been thrown in prison. I will say one thing: the Chinese government is right to fear Christianity, for the kingdom of God always stands in opposition to empire. In saying empire, I don t mean China specifically. I don t mean any particular country. I mean any power political power or economic power that tries to tame and control the Gospel for its own purposes. When churches in America place an American flag in the sanctuary, confusing American civil religion with the cross, that s empire. When churches in Korea are handed down from father to son like a family dynasty, that s empire. 6

7 The kingdom of God and empire could not be more different [SLIDE]. The kingdom of God is about self sacrifice and service, especially to the poor. The empire is concerned only with its own preservation. The kingdom of God forms community by crossing boundaries, not only geographic boundaries but also boundaries of race, class, and gender. The empire is obsessed with maintaining and defending boundaries, with building walls that separate those outside from those inside. The kingdom of God inspires faith that transforms believers into more Christlike ways of living. The empire seeks to control faith and make it a tool of the state. The kingdom of God is about the power of love. The empire is about the love of power. But the kingdom of God cannot be contained. In a famous parable, Jesus compares it to a mustard seed. The mustard seed is tiny, but it grows quickly into a large bush. It is a stubbornly persistent plant that can quickly take over a field. The Christian Church began with twelve disciples. They were poor fishermen from a remote part of the Roman Empire. Yet within 300 years the emperor himself would be a Christian, and the Empire would soon follow. That s how a mustard seed grows. God s kingdom is ever and always breaking out in new and unexpected places, not only in ancient Rome, Nazi-occupied Poland, or present-day China, but in the lives of individual Christians here and now in you and in me. Our lives give witness to the reality of the kingdom of God. Where is the kingdom breaking out in your life? Where is the kingdom of God inspiring you to serve? Where is the kingdom of God leading you across boundaries and into community? Where is the kingdom of God transforming your life to resemble the life of Jesus Christ? Where is the kingdom of God teaching you the power of God s love? Or to put it another way, where are the forces of empire threatened by your life within the kingdom of God? The Roman Empire is long gone. Italians today live and work and play among its ruins. Twenty years ago I went on a backpacking trip through Western Europe with my best friend. When we were in Rome, I was amazed to discover that the ruins of the Empire, such as the Forum (a marketplace and public square) and even the 7

8 Colosseum itself, were smack in the middle of the city. They weren t separated from the hustle and bustle of modern Rome. On nearby streets, cars and mopeds sped past, seemingly unaware or indifferent to the ruins of empire that surrounded them. Empires rise and empires fall, but the kingdom of God is now and forever. 8