Trusting in God’s
Love
By Rev Steven R
Mitchell
Mountain View
United, Aurora, CO 6/2/2013
Based on Luke
7:1-10 and 1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43
We
often think in terms of what gifts we either receive or might receive from
God. But how often do we think about our
giving gifts to God? I know that each
week we bring our tithes and offerings and dedicate them to God, but what do we
give to God beyond these monetary expressions?
The late Father Brennon Manning, author of “Ruthless Trust: the Ragamuffin’s Path to God” says, that ‘Trust’ is
our gift back to God!
The
story we read this morning of Luke’s account of the Centurion’s request for
Jesus to heal his beloved slave speaks volumes to the idea of “trust.” So much so that the story finishes with
Jesus saying, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple
trust anywhere in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know about God
and how God works.” This
is an amazing accusation being made by Jesus toward as He says those who are
supposed to know about God and how God works!
This
accusation by Jesus of “the very people who are supposed to know
about God and how God works.” and the trust shown by the
Centurion, an outsider, remind me of a
scene in “Gone With the Wind”, with a
conversation between Mss. Melanie and the town prostitute Belle Watling. Belle Watling had come in the cover of night
to circumvent a visit that Mss Melanie was going to pay at Belles
establishment. Mss Melanie was going to
see Belle to thank her for her kindness in protecting her husband from arrest by
the Union Soldiers the night before by hiding him at her place of
business. Belle didn’t think it proper
for a “lady” of Mss Melanie’s stature to be seen in public with a woman like
herself. The jest of the conversation from
Belle’s point of view was that Mss Melanie was the only Christian woman of her
acquaintance that treated her respectfully and without judgment of her life style.
The
Centurion is very much a Belle Watling in Luke’s story. As a Centurion, he was a representative of
Roman and also was a Gentile, so by Jewish standards was someone who is less
than human. Yet, this agent of Roman
seemed to have an uncommon love for those Israelites in Capernaum, for he had
built a house of worship for the Jewish community. This man seems to be highly respected within
the Jewish community, but when Jesus comes to town, the Centurion sends a
delegation to plead on his behalf for the healing of his slave. Why would this man who was so supportive
toward the Jewish culture, a man of powerful influence in the community, and a
commander of a hundred men not come to Jesus personally to seek the help of
Jesus? After all, the Centurion actually
had greater stature in Capernaum than did Jesus.
I
truly think it is very hard for us in the 21st Century to see some
of the not so subtle aspects of the stories that we read in the Gospels. One of the major statements against Rome throughout
Luke’s Gospel comes in the character of the Centurion. In the 21st Century we do not
fully comprehend the major conflict that the authors of the Gospels were
presenting through the ministry of Jesus.
From the birth narratives to the resurrection of Jesus, the Gospels are
confronting the pagan understanding of Caesar as being a god. Caesar represents a god whose power comes by
physical force; Jesus on the other hand represents God or the kingdom of God as
powerful not by force, but rather by love.
The Centurion, as a representative of Rome, the Emperor god, is in
conflict with the message of Jesus, who as the son of God was the
representative of a God whose power comes by virtue of being the creator of
all. With the acknowledgement by the
Centurion of Jesus representing a greater power, the Centurion is denouncing
the supremacy of the Emperor.
The
Centurion which has a great deal of power over those that he has under his
control, realizes that this power is temporal and cannot do the one thing that
he wishes most, that of healing his beloved slave. Yet he sees that Jesus represents a power
that is beyond his and can heal sickness to the point of even postponing
death. The Centurion understands
position and rank and realizes that he is subjective to Jesus and to who Jesus
represent’s, this is the reason why he doesn’t approach Jesus personally, for
he feels that he isn’t good enough to be seen by Jesus.
Again,
we in the 21st Century find this type of decorum difficult to
understand, for we have dropped so many layers of etiquette. For example: many of us when writing our
elected officials do not know how to present our requests in a manner that is
respectful of their position. We have
come to a point where we give very little reverence to ones station or position
in society. As the church has tried to be
“less formal” I think we have lost a certain reverence of how we view God and tend
to approach God in an almost irreverent manner, or have we?
I
wonder if we are not like the Centurion when we approach God with a request
that is literally a life and death situation.
Do we come to God full bore with our request, or do we come with
timidity and contriteness trusting that God will honor what we are asking? When we speak about having “sacred
conversations” do we speak as if we are the ones in charge and have the power
to achieve what we desire, or do we speak with the hope, the trust that God is
the one and only who can act upon what is deep within our heart?
When
we come to the table of Christ, are we not recognizing that the bread that
Jesus speaks of means more than just crushed wheat? Do we not recognize a deeper meaning of the
gift of life in the wine as something that we are not capable of doing ourselves? Does not our coming to Christ’s table
physically demonstrate our faith and trust in God’s love?
Coming
to Christ’s table is not just a gift from God, but also a gift from us to God,
for we can only approach this table in trust of God’s love. The fact that the Centurion feels that he
himself cannot approach Jesus personally, asks us to think about “who is able to be a part of God’s family?”
If Jesus calls us brothers and sisters and
says we are God’s children, himself calling God “Father” – Do we truly think we
are able to come to God directly – feeling equal to Jesus in that type of
relationship? Or do we see ourselves
more like the Centurion – as an outsider unable to fully access God – because
we feel our lives truly do not measure up to the expectations of who we should be? This story asks us to examine the
restrictions that we have put in place that exists as barriers in keeping us
from feeling truly accepted. What things
in our life keep us here from feeling “totally included?” What keeps us personally from feeling fully
accepted as a child of God, that personal one on one relationship with God?
I
think most of us, if given the opportunity to be standing before God, say like
Moses did before the burning bush, or Paul before Jesus on the road to Damascus,
would feel like we are not worthy enough to be in God’s presence, yet as Jesus
states, “it is in our trust” that provides that relationship with God. It is our ‘trust’ that is our gift back to
God. As we come before Christ’s table
this morning let us give fully to God, our gift of trust. Amen
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