St Michaels Church Podcast
A different King, a different story | Sam Banner | 6.10.24
[MUSIC PLAYING] This morning's reading is from Luke's Gospel, chapter 7, verses 1 to 17, which can be found on page 1035 of the church Bibles. When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Caponium. There, a centurion's servant whom his master valued highly was ill and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him. This man deserves to have you do this because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue. So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him, 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. For I myself am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I tell this one, go, and he goes. And that one, come, and he comes. I say to my servant, do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. And turning to the crowd following him, he said, I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel. Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. Soon afterwards, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her, and he said, don't cry. Then he went up and touched the beer they were carrying him on, and the barest stood still. He said, young man, I say to you, get up. The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. A great prophet has appeared among us, they said. God has come to help his people. This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. Thank you, Jane. Good morning. I'm Sam, one of the staff team here, and it's great to be with you. A particular welcome to Sunny and the friends and family here for the baptism. What's your favourite turnaround moment in a movie, in a novel, in a sporting fixture? What comes to mind? What's your favourite moment? When it all seemed lost, and then hope appeared on the horizon, what comes to you? Your team was beaten facing defeat, knockout or relegation was on the cards, only to equalise out of nowhere and go on to win on penalties. I think of the second Lord of the Rings and the battle for Helmsdeep. It seemed defeat was inevitable. Until on the morning of that third day, Gandalf and his army appear, like the summer over the brow of the hill, and ride down to the rescue. What's your favourite turnaround moment? What's the story that is being told in your life at the moment? Is there an apparent defeat that you're facing? Where do you need a turnaround? It's easy to get stuck in a rut or to find ourselves in undesirable circumstances. It could be that our health has taken a turn for the worse, or one of our loved ones is struggling. It could be that one of our key relationships has become more trying, or that work is frustrating day after day after day. It could be that our home life or living situation has changed dramatically suddenly. Whatever the situation, whatever the chapter, however inevitable the ending looks, Jesus offers the hope of healing and life. He offers a better ending. We're motoring through Luke's Gospel this half-term in a series called A Different King, A Different Kingdom. We've been touching on a chapter each week, and today we're in Luke, chapter seven, a different king, a different story. Let's pray. Lord God, please would you shine your light through your word by your spirit into our hearts this morning. May we have ears to hear you speak in Jesus' name. Amen. We're gonna look at this morning's passage in the two chunks into which the narrative falls. First, the centurion and his sick servant. Second, the mother and her dead son. If you have one of the church bibles, or want to grab one and follow along, we're on page 1035 in Luke, chapter seven. We're going to see that King Jesus transforms lives and rewrites stories. So part one, the centurion and his sick servant verse one to 10, Jesus transforms this story of life-threatening illness and religiosity into a story of healing, humility, and faith. The story is of a member of household staff being unwell on the verge of death. It's a sad story, and while we may not all have household staff, the story of illness among our household or in our workplaces isn't an uncommon one. In all likelihood, there was one ending to this story. Nurse the servant, of course, in the hope of recovery, but we're told he's about to die. Death is the ordinary ending, the expected ending. But let's join the story at the beginning. We meet Jesus as he arrives in the seaside fishing village of Capernaum, meaning house or village of Nahum, possibly referring to the Old Testament prophet. Jesus makes this settlement, the base for much of his early ministry. It's on the Via Maris, the way of the sea. It links Damascus to the Mediterranean. It's a major international trade route. Capernaum was the Chicago of its day, a travel hub, a strategic location. And Luke introduces us to a servant belonging to a soldier who's worked hard and risen through the ranks to what we'd call a captain in the British army today. He had 100 men at his command. But this particular servant is of great value, highly esteemed by the captain. He's unwell, at death's door. The centurion, having heard of Jesus in his healing power, reaches out in one last attempt to save his servant's life. He sends a delegation and we're told they pleaded earnestly with him, so Jesus went with them. The servant is sick and at home, he's about to die. Perhaps he's beyond medical care. Perhaps his need is just too urgent. But having received this centurion's delegation, Jesus goes with them. Jesus doesn't protest that he couldn't possibly, as a Jew, visit this Gentile household. He makes no issue of race or religion. Maybe there's hope, maybe the sick servant need not die today. Note who the centurion sends and the sort of petition they launch. It's in verse three, if you've got it open in front of you. Who does the centurion send? Well, what do we know about him? We know that he commands 100 fighting men. We know that he has at least one servant, probably others. Yet does he send any of them? No, he sends Jewish elders, which tells us two things. First, he felt it be advantageous, clearly, to send religious people of civic status rather than soldiers or servants. Second, that this centurion was in good standing with the local Jewish community. And how did these elders plead with Jesus? On what basis do they petition him to come and heal the servant? Verses 4 and 5, this man deserves to have you do this. He deserves Jesus for you to come to his home and to use your power, the power of God, to heal his servant because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue. Strong credentials, for sure. And it seems to pay off. Flashing the CV does the trick. Jesus goes with them. But the story doesn't end there. They're not far from the house when another delegation arrives, friends of the centurion, who bring a second message, stop. Don't come any further. Please don't go to any more bother on my behalf. Now, is this guy indecisive, or what? If that message should come to me, the completed finisher would have come to the fore and said, "Don't be ridiculous. "I can see the front door. "I can see the gate, the driveway. "Your house is inside. "I've come all this way. "It's no bother to complete the journey." But what really impresses Jesus is the centurion's reasoning. He says, "Lord, don't trouble yourself. "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. "For I myself am a man under authority with soldiers under me. "Lord, a title of respect, akin to rabbi or teacher, "is how he addresses Jesus. "I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. "While the Jewish elders pleaded on the basis "that this man did deserve Jesus' attention and healing power, "the man himself, reminding us of Peter confronted "by Jesus' power and presence, protests, I don't deserve. "I did not consider myself worthy." In the four accounts of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, there are two things that were told amazing. Do you know what they are? One is here, and the other is in Mark chapter 6, verse 6, and it's the lack of faith in his hometown. And here, by contrast, this centurion's great faith, the centurion, a Gentile, an outsider, he gets it. He understands that Jesus belongs to a chain of command, just like he's in a chain of command. As the centurion does this, he's ordered, so Jesus does his father's will. As the centurion is obeyed by his men, so Jesus is obeyed by the spiritual forces of good and evil, life and death. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. Give the order, give the command, and I trust that the illness will have no choice but to obey. There's a scene near the side of their film, "Interstellar", which is celebrating its tenth anniversary at the moment, where Cooper, the main character, is driving his kids to school, so it's a perfectly ordinary start today. And then a drone sort of flies low overhead, and he says, "Quit, we need to follow it." So he turns off the road into a cornfield through the crops. Says to his son, "Quit, you take the wheel, and they sort of switch places in the driving scene." He's like, "What do I do?" He's like, "Keep driving, keep driving." And then the sun's like, "Keep driving?" "Yeah, keep driving." The dad's sort of looking at this drone, trying to follow it, and sort of track it and sort of hack into it to control it. He's like, "Looking up." He's like, "Keep driving." And the sun's like, "Keep driving." And the sort of camera pans out, and you see these coming out of the cornfield towards a precipice in the sea, the lake ahead. He's like, "Keep driving." He's like, "Yes, keep driving." He's part of a chain of command, isn't he? The dad's telling him what to do. The sun's telling the car what to do. Do I stop? Do I turn? Do I slow down? And eventually the sort of self-preservation takes over, and the sun slams on the brakes just in time. But he's in a chain of command. And that's what the centurion gets here, that Jesus is in a chain of command, that he has authority. And that leads him to humbly ask for him to just say the word. You don't even need to come, just give the order, and I trust that you'll be a bade. How do you come to Jesus, if at all? If you were desperate and you heard that Jesus could help, how would you approach him? Would you send a delegation? Would you send friends, your religious friends? Would you dust off your CV? Would you kick yourself for not having helped the soup kitchen more often, or been more kind to your brother or sister growing up? This story reveals, the centurion reveals the way to Jesus is through humility and faith. And we sometimes echo this in Church of Eniturgy, where we say, "Lord, I'm not worthy to receive you." As we come to communion, "I'm not worthy to come to your table, but only say the word, and I shall be healed." We turn now to the second encounter in our passage, the mother and her dead son in verses 11-17. Jesus transforms a story of grief and loss into a story of joy and life. Jesus transforms this story of grief and loss into a story of joy and life. Following the healing of the centurion's servant, Jesus goes on to a town called Nain. The disciples and a large crowd are with him, eager to see what Jesus says and does next. And they're not going to be disappointed, are they? The way you come into Nain is through the town gate, it's also the way out. A bit like London Bridge back in the day, which, until Putney Bridge was constructed in 1729, was the soul crossing of the Thames in London. So if you were arriving from the south, or leaving to the south of the river, you'd have used London Bridge. It was there the only way in and out of the city of London, which was, as it still is today, the historic city of London on the north of the river. So as Jesus here approaches Nain, it comes to this bottleneck at the town gate. He's got a large crowd behind him, and he's met by this large crowd, a funeral procession, coming the other way. It turns out the chief Mauna is a mother who's lost her son, her only son, and she's a widow, she's already lost her husband. On top of the tragic loss of losing husband and son, for a woman of that time, this would have had an economic staying, economic consequences too, who would provide for her, who would look after her now. Jesus, as he comes across this crowd, shows no sign of exasperation. He doesn't get road rage, doesn't get out of the way. I've got work to do a schedule to keep. No, Jesus, who had told him, his heart went out to her. He says, "Don't cry." It's not a sort of British stoic, stiff upper lip, don't cry. Put your emotions to one side, don't cry. No, it's a soft gentle, don't cry, don't cry. I have a better story for you. Don't cry, death is not the end. Don't cry, don't cry, I'll meet all your needs. And rather than keeping his distance from the beer, the flat wooden board carrying the dead boy with a shroud covering him. Instead of keeping his distance from the uncleanness of death, Jesus goes up, touches the beer, and commands, "Young man, I say to you, get up." As Luke relays this narrative, there's no build-up, no suspense. There's no time to wander. Does Jesus' power extend to raising the dead? We're told, verse 15, "The dead man sat up and began to talk, "and Jesus gave him back to his mother." I love that, I love that at this point as he sits up, Luke identifies him as the dead man. The juxtaposition is wonderful. Dead people don't sit up. Clearly, he's dead no longer. Now the two crowds, the one following Jesus and the one following the widow out of the village, they're filled with awe and they praise God. The great prophet has appeared among us, perhaps thinking back to the prophets, Elijah, Elijah, who similarly raised people from the dead. They said, "God has come to help his people." God has come to help his people. He has, indeed. I love the contrast between this episode and the last one. One involves a saving from imminent death, and we think, few, you're just in time. This one are raising back to life from death itself. One involving a request from a man of high civic standing, the other a spontaneous act of kindness towards a lowly widow who's lost her only son. One begins with trying to earn Jesus' healing power. The other doesn't give this idea so much as I mentioned. It's sheer unadulterated grace from start to finish. One concludes with Jesus amazed at the centurion's faith, the other with everyone filled at all at the work and the kindness of Jesus. Jesus transforms a story of grief and loss into a story of joy and life. Are you walking behind a beer or a coffin metaphorically speaking today? Where do you need Jesus to transform your story of grief and loss into joy and life? Maybe you're not, maybe life's good, maybe life's fine. But you might have lost a friend or family member. Maybe there's relationship breakdown or unwanted diagnosis of illness or injury. Maybe there's the battle of mental health, anxiety and depression for you or someone close. Wherever death is inevitable, wherever it looks like a full gone conclusion, invite Jesus to come and help, to make a difference, to speak life. But what do we do with the tension that not every illness is healed, not every sick child is raised from the dead? Well, we find great hope, great encouragement that Jesus' miracles didn't end here and the story goes on. As he sang, he went from heaven, he came down to earth, from the earth to the cross. He died on the cross, was buried and raised to life himself. His power doesn't stop with just raising others temporarily back from the grave, but he defeated death once and for all and offers that life to us. That encouragement, the death has been defeated. There is a better story available to each one of us. This is the sort of King's, Jesus', a different King with a different kingdom, a King who turns lives around with the hope of healing and life. There is no enemy he hasn't defeated, no power he doesn't command, no story that he can't rewrite today. Luke, the author here, the doctor and the historian, finishes this account with the line. This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. Couldn't we deal with this sort of news of the kind, compassionate, powerful King, spreading afresh today? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your son, Jesus. Thank you that we see so clearly here his power, his authority, his compassion to help your people. Thank you, Jesus, that you are alive and at work today. Lord, we ask that we would see you at work in our lives, in those places where things look inevitable, things look stark, where there's despair or even death looming ahead of us or close to us. Lord, we ask for your healing power, your life-giving power to break in, to break through, to bring transformation, to bring a better ending, a better story. Amen. [MUSIC]