Goodness - I knew I'd not been here for a while, but really had not appreciated how long. Since Meta decided that linking to blogs on FB was a subversive and dangerous activity, I've tended to just paste preaches there...but I'm kind of fond of this space, that has been somewhere to think aloud in company for more than 20 years now, so I'm reluctant to abandon it entirely.
That being so, and in no particular order, here are a few recent meanderings. This one from last week...
“Not even in Israel have I found such faith”
My late and much-loved father in law, Mark- who had retired
from a distinguished career as a senior army officer used to insist that this
line in Luke’s narrative was positive proof that Jesus had a sense of humour.
His thinking was that when the centurion insisted that his
staff were always obedient “I 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, Jesus
felt that he was being comically naïve. Mark, with his experience of commanding
soldiers, felt that the sub-text to Jesus’s words was something along the lines
of “If you’ll believe that, you’ll believe anything”
I’m not sure - though I love that whenever I hear this story
it makes me remember Mark and smile. It does, though, encourage me to think
about the nature of faith as it is presented here. If we take Jesus’s words as
a simple statement of fact, why is it that the centurion displays faith greater
than Jesus has encountered within the Jewish community? Community leaders have
vouched for the man, for he has excellent inter-faith credentials which
encourage Jesus to head towards his house, - but before they can even meet, he
sends his messengers with that extraordinary protestation
Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof but
only say the word and let my servant be healed
This man is a senior officer in the occupying army – yet based
purely on what he has heard of Jesus, he recognises a greater authority than
the might of Rome. While others might have questioned his wisdom in inviting
the itinerant rabbi to his home, the centurion feels that his home is not fit
to welcome Jesus at all…that he himself is not fit…
So his extraordinary faith emerges as part of his clear
vision – he knows exactly where to turn.
That faith gains power from the urgency of his need: the
centuion cares about his servant deeply. He longs for him to be well….And that
longing fuels his belief that in Jesus all our deepest needs can be met.
I’m intrigued by his phrasing “LET my servant be healed”. It
suggests to me that the broad sweep of everything is towards wholeness and
healing…that sometimes there are short term barriers, but that Jesus can intervene
to clear those barriers with only a word, so that the destiny of the centurion’s
servant, the destiny of all those for whom we pray, is caught up in that tendency
to a final restoration. Often, regardless of our faith, we don’t get to see
that healing instantly…Sometimes, that's not enough for us, especially when death over-takes us or those for whom we pray before those prayers are answered….but nonetheless, I believe that the over-arching narrative gives us a clear path. It's outlined in the Good Friday prayer
let the whole world see and know that things which were
being cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being
made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him
through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord;
