Jesus was willing to offer healing to anyone, it seems. Here, he is faced with a difficult choice. he is approached by a centurion, a leader of the hated Roman legions,to save someone. If he says yes, would he be a collaborator? If he said no, then what? Notice that the crowd seems to give permission by saying that the centurion is an OK benefactor. Recall that even suggesting that God’s blessings could go outside the fold enraged the hearer at the inaugural Nazareth sermon.It would be hard to take to have the person with a boot on your head be called a model of faith, even if he had done philanthropic work. One of my seminary classmates teaches in seminary, and he puts a lot of weight on the social system of patronage in the ancient world, where you were involved in an intricate series of favors received and granted. the elders are looking to help the centurion because they owe him, a sin the godfather reminding people tha the will request a favor of them when he helps them.Jesus looks past his social role and seems to be moved by the centurion’s certainty about his healing power. Perhaps he is also moved by the relationship with the servant that would have the centurion seek out a healer among the occupied people.The child is either valuable or valued, as the word entimos has a link to intimate..
Luke is impressed with his military understanding of authority. Preachers have used this passage as a model for years. .we speak of the preaching task as being as one under authority. Jesus does not ask him a series of dogmatic questions, or the state of his spiritual health or emotions. Jesus responds to a real n, desperate need.
Elijah’s rite seems a demonstration of pure power and smug assertion. perhaps an element of healing is involved to save them from the specter of the false worship of false gods, idols.Our tradition has used that notion with some flexibility and pwer, more aobut our creation of godlike figures and practices and priorities that do not relfect the biblical witness.
At a recent ministers meeting here, it was argued that we should have special privilege for the underdogs in society.To an extent, I gravitate toward that, but the bible does not permit it so easily.Perhaps we wold do better to see it as a privilege for the suffering, no matter who they are. This is a good example, the centurion is part of an occupying army and in all likelihood, a pagan. He can cross those cultural boundaries to seek the help of Jesus, and Jesus, the bridge from us to God also acts as a bridge between two competing groups.
I am going to the Reformed Roundtable in Indianapolis this week, and we are to read two books by Eboo Patel on the importance of interfaith discussions. he walks a tightrope, a she does not want debate but a sharing of perceptions and views of the divine in various religious discussions, but he does not want people to search for easy commonality either. He want folks to present their views fully and unapologetically. It is popular to sya that all religions offer different paths to the same goal, but that strikes me as dream more than reality.Perhaps it is better to see most faiths as poised between tolerance and exclusion.
I wish that I have the strength, the certainty of the centurion and Elijah. I do not grasp why some prayers are answered and some are not.I do know that a collision of truth claims rarely ends in agreement. Tolerance of difference is a derided concept of late, but is allow us to live together.To posses the whole truth is beyond our limited capacities. At best we catch a glimpse in the light.
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