On Sunday 11 September we considered the Centurion of great faith ...
Matthew 8 v5-13
'Amazing Faith'
Many, many years ago I worked as a student cutting grass for
quite a few summers cutting at Fort George. One chap used to tell great jokes
but they were told with rough language that would have made Billy Connelly
blush. One day I thought I would be smart and retell one of his jokes as he
told it. Instead of getting roars of laughter the other blokes looked stunned
and turned away saying they never thought they would hear me speak like that. I
learned the lesson the hard way that when you are a Christian people expect you
to live as Christian. I have never forgotten the stunned silence that followed
my telling of the story.
There would have been stunned silence amongst the crowd and the
disciples as Jesus touched the leper; it simply was not done to touch such a
man but Jesus did it. Now again as the centurion approaches Jesus and asks him
to heal his servant, or as some versions of the story have it, the man’s son
and Jesus makes to go to this man’s home, the crowds, the disciples would have
been stunned. Jews did not mix with Gentiles and certainly did not visit their
homes! A stunned silence would have followed Jesus offer to go to this man’s
house.
The willingness of Jesus to visit the centurion’s house
anticipates a story in Acts 10. Peter is at prayer and all of sudden he has
this weird vision: a large sheet is lowered down from heaven, and on the sheet
are all kinds of animals sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, reptiles,
crocodiles, armadillos, alligators and birds of the air, eagles, sparrows,
doves, guinea fowl, ducks, geese. Now it turns out this sheet is the menu for
the day and a voice commands him, ‘Get up Peter. Kill and eat.’ On this al a
carte menu there are animals and birds the Jews considered unclean, and so
Peter protests saying he has never eaten anything unclean. But the voice
declares ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ Peter is so
slow on the uptake this happens three times. Peter is completely bemused.
Then there was a knock on Peter’s door some men had arrived
from Caesarea inviting Peter to the home of a centurion there called Cornelius.
When he arrives at Caesarea Peter goes to the home of, Cornelius falls in reverence
at Peter’s feet; but Peter says to him ‘Get up I am only a man myself!’ The
meaning of the sheet descending with all the different animals on it becomes
plain and Peter realises that the mercy and grace of God are not just for Jews
like him but for Gentiles too.
A great deal is made today of how we are to be free of
prejudice and be welcoming to all who would come to worship with us no matter
their colour, gender age, nationality culture. For the most part most of us do
not have a problem with that; except for one person. I think there maybe just
one person you cannot accept as a child of God, you cannot accept that this
Christ died for this person and he or she is forgiven once and for all. It is
someone you know well; you have suffered at their hands and so have those who
are precious and dear to you. The memory of what they have done haunts you. That
person is you.
Go home, look at yourself in the mirror, remember Christ giving
His life for you, rebuke the accusing voice and say, ‘Do not call anything
impure that God has made clean.’
Our normal practice when studying the Gospels is to concentrate
upon Christ and learn more and more about Him. But this morning I would like us
to concentrate on the centurion. His great faith astonished Jesus and so I
would like us to study this man that we might discern what it is about him that
made him so remarkable.
Centurions as the name implies were in today’s terms junior and
middle ranking army officers; they could command 100 sometimes 200 legionaries.
But they were not backroom staff coordinating a battle from a safe distance
they fought alongside the ordinary foot soldiers were expected to lead the
charge mortality rates among centurions was therefore high. But more than
centurions were to lead by example. Their example of their courage, skill in
the arts of war and appetite for the fight was to be an example to the 100 soldiers
around them.
The Jews would have been astonished at Jesus offering to go to
this man’s home; but how shocked the centurion’s entourage must have been at
this warrior, whom they all looked up to, seeking the help of the carpenter of
Nazareth.
The first thing that strikes me about this centurion is that he
was a man who knew his limitations; he could lead a hundred men in battle, he
could lead the men over the top and rouse them to a frenzy of murderous fury
but there was nothing he could do for his friend who lay dying; this centurion
could destroy and be an angel of death but he could not bring life; s his
friend lay dying he was utterly impotent there was nothing he could do. But he
does not surrender to despair and give in to the hopelessness of the situation;
he comes to the one man who can help Jesus of Nazareth.
Then secondly what strikes me about this man is that even
though he is a man of some importance in the Roman army and is used to having
people come and go at his command he realises that if Jesus was to enter his
home to heal his servant Jesus would be declared unclean and would suffer
greatly at the hands of the Jewish religious officials and so though Jesus is
willing to come to his home he is not willing to allow Jesus suffer unduly. The
centurion in spite of his position is remarkably considerate and kind in his
dealings with Jesus. Jesus was subject to so much criticism, so much ridicule
and rejection this man’s consideration and kindness must have moved Jesus
deeply.
Thirdly, there is his insight. He discerns that Jesus does not
use magic spells and the cheap tricks of the illusionists and sham healers to effect
His remarkable healings Jesus authority rests not magical incantations and
spells but in simple plain authority. Just as he as a soldier has a hundred men
at his command Jesus as the Son of God has the created order at His command and
just as soldiers obey the centurion so the forces of nature obey Jesus. This
man with a clear eye sees through to the true source of all Jesus power.
Then fourthly there is his quiet acceptance of Jesus word.
Jesus says ‘Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.’ And the centurion
simply accepts Jesus word. There is no flash of lightening in the sky, stars do
not come twinkling from Jesus lips as He utter the words, Jesus does not wave a
magic wand and a flash of light streams from the end of the wand to the man’s
house enters the servant’s room and zaps him to life. No the centurion accepts
Jesus word. Turns and walks home. I find
that incredible. I think I would be dragging Jesus to 20 St Kilda Drive ushering
Him upstairs and then watching as He placed His hands on my son’s head and
listening breathlessly to every word of the prayer. But the centurion simply
takes Jesus as His word.
Then there is joy; within the hour the servant, or the
centurion’s son, is healed and faith finds its fulfilment and there is great
joyous celebration and this centurion quietly in a corner worshipping Jehovah
and Christ Jesus.
In the Old Testament we are taught that the fear of God is the
beginning of wisdom and the problem for us is that we think of fear in terms of
awe even of dread; whereas we have non word in English that conveys what the
fear of God is. One great German scholar Rudolf Otto tried to find a German
word that described the Hebrew means by our translation of the ‘fear of the
Lord’ and found there was nothing in the German language that could convey the
meaning either; so he used the Latin mysterium
tremendum.
But the fear of the Lord is all that this Roman centurion
experienced in the presence of Christ. Knowledge of one’s absolute inadequacy
and incapacity, the desire to exalt Christ, knowledge of His absolute authority,
rest in His willingness and delight in doing good, joy in His mercy and compassion.
One of the fascinating things about the centurion is that all these thoughts
and insights were churning around in His at the one time. One moment he is
overwhelmed by his powerlessness, the next he is rejoicing in the greatness of
Christ, he is cast in meekness at the feet of Christ, he is receiving the
blessing of Christ and delighting in Christ’s joy in his faith. All these
things together, each one gaining strength from the other, is what the Old Testament
knows as the fear of the Lord.
The amazing thing is that throughout the whole Old Testament
period God longed to find such amazing faith in the hearts of His people and
found it only occasionally, say, in the great prophets like Elijah certainly
not in the ordinary people and most certainly not in a pagan Roman. Here in
Galilee Jesus comes across this centurion who exhibits the true fear of God
that He has longed for since the opening pages of Genesis.
What can this mean? It can only mean one thing; that God the
father heard the anguished cry of this centurion as he cried out to the heavens
for his beloved to be healed. God the father then sends the Holy Spirit to open
this man’s mind to who Jesus is and the authority and compassion that resides
in Jesus. Then Jesus delights in meeting this man’s need and heals the servant.
The man then rejoices in the greatness of God.
This whole wonderful movement between the persons of the
Trinity is known as the perichoresis. Perichoresis
is a Greek word and literally peri means
around and choresis means to dance. So
perichoresis means to dance around. Perichoresis describes the joy and delight God the Father has in
the goodness of Christ the Son and of how the Son takes pleasure and is in
complete harmony with the goodness and compassion of the Father; and of how the
Spirit delights in honouring the Son at the Father’s bidding.
So what is really happening in this story is God the Father
thinking to Himself how can I bless Jesus today how can I make my beloved’s
heart overflow with joy. He hears the prayer of the centurion and sends the
Holy Spirit to this man to lead him into Jesus presence and open this pagan Roman’s
eyes to the splendour of who Jesus is. Jesus then delighting in the Father’s
compassion heals the servant rejoicing in the this wonderful fear of God, this mysterium tremendum, the Spirit has
created in this man’s heart the knowledge that God the Father is doing a
wonderful and new thing in the world that is greater even than all he has done
past for His people Israel This wonderful joyous flow of goodness and grace
between the Father, Son and the Spirit is perichoresis
and the centurion becomes part this wonderful dance as he worships Christ.
This is the joy and wonder of the Christian life that as we
know the fear of God, the mysterium tremendum
we too become part of the perichoresis.
As we come to the our Lord’s Table today, conscious of how
destructive our lives have been, knowing that only Jesus can heal and bring
life, as we come conscious of His goodness and wanting Him and Him alone to be
exalted, as we come to the Table with a simple trust in his word and quietly
give thanks for His goodness; all these things together mark the fear of God,
the mysterium tremendum and quiet
unconsciously we are caught up in the great dance of the Godhead, the
perichoresis.
