Luke 7:1-10
Two great stories of faith today.
And I absolutely love the first one. King Ahab has
been doing everything possible to eliminate any mention of the God of Israel.
He’s driven God’s prophets underground if not outright killed them. All except
one: Elijah. Ahab sees Elijah as a rather strong threat. After all Elijah
boldly predicted a drought (which came true), Elijah produced the never-ending
jars of oil and meal, Elijah brought the widow’s son back to life. And now
Elijah is challenging Ahab, going directly to him to look him in the eye. Elijah
even challenges the king and his false gods to a duel with the one true God,
even asking for a crowd to assemble to watch the precedings.
If nothing else, Elijah is bold. He’s got guts.
And for whatever reason Ahab, instead of killing him on the spot, complies with
Elijah’s wishes. Game on!
He lets the prophets of Baal try their very best
to get their gods to send fire. And do they try, even to placing themselves on
the altar as what I suppose to be some sort of kindling.
And so Elijah mocks them and their gods. You can
hear the “nyah, nyah” coming out and imagine him doing some sort of over the
top victory dance. But he doesn’t stop there.
And then he really eggs them on, digging trenches
and pouring water over the wood time and time again. Yes, Elijah is certainly
bold. And the fire comes and burns the wood, and the animal, and the stones,
and the water. Try that at home!
It’s quite the story. It’s the story of one so
strong in faith that he couldn’t help but celebrate the victory even before it
happened.
Or maybe you’re more like the centurion, so humble
as to know that he is not worthy of Jesus’ love and care. And all this not for
his own need, but for the need of a beloved slave. A man had great earthly
power but understood he was no match for the power of God. A leader humbling
himself, knowing that he couldn’t come to Jesus on his own terms. As Jesus
said, “not even in Israel have I found such faith.
And yet both Elijah
and the centurion show great strength, both fearing God in their own way. There
is certainly something for us in these examples for living today.
Because what if we
did tackle the false idols in the world today with the ferocity of Elijah?
What we challenged the status quo of collecting
wealth? What if we stopped pushing others down to advance our own cause and
instead sought to bring others to the way, the truth, and the life? Are we bold
enough to turn away from those idols that we crave. After all there’s a reason
TMZ and the like are so popular: people want to feel superior, people love
getting caught up in paying close attention to things that really don’t matter
to keep from having to look at what’s really going on.
How popular would I
be, would this church be, if we promised the world those things that many
prosperity preachers feed to their followers. How awesome would it be if I
could stand here (as others have in their ministry) and tell you that if you
give $1000 dollars today you will get $10,000 in return? Yes that sounds great.
Until it doesn’t happen. And let’s be honest, if it did come true the
Securities and Exchange Commission would have more than a few questions for me!
But there are things
we can promise. We know that faith in God will bring us to eternal life. No, it
won’t bring us riches; at least not the kind people hope for. But those riches
come at a steep price. Because if that $1000 actually becomes $10,000 you’ll
next be looking for $100,000, then $1,000,000. The trouble with earthly
prosperity is that the need for more never ends.
In our gospel story
we see the reward of real faith. And mind you, the centurion in the story is
not hurting for earthly things. In fact the centurion is doing pretty well and
even acknowledges that fact: “I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another,
‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” But
he also knows that there is so much more than this. And he recognizes, even
though he is wealthy and powerful, that he is not worthy of facing Jesus on his
own terms. But he also knows Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
And Jesus is amazed.
The centurion is the epitome of faith. And faith has made him, and the slave,
well.
So indeed today, we
see a contrast in styles. We have “in your face” Elijah and we have the humble
centurion. But the one thing they have in common is amazing faith. Both know
that the Lord God can and will protect them and the people they love. Both know
that God will not let them down. What if we had that confidence? What if we
could be so sure that God will do exactly as God promised? What if we were
proudly bold to proclaim God as Lord and yet be so humble as to lower ourselves
from our earthly heights to kneel at the feet of God?
What if that’s
exactly what Jesus did when he came to earth? He turned the tables of the
treasury in the temple, he performed miracles in plain sight of many, yet in
humility allowed himself to be hung on a cross to die for us.
What then if we took
seriously Jesus’ commandment to love one another seriously? Seriously enough to
be so bold as to proclaim God’s mighty power even when outnumbered 450:1.
Seriously enough to ask for God’s mercy for a friend, knowing that only through
the suffering and death of Christ are we worthy to even approach God.
And even if we aren’t
as bold as Elijah God’s work still needs to be done. And in thanksgiving for
the gift of eternal life, equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be
God’s hands even in quiet, small, and humble ways. And God’s work is active all
around us, in the good deeds and shared love and miracles both large and small
happening all around us.
Keep your eyes open
and you will see God’s work. You’ll see a community of faith banding together
to make sure hungry children are fed. You’ll see teachers bringing the word of
God to bright-eyed children clinging to every word of the story. You’ll see a
neighbor offering the use of his mower when yours seems beyond hope. You’ll see
the joy in someone’s face when you tell them to enjoy vacation and promise to
make certain they don’t work.
The list goes on and
on. Keep your eyes open.
No comments:
Post a Comment