Love into Action
Category: Pentecost
My husband Robbie and I are big PBS fans. We especially like Masterpiece and were completely drawn in, along with millions of others, to Downton Abbey. For those of you who may not have succumbed to “Downton Abbey fever,” it is the story (some might say sophisticated soap opera) of an aristocratic English family and their servants in the early 20th century. It is beautifully filmed with lavish costumes at a great country estate. The show’s foundation is the class structure of English society. Aristocrats are aristocrats and servants are servants. And chief among the servants is the butler, Carson. Carson has been in Lord Grantham’s service for many years and he is completely loyal. He maintains the order of the house and makes sure that Lord Grantham’s wishes are carried out. Everyone at Downton knows their place.
A very well defined household structure was not the invention of the English however. The Roman household structure during the 1st century was equally well defined and accepted by all of the players. There was a male head with the man’s wife and children on the second tier of the hierarchy and servants after that. In large households, there was often a head slave that was especially trusted to carry out the master’s orders. Everybody knew where they stood and it worked very well in terms of maintaining order. In fact it was essential for maintaining the cohesion of the Roman Empire. This is the social context of today’s Gospel. The relationship between the centurion and his slave is loosely analogous to Lord Grantham and Carson. Even though the slave is in the centurion’s service and they have very different social standings, there is mutual warmth, respect, trust and deep affection.
The centurion is very worried about his slave who is gravely ill. And this is where Jesus comes into the story. The centurion in addition to his elevated social standing as a Roman military officer, is also what the Jews called a “God-fearer.” He worshipped with them and followed the tenants of their faith, but he had not taken the final step to become a convert to Judaism- circumcision. He wanted to maintain his distinctive cultural identity. He asks the Jewish elders to speak to Jesus on his behalf because he is being respectful of the distinction that the Jews make between Jews and Gentiles. He asks the Jewish elders to speak to their fellow Jew, Jesus. Jesus agrees and as he is en route to the centurion’s house to heal the slave, the centurion sends his Gentile friends to – out of respect for Jewish custom- not to come to his house. He knew that coming into a Gentile house would ritually defile Jesus. And he believed that Jesus had the power to heal his slave just by commanding it to be so. He believed that Jesus had the authority of God. He could speak and the slave would be restored to health- even from afar. The centurion understood Jesus’ authority within his own worldview. The centurion reasoned that he had been granted authority by the Roman Empire to command his subordinates to carry out his will and he knew that Jesus could command things to be so, and they would be so. The centurion knew that Jesus’ authority far surpassed his because his was granted by an earthly power and Jesus’ authority came from the ultimate power, God. Jesus was due his respect because he was much higher in the chain of command.
All of us interpret Jesus within our own worldview. That is important if we are truly to make meaning out of the Christian narrative and find the intersection between our lives and 1st century Palestine.
But it is also important to remember that whatever our social context, or place in the social hierarchy of our day, Jesus came to show us in every age and time, that although we work within the constraints of the social order, we are also called to work to change it. The Gospel of Luke particularly emphasizes Jesus ministry to everyone- regardless of social class. Jesus came to reconfigure our understanding of the social order, so that everyone relates to everyone else as a child of God rather than as master and slave. Over and over again in Luke’s telling of the Gospel, he shows Jesus reaching out to the poor, women, those who were considered unclean, the powerless. For Luke, Jesus is the universal Savior of mankind. Even though his ministry was first to his own people, he broadened his ministry beyond the bounds of Jewish religious and cultural identity. And in today’s Gospel, Jesus heals the slave because of the Gentile centurion’s faith. He says, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” Faith in Jesus it seems, is the great equalizer, recognizing that all who follow him are equal under his divine authority.
The slave is the same as the centurion in God’s eyes. Carson is the same as Lord Grantham. And all of us are called as people of faith to work within the social order, using our power for good as well as working for change so that the world looks more and more like what God intends- where everyone eats and drinks together whether they speak Spanish or English, whether they have a graduate degree or a high school diploma, whether they are poor or wealthy. When we do these things, we are bringing in the Kingdom of God. We are continuing Jesus’ mission in this world.
We do that out of the same love that motivated the centurion to call upon Jesus to heal the slave who had become his friend. If we really love people as Jesus called us to love people- if we put our love into action, working for social justice, through our relationships as well as advocating for the marginalized of society, the world will change. Putting our faith into action, out of a sense of Christian vocation, partnering with God to bring about heaven on earth.
Today as we celebrate Youth Sunday, we recognize the importance of helping our children and youth have an inclusive view of the world and realizing that we look at the world that way, not because we think it is politically correct, but because we hold inclusion as a Gospel value. We strive to treat everyone equally because that is what Jesus did. We develop relationships with people who are outwardly different from us because that is what Jesus did. And we work to make the world more just because Jesus did.
Today’s Gospel teaches us to have a “both and” response to our world. We are called as Christians to use the power we have for good, just as the centurion used his power for good, asking Jesus to heal his slave. And the larger message of the Gospel of Luke calls us to work to change the world to make it more like the Kingdom of God where everyone is equal-both interpersonally and structurally- a place where there are no masters and no servants. Jesus ate with the marginalized of society and so should we. Jesus worked for change and so should we. And we do that with the faith, the love and the humility of the centurion, recognizing that all of us need healing in this broken world.
“Lord, I am not worth to have you come under my roof; therefore I do not presume to come to you. But only say the word, and let my servant be healed.”
Sources: Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 3, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. Commentary on Luke 7: 1-10, pp. 92-97, particularly the Exegetical Perspective by Steven J. Kraftchick.