2 Pentecost Yr C Proper 4 May 29 2016

2 Pentecost Yr C Proper 4 May 29 2016 Audio

I'm still pretty new to this great state of Wisconsin, Rick and I have spent some time wandering around, discovering what's here. I'm sure there's a place like the one in our story today. Try to imagine this place, in the middle of nowhere, on a lake. A very remote place, but the people there have always lived there, and still love being there. The breeze is cool, the water blue, and you are stretched out on your beach chair, ready to take it easy, and not be bothered by anyone.

That's the place where our story takes place. In Capernaum, a tiny fishing village at the edge of a lake. Jesus is there, taking it easy, hoping no one recognizes him. Now, I just made that part up, but it could be true. The Centurion is a Roman official who has money and power and status. This Centurion has a slave who is sick and dying. There really is no equivalent to this relationship of the Centurion and his slave in any modern scenario, the Centurion owns the slave, and clearly the slave is very important to the Centurion.

The Centurion is in charge of building a Jewish synagogue, and the Jewish elders seem to like and respect him which is quite odd and unusual, Roman centurions were not held in any esteem by the Jewish people. From the Jewish elders, the centurion finds out that this rabbi Jesus is there, in his little town. The Centurion has been told that Jesus is a healer.

That is the stage on which this story is set. Is this just some chance meeting in some small town on the beach? This is a rather surprising and, perhaps amazing turn of events. The centurion is doing such a good thing in building this synagogue for the Jewish people and this community, and they love and respect him so much that they are willing to go to Jesus on his behalf. And the Jewish elders represented this rabbi so audaciously that the centurion decided he didn't really even need to go see Jesus, Jesus could heal his slave from where he was. Jesus was so amazed by this, that he came to meet the centurion anyway. What is so surprising about this story is that when Jesus encounters someone so utterly different from him, and yet who displays faith, Jesus does not ask him to convert or change or follow, he simply heals and commends.

What I believe is happening here is that compassion meets compassion. This is Jesus' compassion meeting the compassion in this centurion, who, in this particular culture, didn't have to have any of that. This is a man whose position in life allowed that he didn't have to show any compassion or concern for any one if he was so inclined.

So what I think this is really about is breaking open the walls that separate people, like belief, or piety, or ritual. This is about breaking up the walls that separate, like cultural, moral, and legal, boundaries. All of these boundary walls are breached, for a time, by the love a crusty old soldier feels for his slave. Jesus is not concerned about whether this centurion is Jewish or even his own follower. What Jesus encounters, and is surprised by, and what moves him to heal, is the compassion the centurion shows.

I think this is a very challenging passage. Jesus shows us that in our time, following is not about believing the right way or doing the right things. It is about showing up. It is about being fully and completely present in the midst of the muck and the mess of life. Jesus showed up for this man. Jesus, in the flesh shows up for us, in all times and in all places, no matter what. This is incarnation, this is where mystery and reality meet. This is the point of all of this.

So what does that mean for us? How do we acknowledge incarnation, the reality that Jesus shows up? How do we show up in all times and all places, not just some times and some places? What does compassion look like in our particular time and place?

Sometimes, those who have power in our culture, try to build walls and social boundaries in an effort to promulgate division and to quash compassion. Sometimes, those who have power in our culture try to raise the fear level in order to fan the flames of discrimination. Over and over in our scriptures we hear, do not be afraid. And in this particular passage from Luke, cross the the boundary, show up for the one who is unlike you, show up for the one who needs to be healed.

So much in our lives and in our community is broken, we see and experience the fragments of lives broken apart all around us, we see it in the behaviors that take the place of peace and wholeness, violence to others and to self. Misogyny and injustice, discrimination and mistreatment are all the results of brokenness. The creator of all that is seen and unseen, the God of the universe, is the greatest integrating force in the world, and we see that integration in the reality of Jesus, in the flesh, who shows up and puts us back together, Jesus, in the flesh, who shows up and fills the fissures in our hearts with love, Jesus, in the flesh, who shows up and suffers with us, with all of creation, with the centurion, that is compassion.

You know this is true. Because you have been there, you may even be there. In that place of brokenness, when you thought you could go no further, someone suffered with you, someone showed up, someone extended their hand and said, you are fine, let me sit here with you, let me love you back into wholeness.

You know this is true. Because you have been the person who extends compassion, you are the one who when the lady at the gas station cut you off, rather than getting mad, you acknowledged her pain, you knew that it must have been a difficult morning for her, and you held her compassionately, you let love win.

Jesus shows up, Jesus puts us back together, that is love, and that love wins. Amen.