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An Equal-Opportunity Savior
Matthew 8: 5 – 13

Spencer C. Lawrence, Church of the Cross, Hoffman Estates, IL, October 1, 2006

SonQuest began this past Wednesday. As I mentioned earlier we’re one or two people short on help, but we got by this time. In the second hour we had about thirteen young people show up for basketball. That is way more than I expected so early in the season. Half way through the hour, I called the young men together at the center of the gym for a Bible reading and prayer. I asked them, “How long you guys been coming here?” One boy said, “Since fifth grade.” Another added, “Ten years.” Most of these young men are in their early twenties. I then read a section from the Sermon on the Mount – the Beatitudes. When I finished reading I asked, “Who or what do you want me to pray for?” One young man raised his hand saying, “Pray that we will all be safe.” And so I did.

Safety. It’s a common concern isn’t it? It’s one we all share, but perhaps it comes in different forms. I don’t know for sure, but for these young men, I suspect that physical safety was what they had in mind. For others financial security, good health and emotional well-being are paramount. For all of us spiritual safety is a big deal, too. We want to know that we are safely in God’s hands. This is why Jesus came, isn’t it? Safety - physical, financial, emotional and spiritual - is what Jesus came to accomplish for all people everywhere.

In Matthew’s Gospel we read of a Roman centurion – a Gentile - who approached Jesus. Now in those days Gentiles were not looked upon with favor, especially a Gentile who was also a Roman officer. A Gentile was just one step above a leper in the Jewish hierarchy of people. A Gentile could enter Jerusalem, but a leper could not. New Testament scholar Dale Bruner writes: “Male Gentiles were considered unclean unless they became proselytes, were circumcised, and ritually washed.” At any rate, this Gentile officer in the Roman army came to Jesus and said, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” Note that he didn’t ask Jesus to do anything. He just stated a fact. Immediately Jesus offered to come to his house and heal his servant. The centurion replied, “No that’s not necessary. Just say the word and he will be healed. I have servants. I tell one to do this and he does it. I tell another to do that and he does that. Just say the word and the servant will be made well.” Jesus was stunned. He remarked, “In all of Israel I have never seen faith like this.” Then he added, “It will come to be that many will come from all over the world to eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in God’s kingdom while many who count themselves heirs of the kingdom will miss out.” Then he looked at the centurion saying, “Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.” And, of course, the servant was healed in that very hour. Jesus made the sick Gentile well again. He “saved” him from illness. He made him safe once again.

One thing that’s important in this story is the role of faith. It’s more than interesting that the centurion didn’t ask Jesus to do anything. He just said what was going on in his household, which suggests that’s what prayer is. It’s just telling God the truth about our lives. It’s not so much begging God to give us this or that, but letting God know what’s happening and then letting God decide what to do. When the centurion did that, Jesus offered to come to his house. It says something about Jesus’ eagerness to come to our aid regardless of who we are, doesn’t it? Then, when the centurion said, “No, no. Don’t come. Just say the word and he’ll get better,” Jesus was astounded. In this story, faith just lays out the facts and then tells Jesus he doesn’t have to actually come, he can just say a word. Sort of a minimalist view of faith, isn’t it? It doesn’t take much to move God to act to keep us safe.

But what’s more central for today is the fact that Jesus healed the servant of a Roman centurion. In the opening verses of Matthew 8 Jesus healed a leper. Here, he healed a Gentile. And the servant of an officer of the occupying army at that!  Later Jesus added that many will come from the east and the west to eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in God’s kingdom. (A cautionary note: when Jesus criticizes the Jewish community – the “true believers” of that day – remember that he, too, was a Jew. And he is by implication warning ”true believers” of our day. Dale Bruner notes:  “The church should feel herself questioned when she reads Jesus’ people-of-God-critical stories.”)  The main point is that Jesus wasn’t interested in healing a Gentile here and there; he looked forward to many of them joining with the Jewish faithful in God’s kingdom. In other words, salvation is for everyone. Jesus died and rose again to make all people safe.

This is especially relevant on this World Communion Sunday when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper with Christians around the globe. Today is the day when we are reminded of the universal nature of the church. The church of Jesus Christ is not just the church of the western Europe and North America. The church of Jesus Christ includes Christians from all over. Christians in South America, in Africa, in Israel and Palestine, in Lebanon and Egypt. Christians in Syria and Iraq and Afghanistan and Iran. Christians in India. Christians in Southeast Asia. Christians in China and Japan and Korea. The church of Jesus Christ is a world-wide phenomenon. Contrary to what many in the media are saying, Christianity, not Islam, is the world’s fastest-growing religion. It may not be growing in the western world. But it’s growing rapidly in South America, Africa, India and Asia. The center of the church is shifting from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere. One of the implications of this is that we Christians in America will need to learn from sisters and brothers in Christ in other parts of the world. One day they may be the missionaries and we the mission field.

Jesus healing the Gentile man is relevant in another way. It’s relevant because our area is changing so rapidly. We in Hoffman Estates and surrounding communities are still predominantly European-Americans. But people from other parts of the world are moving in. You don’t have to be a social scientist to figure that out. Several years ago I was coming to the church through the back drive way. It was a Thursday morning. As I drove in I noticed an African-American mother walking with a child across the parking lot to the Steeple Hill Condominiums. A Hispanic man rode his bicycle from Higgins Road south through our parking lot. The lot itself was filled with cars belonging to Japanese women who had come with their children to learn English and hear about Jesus. Later that evening Mexican kids might have been playing soccer or Indian and Pakistani kids might have been playing cricket on the back property. And of course, on Sunday afternoon our Korean sisters and brothers – some of whom are with us today - worship in the same space we use Sunday morning.

If you want statistics, then listen to these: 66.7 % of the population in zip code 60195 is Anglo; that number is projected to decline by 10.3% over the next five years; 4.9% of the population is African-American; in five years that number will go up by 6.4%; 9 % of the population is Hispanic; they will increase by 21.7%; and currently 17.5% is Asian which will increase by 17.7% in the next five years. As Bob Dylan sang, “The times they are a changin.” Our communities are now very different from what they were twenty years ago. They will even be more different in the next few years.

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Church of the Cross
475 Higgins Road
Hoffman Estates, Illinois 60169
 (847)885-1199