Jesus, the Centurion, and Cultural Engagement

I’m watching traffic on River Road flow by while sitting in an overly air conditioned Starbucks.

Would Jesus hang out at Starbucks? A stupid question, I know; but recently I’ve been studying selective Gospel readings (as suggested by Chris Webb in The Fire of the Word) and am being moved at how Jesus approached humanity with dignity, respect, and love.

Take for instance the encounter between Jesus and the Roman Centurion (see Matthew 8:5-13).  Jesus has travelled down a mountain, healed a leper, and is now entering Capernaum, a city on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. He’s tired, has grit in His mouth and is thirsty. Before He can find comfort, probably before He can even find shade, the Roman Centurion approaches Him. Now watch this exchange carefully.

“Lord,” says the Roman. “My servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” Worry is etched into every line on the Roman’s sun-baked face while hope pools behind his dark brown eyes.

Jesus locks eyes with the Roman, and laying a hand on his shoulder he says, “I will come and heal him.”  Jesus’ tone is confident and unflustered.

I’m astounded by this exchange. Typically Romans are merely tolerant of Israel’s faith at best. They never seek any sort of guidance or help from the faith of the Jews. In fact, they dismiss their faith as archaic, preferring instead to place their faith in the ingenuity of humanity—mainly via engineering and government (eerily similar to our culture). Israel also has no love-fest for the Romans. To them, the Romans are a hedonistic culture of depravity that needs to be expelled from their land.

So the Roman Centurion has three strikes against him; he’s a Gentile, a Roman, and a high-ranking officer of the Roman army. If anyone exemplifies the Jews’ hatred toward the Roman occupation it would be this Centurion. To the Romans, Jesus has gone from being another self-proclaimed but harmless Holy man to someone who actually performs miracles while amassing a large following.  Therefore, He’s now on their “watch list” for His potential to stir civic unrest.

So back to our scene. Jesus enters the militarily strategic city of Capernaum and is immediately approached by this high-ranking Roman officer. It looks to be the development of a somewhat hostile encounter. The crowd gasps and stops in their tracks as the two men near each other, is this going to be high noon at the OK Corral?

But studying the men’s faces perplexes the crowd. The Roman’s face is pleading and not fierce; his eyebrows are moving toward his scalp rather than pinching down on his eyes. His jaw is loose and not clinched in gritted teeth and a sneer. Jesus’ face is relaxed as His nose bridge begins to wrinkle with concern. His eyes are looking straight into the Roman’s; there is no fear, only concern.

The crowd normally expects the Roman’s first words to be ones of challenge or threat; this time, however, they are stunned as the Roman addresses Jesus as “Lord.” Few Jews had even addressed Jesus as Lord, much less a Roman officer. In this one word the Roman is publicly proclaiming his faith in Jesus as the Messiah. But we will see later, that this is just the tip of this man’s faith.

Jesus’ first response is equally surprising; He proclaims that He will go the sick servant immediately. Jesus could have easily and justifiably told this Gentile-Roman-Officer to take a hike. But notice that Jesus cared for the man’s heart and did not judge him or react to him based on his culturally imposed labels.

As I begin to close this first of two installments about this record, I want to leave you with a quick comparison. Our culture has become more polarized than at any other time in my life (I’m 50, so I’ve been around a while). In today’s parlance, the two main characters could be a liberal and a conservative; or gay and straight; or rich and homeless; or a Yankee fan and a Red Sox fan. The point is that both of these men shed their cultural labels and biases toward the other to instead approach each other with respect and dignity.  Jesus Himself modeled this approach to humanity throughout His ministry. He still wants to model this approach to humanity by way of the indwelling Holy Spirit in each of our lives. Are we willing to cooperate with Jesus rather than succumbing to cultural labels and expectations?

The next installment, for the two of you that actually read my blog, will explore the startling conclusion of this amazing record.

He is Risen—But Are We?

The breathless excitement of Easter, or what some call Resurrection Day, quickly fades as the busyness of life re-asserts its presence in our lives. Come Monday we again face traffic, overdue reports, childcare, taxes, and the general malaise of the mundane, day-to-day grind. As the open tomb lingers on the outskirts of our consciousness, it’s that first cup of coffee that dominates our first thoughts. 

Our minds become dulled by daily repetition and lulled by comfort.  The reality of the resurrection and its supreme significance is fogged over by Facebook, cable TV, and instant messaging.  Suddenly, we find ourselves lacking joy, emptied of purpose and distant from God. Little did we recognize the ever-so-stealthy schemes of the enemy, luring us into a trap of convenience and predictability.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.  God never intended it to be this way.  

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” said Jesus (John 10:10b). Jesus is teaching us that life in Him is meant to be filled with vitality, excitement, and purpose.  One of my study Bibles states that Jesus calls us “to a rich, full, joyful life, one overflowing with meaningful activities under the personal favor and blessing of God and in continual fellowship with his people” (ESV Study Bible).  This sounds anything but mundane and raises one looming question:

How do we live this way every day? What is the connector between us and God?

Jesus, after teaching about not worrying over everyday things, then said:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). The Greek word for ‘seek’ means to ‘strive after’ or ‘pursue’; thus, we are to strive after the kingdom of God before we strive for anything else.

But how?  I suggest two things: 1) prayer. Pray upon awakening in the morning, even if it’s just to get up to go to the bathroom—pray to your Heavenly Father. Then set a time to intentionally sit quietly and seek the Lord in prayer; for me first thing in the morning works best and it seems to model what Jesus did on a daily basis, but each Christ-follower must find which time of the day is best for their clarity of mind with minimal distractions.

2) Is reading the Scripture. I don’t mean to just read it to satisfy a devotional plan or to place a check mark in a to-do box, but really read the Scripture. Ask God to speak to you through the words you are reading, because they are living and active (see Hebrews 4:12).

Another key to learning to live the life that Jesus has called us to is obedience:

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:1-3).

Our culture is rife with rebellion and rampant individualism, obedience is no longer a highly touted character trait; but God looks very favorably on obedience.  What’s more, obedience to God is not burdensome. That may shock you if you’ve been raised in works-oriented families or churches—where your worth is based on what you do rather than who you are—but really reading Scripture will reveal a loving Father, not a lording task master.

Take for instance the following:

“And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, ‘Which commandment is the most important of all?’

“Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these: (Mark 12:28-31).

What is Jesus calling us to do? Love.  Now before you go thinking that Jesus was all mamby-pamby, this is the same man that came into the temple where merchants and purchasers were transacting business. There were a lot of people, perhaps hundreds. Even so, this multitude was defiling the temple of God and Jesus cleansed the temple by driving them all out of the temple and yelling after them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers” (Matthew 21:13). That is certainly no wimp in my book. So, in regard to love, it is clear that at times love has teeth in it and is therefore not always hand-holding, Kumbaya mushy stuff but is instead, a realistic tapestry of human emotion and compassion rolled into action.

So one vital principle to keeping the essence of Easter alive is understanding and living the truth that we are to seek God first and foremost above anything else. This principle entails prayer, Scripture reading, and obedience.