time for action
from the outsider's screen
We all have some thing in our life that isn't working for us anymore. Maybe it’s a coping mechanism, a reaction, or a way of thinking. Whatever it is, at one time or another, it helped us get along in life. Now though, it’s just getting in the way. Despite that, we keep trying to make whatever it is work…
What is it for you? AND, what would it take to get you to finally give it up?
That’s the struggle at the heart of all the tension in today’s scripture. A delegation of Jewish elders approaches Jesus, asking him to heal the servant of a centurion in town. Usually, they wouldn’t ask, they say, but this man is a worthy of it. However, when the centurion realizes that Jesus plans to drop in, he sends another envoy to call the whole thing off! The centurion says he’s NOT worthy.
Worthy. Not worthy. Which is it?
To the eyes of the world, the centurion is most certainly worthy. Life has been good to him. And for his part, the centurion’s been good himself. He’s a man of means, but he doesn’t hoard his wealth. He donated the funds so the folks in Capernaum could get their synagogue built.
The centurion’s also conscientious. Although he’s an officer of a foreign army, he understands and respects the customs of the native population. He knows it wouldn’t be proper to address Jesus himself as a Gentile. So, thoughtfully, he sends a delegation of fellow Jewish people to Jesus. And the centurion even values the lives of his servants. He doesn’t indifferently order them about. Instead, he shows concern for them. Interceding on their behalf. Like the servant in today’s scripture.
The centurion is someone who comes across as altogether worthy. Despite all that, the one person who isn’t convinces is the centurion himself!
This isn’t an uncommon experience, either. We’ve all been there. When it comes to worthiness, we like to think if we could just convince everyone else of it, we’d be satisfied. But it doesn’t work that way. Does it?
Often the hardest person to convince is ourselves. And when it matters most, it doesn’t matter how many other people you’ve managed to persuade. That old voice in your heads still croaks out, “unworthy.” Like the horror movies, the call is coming from inside…
When it comes to measuring worth, our own AND others, it’s a fool’s errand! There’s no finish line. And we all know it, too! Despite that, we can’t quite manage to give up the game. Can we?
All may have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But that hasn’t stopped us from measuring the distance. Has it?
…When the elders come to Jesus and tell him the centurion is worthy, Jesus doesn’t engage. Does he? Then, when the centurion insists he’s not worthy, Jesus still doesn’t get in on the game!
This is because, when it comes to Jesus, it’s not a matter of worth! Worth is not a category that carries any weight with Jesus. In him, that old score has been settled once and for all! And do you know what the judgment is? Forgiven. Beloved. Child of God. NOW and forever! Let me say that again, the final judgement upon you is forgiven. Beloved. Child of God. NOW and forever!
…No sooner do I say that, though, than you start falling back on all those old notions of merit all over again. Maybe it’s explicit. You can’t stop trying to prove your worth. Or maybe it’s more subtle. Maybe you say, Jesus granted the centurion’s request because the centurion has faith. I know all these games because I play them, too!
So addicted have we become to measuring worth that we can’t let it go. Even when it’s not serving us anymore. Even when Jesus has let it go!
Worthiness is not operative in today’s scripture. If it were, the centurion wouldn’t have called for Jesus in the first place. He knows he’s not worthy!
And I will grant you, Jesus does remark on the centurion’s faith. But that’s not why he heals the servant. He was already going to do that anyway, wasn’t he? What bowls Jesus over is that the centurion has faith his unworthiness isn’t a barrier for Jesus!
And it isn’t for you, either!
Faith doesn’t bother with measurements because measurements are the last thing that matters to it! What matters is Jesus and his word! And you can’t measure that!
Faith is not a measuring stick. It’s the question of worth becoming moot once and for all! The final measurement that brings the rest of them to an end! Faith will have no truck with worthiness because Jesus won’t!
…So, you who have stood in the centurion’s shoes; well, sandals. You who know just how impossible it is to convince yourself of your own worth, get ready. Get ready because in Jesus, the matter has been laid to rest once and for all!
On the cross, Jesus took every measuring rod upon himself and died. When he was buried, he took those standards with him, too. But, when he was raised, he left it all in the tomb forever!
Trying to measure worth has never worked. And it was never going to, either. Blessedly, Jesus has laid the matter to rest! And now, in his resurrection, he stands on the other side of that grave and commands you to rise! Rise to new life! New life in him! New life where the only measurement left anymore is the eternal measure of Jesus’ unending love!
There you will find all your worth and more! You will find rest knowing that you can quit that tired old game. You will find joy in the assurance that for Jesus, the judge of the living and the dead, you have been redeemed, not with silver or gold but with Jesus’ holy, precious blood! And you will find peace in the promise that by his resurrection Jesus has set this evaluation of you forever in eternity!
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