Living in the Spirit
May 28, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 7:1-10

After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, ‘He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.’ And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, ‘Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. –Luke 7:1-7

The Centurion apparently thought he had been too presumptuous. He had heard of this man Jesus who had a reputation of being a healer and his first thought was to get this man to come and heal his servant. After his messengers had gone to seek Jesus, the Centurion must have had second thoughts not about the ability of the healer but about whether the Centurion was among those when the healer served. His concern for his servant was so great, he did not back away from seeking help. A little later in Luke Jesus is quoted as saying Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. (Luke 11:9) The Centurion was a Roman, a stranger in a strange land in the service of a government that held rule over the people of the land. I can certainly see why he would have second thoughts. I guess, he thought it would not hurt to ask.

Jesus calls us to welcome the stranger and demonstrated doing the same in his own life. When I read this scripture, I wonder how many of us do not approach God, not because we are strangers, but because we are estranged from God. We have gotten so caught up in our own way of being that we have little time for the Lord. Having become caught up in our culture, we may even ask “What has God done for me lately?”

Turning away from that “me first” mindset is one of the hardest things we may ever have to face. It is sold to us in every ad we see. Turning away from it, however, is the only way we will ever attain wholeness.

Prayer: Lord, help me know the joy of loving you and loving others, wanting the best for them. Help me understand that it is in loving others that I truly learn what it means to love myself and thus to bring my desires into synch with yours. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.