Luke 7:1-17

Discussion Questions

1. What have you asked God for and received?
2. Conversely, have you ever asked God for something without receiving your desired answer?
3. Why do you think God answers some prayers with a yes and others with a no? Why did Jesus heal some He encountered but not every one of them?
4. Is there anything you want to ask God for today? 

Transcript

We study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel. We do have extra copies here. And if you would like one to follow along, just raise your hand up real high. Somebody will drop one off at your row from the center aisle or the side aisles. If you would like one to follow along, do that. And up on the screen you’ll see the QR code. If you would like to grab the notes and quotes, I believe there’s also access to the prayer and to the songs that we have used in today’s worship service. And I think more and more folks are enjoying being able to access all of that. I want to thank the folks who joined us this past week from near and far, Windsor Ontario, Canada. Lots of folks in Nashville Tennessee joined online this past week. Peterborough, UK; Lucedale, Mississippi; and London, UK as well. So grateful to have you folks join us. Glad that we could be together and worship the Lord and study His Word.

We’re going to be in Luke, Chapter 7, if you want to join me there. Today the sermon will be entitled, “Just Say the Word.” We’ll take the first 17 verses. Luke 7 opens with a remarkable couple of events, two miracles that Jesus performs. And we’ll take a good close look at those. I want you to know there’s a centurion involved in the first one, a Roman centurion. They’re mentioned 19 times in the New Testament. And in virtually every single case, they’re actually shown in kind of a good light. And there’s something about them that’s going on. And this one in particular is a great illustration of that. There’s something the Lord is doing as the Lord Jesus is on the ground in Israel, but as the launching of the kingdom of heaven because the King has come Himself in this first time.

So, the second encounter will be of a grieving widow who had now lost not only her husband, but her son as well. And you may be familiar with these two stories, but I think they both at least lead us to ask this big question, and hopefully this Bible study will help us answer that question. Who is this man, Jesus? Who is He? As we grow close to Advent and the Christmas season as well, we’ll be looking to answer that question in all of our Bible studies.

Pray with me before I read the text, if you will: Set free, O Lord, the souls of your servants today from all restlessness and anxiety. Give us the peace and the power which come only from You. Keep us in all perplexities and grief from any fears or faithlessness that so upheld by Your strength and stayed on the rock of your faithfulness, through storm and stress, we may abide in You. And as we come to study Your Word here in this moment, Lord, give us a clearer vision of Your truth, a greater faith in Your power, and a more confident assurance of Your love for us. In Jesus’ name, amen and amen.

So, Luke, Chapter 7, we’ll read first verses 1 through 10, that first pericope. By the way, we’re coming off the heels of Dr. Pennington who led us in that last little bit of Chapter 6 coming off the heels of what was called the Sermon on the Plain. Some people think it’s the same sermon Luke’s version of the Sermon that Matthew records in Matthew, Chapter 5, 6 and 7, which we typically call the Sermon on the Mount, but I think it’s probably a different sermon. I would assume as many times as Jesus preached, He taught on the same subjects over and over and over again. I’ll do this sermon twice today, so if I’m doing this sermon twice today, I can see Jesus talking about things like the Lord’s Prayer and about the kinds of character His followers exhibit. I would think He would be talking about that quite a bit.

So, here’s where we are, right on the heels of that. “When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He [Jesus] went to Capernaum. [Luke records this.] A certain centurion slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die.” Highly regarded in the Greek is “intimas,” and this is a word that describes someone who is actually precious, prized, and honored. So, it’s already kind of an inside out paradoxical-sounding verse. The Roman centurion reveres, loves, holds precious, the servant. The word servant there is “doulos.” I think you could translate it slave as well in their time, in their day, in their culture. Lots of slaves. Sixty million slaves, it was estimated in the Roman Empire. More slaves, actually, than Roman citizens.

But in this particular case, this Roman centurion, not a Jewish person, not a Christian person, we’re just told he’s a Roman centurion. He’s working in that area, probably working for Herod Antipas, who’s the tetrarch in that area right now. He’s the one that the religious leaders and Pilate will drag Jesus before him to kind of grill Him before they crucify Him. So this guy who answers to Herod Antipas has high regard or views his servant as precious, as important, as valued. And so, he was sick, and he was about to die, we’re told. Verse 3, “When he, the centurion, heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Jesus to come and save the life of his slave.” It’s interesting he didn’t go to the Roman Emperor. He could have gone to a lot of other places. Maybe he’s already gone to those places and found out they couldn’t do anything for his dear servant, his slave, but who is precious to him.

Now he has heard something about Jesus, verse 3A tells us. And so, he asks some of his Jewish elders from his area there that are clearly friends of his, you’ll see that in a minute. And he asks them to go to Jesus and request that He come and heal the slave. Well, verse 4, “When they had come to Jesus, they earnestly entreated Him saying, ‘He is worthy for You to grant this to him’,” meaning the Roman centurion is… This is real odd. Again, it’s sort of an upside-down view of things. Most of the Jews thought as thought of the Romans as oppressive occupiers and they did not like them at all. And so here they’re saying to Jesus, “This centurion is different. He’s worthy of You doing this.” And they’re even going to say why. “He loves our nation,” verse 5, “and it was he who built us our synagogue.”

Okay, so the synagogue in Capernaum was… I mean this guy contributed to the capital campaign. No, he did more than that. If you put the thermometer on the wall for the building of that particular synagogue, it’s all this Roman centurion. He built it all for the Jewish people in Capernaum. In a minute, I’ll show you some pictures of the ruins. I’ve been able to visit that about six different times and many of you have gone with us on trips. But here’s the point. The Jewish leaders are saying to Jesus, “This man is worthy because he did this thing.” And just a little sidebar here, their entire way of thinking about humanity’s relationship with God is all about what we earn and what we do. That’s the way they thought about God. They thought they could earn God’s favor. And that’s why they think this guy is worthy to do that.

Now, I’ve been a pastor and a Bible teacher for over 23 years. We used to have a Bible study called Watershed that then folded into or became The Village Chapel many, many years ago, back in 2001 I think it was. The one thing I keep reading as I read the Bible, the impression I keep getting, is that actually we aren’t worthy or deserving of anything. Because why? God is being gracious to us. Grace is for the guilty and the undeserving. Mercy is for the helpless and the needy. I’m all four of those. I’m guilty of being a sinner. I’m undeserving of God’s kindness and His generosity to me. I’m actually helpless and I’m actually needy. And we kind of keep driving that home here at The Village Chapel in a world that just constantly lies to us and tells us, “You’re really good… You deserve this,” that sort of thing. We get that all the time.

And the great news about the Bible is that it’s honest with us. It’s refreshingly honest with us because most of us actually know that we’re guilty sinners. Unless your conscience has been seared, you actually know that you’re a sinner. And you actually know that what you really need is not a list of rules to follow that you might maybe make yourself worthy. No. What you really need is grace. Most of us know that. We keep driving it home here because we think the right diagnosis leads to the right prescription and the right kind of outcome that we all really want.

So, these guys come to Jesus, look at this. Now, listen, I’m not saying what he did was unkind. I’m not saying what he did wasn’t generous. I’m saying, I would say it was. But when it comes to salvation, when it comes to our claims before God, God is not in my debt in any way, shape or form. And the only thing I really deserve as a sinner is death and hell. And I know you’re thinking, “Why did I even come to church this morning?” But the great news is we get the reality, we get the truth, and we get the good news that Christ has paid it all. He is. He really is all that we need as guilty sinners, as helpless and needy people. He is. And so, we keep pointing to Him just as this text does as well.

So, this centurion sends the religious leaders, they go to Jesus, they ask for Him to come and heal the centurion’s servant. And they make their case that this guy is worthy because he contributed to the building campaign. And then what happens right after? How does Jesus react? Well, it’s interesting to me. They say, “He loves our nation, he built our synagogue.” He doesn’t stop down and give them this sort of theological treatise that I just gave you. He doesn’t do that. He moves. He’s on the move here in verse 6, “Jesus started on His way with them. And when he was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to Him, ‘Lord, do not trouble yourself further’, [these are guys that are speaking for the centurion] ‘for I [the centurion] am not fit for You to come under my roof; for this reason, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You’.”

In other words, he’s kind of refuting what those religious leaders just said. He knows more than they know. They should know this. They didn’t know this. He says, “I’m not worthy for You to even come to my house.” And yes, there was a rule on the ground in those days and times. Yes, there was a thing where Jews wouldn’t go inside a Gentile’s house. It would make them unclean ceremonially. And so, they wouldn’t do that because then they would be unclean. They have to go through all kinds of ceremonial things before they can go back to worship again. But I don’t think that’s all that’s going on here. I think this guy actually has some genuine humility and some amazing faith, as you’ll see, Jesus even thinks that. So, watch what happens here. He says, “I don’t consider myself worthy to come to You,” verse 7. “But,” here it is, “just say the word.” He gets it. He gets it in a way the ones that you would expect to get it, the religious leaders, you would expect them to get it. They don’t get it. He gets it. He gets something about Jesus, right?

“[You] just say the word and my servant will be healed. For indeed, I am a man under authority with soldiers under me; and I say to the one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” And when Jesus hears this, some of the most shocking bits of the New Testament right here, “And when Jesus heard this, He marveled.” That’s what my English Bible says, yours is probably something like that, okay? “He marveled at him and turned and said to the multitude that was following Him, ‘I say to you, not even in Israel, have I found such great faith.’ And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.” That’s amazing. That’s just remarkable.

All right, so a couple of things. I want to pick this apart just a little bit before we finish out through verse 17 and the second pericope. But just as you look up on the screen there, you can kind of see where Capernaum is. You can probably see where it’s in the orange, or the burnt orange, Galilee. It says Capernaum is there in white letters. It’s on the northwest shore of the sea of Galilee. And it’ll become the hub of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. While we have the map up there, I’m going to tell you that the other town we’re going to visit today in the second pericope is Nain, N-A-I-N. And it’s in tiny little blue letters at the bottom of the Galilee region there. You might be able to see that as well. But I’m not going to come back to the slide of the map.

But Capernaum, you can visit there today. They spell it this way, “Capharnaum,” the town of Jesus. Reminds me of all those little signs we have outside of little American towns. If it’s the home of some celebrity or some president or some well-known person of some notoriety, whatever, the bragging right of the town and the city, they’ll post a little sign like this. But right now, that’s what they have outside of Capernaum. These are the ruins of the fourth-century synagogue and the first-century synagogue, which is the one that Jesus would’ve taught in multiple times. And the one that this centurion likely paid for is likely right underneath this. And here you can see they’ve even posted a sign here. It says the late 4th century AD. These are the white Jerusalem stones as you see there. And then it’s built on top of the remains of the first century synagogue of Jesus. The basalt, the black stones that you see there dated back to the first century.

So, when we go there, and maybe you’ll get to go someday, maybe things will calm down over there and we’ll take another trip over there at some point. But it’s amazing to sit there and open our Bibles and read. And even as we read this story, what’s amazing to me is to think that that centurion likely paid for those basalt stones that we’re looking at right there. In other words, he’s a part of why that’s there, and those stones are quite likely result of his generosity. All right, so just a reminder about the miracles, the miracles of Jesus roused curiosity, and we see that happen here. This centurion is curious about Jesus. He thinks, “Maybe He’s the solution to my servant whom I love so dearly and so precious to me.” But the miracles of Jesus are not just sensationalism, they’re not just a sort of spiritual circus. They’re meant to arouse curiosity about Jesus, to draw people to want to ask this question, “Who is this man, Jesus, who displays this power?”

Look at what He does as we read through Luke’s gospel. We’ll see that He has power and authority over disease, over demons and demonic activity, over disasters like storms. He will also have power and authority over death itself. And we’ll see an example of that in the next pericope, really amazing display of His power and His miracles. They reveal His compassion. He actually really cared about these people. You see, what Jesus is doing, and not even saying a word to these religious elders, but actually just starting to move is, He’s actually what compassion is. It’s love in motion. That’s what it is. It’s love that can’t sit still, love that can’t look away, love that can’t deny the need but sees it and moves toward the need. And Jesus reveals His compassion. He really cared about this person.

Notice please, He’s crossing national lines, political lines, racial lines, religious lines. This guy probably grew up in a polytheistic pagan context as a Roman soldier, okay? But here he is. And he might be like Cornelius that we read about in Acts, Chapter 10. He might be like that. Cornelius was known to be what they’re called in the new Testament, a Godfearer. That is somebody who’s been a polytheist but now is becoming more and more persuaded. That if there is such a being as G-O-D, God, this title that means supreme, one of a kind, all-powerful, creator of everything, then there really can only be one. And so, all of those, the pantheon of Greek gods and Roman gods, if there really is a God, it really matters that He’s all-powerful, all-knowing, and that He’s all-loving and kind too.

And so, Jesus is jumping all of those hurdles to go and help this man, respond to this man’s request. They affirm His identity. He came to be the savior of the world. He came to save His people from their sins. He came to save me from my sins. He came to save you from your sins. And He comes to, yes, He’s coming to fulfill the promise of Genesis, Chapter 12 that through the seed of Abraham, all nations will be blessed. Not just one nation, but all nations. I mean the Christian faith is indeed the most inclusive of all religious belief systems there are, because it’s good news for all people. Will you believe, remains the question. How will you respond, remains the question. But the news is being proclaimed, and Jesus is the centerpiece of that news. So, it affirms His identity as savior, Son of God, all these miracles. I mean, if He is the Son of God, come on. What is the big deal about Him walking on water? If He’s the Son of God, He created gravity. If He’s the Son of God, He created water. If He created everything that exists, walking on water is nothing. Healing somebody by the power of your word is nothing to Him.

It’s interesting to me that Jesus almost never performs his miracles with the same method. Sometimes he takes mud and smears it on a blind man’s eyes and then the man gets healed. Sometimes Jesus just says the word, like right here, and somebody is healed. I don’t even know what the illness was, but it was a bad one. Sometimes Jesus takes and spits in the dust and makes up some more mud. He’s always doing things just a little bit differently. And sometimes He tells people and touches people. Sometimes He asks questions of people. And He’s just always doing things differently so that we can’t think of it as formulaic magic that if we’ll just do it that way, then everybody, every disease, every demon, every whatever has to respond in some way because after all, we did it just like Jesus.

I wish I had the power that Jesus had; I wish I had the knowledge that Jesus has. But He did not go through the hospital in Capernaum and clear the place out. When He was at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, He didn’t heal everybody. He picked out one man and He healed that man. Does that mean He doesn’t love all the other people? Not at all. He brought salvation to all of us and it’s on offer to all of us. But His miracles are designed to arouse curiosity, display power, and reveal His compassion and to affirm His identity. He’s the Son of God, He’s the Savior of the world. He came to give us the greatest healing that we ultimately need, and that is salvation, reconciliation between us and God. And that all inspires worship as well.

What kind of faith causes Jesus to marvel? Did you notice that in… Look at verse 9 again. “When Jesus heard this, He marveled.” When He heard the request and then the second message from the centurion saying, ‘You don’t even have to come to my house. Just say the word and then my servant will be healed’.” And Jesus, it says, marveled. “Thaumazō” is the Greek word. It’s used 45 times in the New Testament, and it’s only used twice of Jesus. Only two times is it ever said that Jesus marveled. Because as I was sitting there picking this apart a little bit, I kept thinking to myself, “What does it take to make the son of God marvel about anything?” Well, it’s in response to this centurion’s faith that Jesus marvels. The other time that it’s said of Jesus that He marveled is also about faith. It’s in Mark, Chapter 6, verse 6, where it tells us that Jesus marveled at their unbelief. His response in marveling is all about our response or lack of response to trust Him, to place everything in His hands.

This centurion was compassionate toward His servant, humble enough to cross national, social, religious racial lines himself to ask versus demanding. He could have sent a bunch of soldiers with swords and tried to drag Jesus there, and with a sword to his throat demand that He try to heal this centurion’s servant. But he didn’t do that. He asked. He was loving towards God’s people. Even the religious elders told Jesus that. Generous with his resources, built the synagogue. Confident in what he believed about Jesus. He heard about Jesus. And if he weren’t confident, he would not have sent those two teams of people to Jesus on behalf of his servants. So, he must have been confident about what he believed about Jesus and the possibility there, and he resolved to trust Jesus with the outcome. “Jesus, you just say the word.”

I want to get to that place, you guys. I hope you do too. Where for me it’s in my prayers, it’s, “Just say the word, Lord. Whatever You say, however You design the outcome, I’m trusting in You.” Man, I mean that’s really important for all of us who live in this country right now. Trust the Lord. He’s the one who’s ultimately in charge. And if we rest in his sovereignty, we might not like the outcome, but that doesn’t mean we’re, “Oh the world’s coming to an end.” No, it’s not. Why? Because politics isn’t ultimately in charge. Neither is financial stability in charge. Nothing other than sovereign God is in charge of all the outcomes, and so we trust in Him.

What does this text teach us about Jesus? Well, look at His compassion and response of selfless love and motion. The amazing instance when Jesus marveled at something teaches us that He can… He’s watching us. He’s looking for how we respond to Him. We are watching Him, and we see that He’s so compassionate. And He’s also got absolute authority over disease and death beyond all boundaries. He doesn’t even have to go in this particular case. He doesn’t go all the way to the house. He doesn’t touch the man. He doesn’t smear mud on the guy’s eyes or anything like that. He literally takes the words that this man, the centurion said, He actually goes there. I don’t even know if He met the centurion. We’re not told that He did.

Now in Matthew’s account of this, it sounds a little more like the centurion goes himself rather than the Jewish elders and then the group of friends who come out and say, “You don’t even have to come. We’re not worthy of have You under his roof. Just say the word.” In Matthew’s account, it sounds a little bit more like it’s the centurion going in saying all of that. Luke, I think, might have been a little bit more of a digger and a researcher. And I can understand how people can give the same general account and might come off with different takes on it. If Kim and I both come to your house, knock on the door and ask for dinner, and you open the door, invite us in and feed us, and then the next three days you go, “Kim dropped by for dinner the other night. That was great.” Are you telling a lie? Is it wrong? No, Kim did drop by. You just forgot that I was there too. Which happens a lot, and it’s okay with me. There are a lot of small little details like that that we see as we try to harmonize the gospels, and it’s really okay.

Here’s this main point that I think I got out of this. Power without compassion is dangerous, while compassion without power is helpless. Jesus perfectly combines absolute power with perfect compassion. Can you rest in that? I can rest in that. All power and authority has been given to Him by God, His Father. He claims that later on in the gospels. I can trust Him. Why? Because of the kind of savior He is. He has both compassion and power. And I want to say to Him, “Just say the word.” It’s so important. Stott said, “Behind every word is the person who speaks it, the authority he possesses or lacks. God’s word is power for the sole reason that it is God who speaks it.”

So, we need to get inside of this. I’m picking apart the Lord’s Prayer right now for an upcoming season of my podcast. Every word matters to me as I’m picking it apart. “We say our Father, who art in Heaven.” And I’m kind of locked in on the “who art in Heaven” right now. And it’s like, “What does that mean?” We just roll right past these lines all the time. We’ve got to stop. He is so completely other than we are. And we are constantly measuring God’s abilities, God’s desire, all of that. We’re measuring them against our own. And when I pray, “Our Father, who art in Heaven,” I have way too small an idea who God is. I need to have an understanding of this transcendent almighty, sovereign, loving God who knows me perfectly, knows what a wretch I am, knows how selfish I am, knows how ego-centered I am, knows how prideful I am, knows all of that – and still loves me perfectly. Now, that’s the kind of God we’re presenting to you when we talk about Jesus here.

All right, let’s look at verses 11 through 17. This is what we’ll call a divine disruption. I think this is really awesome. It came about soon afterwards, right after this experience with a centurion and his servant, that Jesus went to a city called Nain, N-A-I-N. I showed you that on the southwest shore of the sea of Galilee. His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by what? A large multitude. That’s different from a regular multitude. That’s supersize. When you go through the fast-food line and you want small, medium, and large, and then there’s a supersize. This is supersize.

In church work, we talk about that with your tithing. You want to super-tithe that? People say you want to super-tithe that? You get that kind of thing. But in food, it’s supreme. We talk about that. Well, here it’s a large multitude, I would think, again, a regular multitude is pretty big, but this one’s a large one. So, see on the horizon, this one guy walking out front. And just behind Him, this entire massive number, thousands likely is what that means to me. I mean, I don’t know what you’re reading, but that’s what I’m seeing. And perhaps a cloud of dust all around them as they approach this one little, tiny town called Nain on the southwest shore of the sea of Galilee. And as they approach, there’s another crowd, there’s a different kind of crowd, and here’s what they see. As they approach the gate of the city, “behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizable crowd from the city was with her.”

So, here’s what you have. It’s just a contrast of crowds, a contrast of only sons, a contrast of here’s a grieving woman, she’s got double loss. She’s a widow, she’s lost her husband. Now she’s lost her only son. She didn’t have another son, a backup son to help take care of her later. No, she is doubly vulnerable and doubly grieving and broken in every way. Shattered. Just helpless and hopeless in need of mercy and grace. His parade of death comes out to say goodbye carrying this body, probably carrying it on a flat stretcher. Some of your English translations are going to say coffin. It might be a sarcophagus. I don’t know. Some of your translations will say B-I-E-R, bier. And it’s like a flat plank of wood. Maybe that’s what it is. But the point is, it’s a crowd and they’re saying goodbye. It’s over and they’re saying goodbye.

Here comes Jesus, walking through dust and dirt. And it’s 25 miles, people. He has walked 25 miles, as if you and I decide we’re going to walk past Franklin down to Spring Hill or somewhere that’s more like 25 miles away. And he’s doing that to do this very public thing before a sizable number of eyewitnesses who could later on be interviewed and asked, “He did what?” So, He goes up there. “And when the Lord saw her,” verse 13, “He felt compassion for her.” See, Jesus is love in motion. He can’t not do something; He has to do something. “And He said to her, “Do not weep.” He’s going to say that same kind of thing after He’s raised from the dead Himself, isn’t He?

“He came up and touched the coffin. The bearers came to a halt. And He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’” Now you’ve probably been to a funeral. I remember the first funeral I went to; I think I was like eight, nine, maybe 10, somewhere in there. It was really strange for a young lad like me. And I remember seeing Mister… I won’t use his name, but I remember seeing the man that I knew. I grew up in the church that he was one of the men in the church and I knew the family, knew his daughter. She was a young one, too. And I just couldn’t imagine he was actually dead.

But funerals, memorials, processions like this, they’re meant to be sort of sober in tone in a lot of ways. And this is really an awkward thing. Have you been to such a setting where somebody said something really awkward? This crowd is coming, they’re carrying, she’s weeping, everybody, lots of people mourning and weeping; and an unknown man, kind of a hippie-looking carpenter-turned-rabbi stops her and says, ‘Don’t cry,” which I’ve never found that to be good advice. Married men know what I’m talking about, yeah? It’s not good advice unless you’re Jesus, okay? Unless you’re Jesus. And so, Jesus says, “Don’t cry. Don’t weep.” And then he touches this coffin or whatever and says to this young man, “Arise.” What happens? This is mind-blowing, okay? He came up and touched a coffin. “Young man, I say to you, arise.” We’re at 15, “And the dead man,” he did two things, “he sat up, and he began to speak.”

Wow. I mean, that would stop everything. Dead people don’t do that, right? And some people are going, “Oh, he probably wasn’t really dead. He just [inaudible 00:34:57].” Hey, listen folks, do not look down your nose in chronological snobbery at the ancients from the 1st century. They knew death better than we know death because they weren’t removed from it so much like we are. They knew dead. And so, for them, dead people don’t sit up. Dead people don’t speak. Don’t you wish Luke had given us a record of what he said? Like, “I’ll take two falafels.” And what would he have said? What did he say? What are y’all doing? What’s going on here? No, he wouldn’t have said… Y’all, this is in the northern part of Israel. He would’ve said, “What are you guys doing with me? What’s going on here?” That kind of thing. But he doesn’t. We don’t know what… Luke doesn’t tell us what he said, but it’s a shocking event. And he began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Isn’t that beautiful? “Here, mama. Here. Here’s your son.”

“Fear gripped them all.” Verse 16, 17 are Luke’s tendency toward these summary statements. I love that tendency in him. “Fear gripped them all. They began glorifying God.” That’s the proper response, folks, when God has moved among us. “They began glorifying God saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and ‘God has visited His people!’” In other words, they’re connecting it, very much so, with Old Testament predictions. “This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.” So yeah, these miracles are more than just a sideshow. They actually arouse curiosity, display His power, reveal His compassion, affirm His identity and inspire worship, which is what we see in verses 16 and 17. And I love this kind of a divine disruption. We see these two kinds of need, two kinds of approach. The centurion sends a request to Jesus on behalf of another person who’s sick and dying, right?

Now, who asked in the second pericope, in the second event? Did anybody ask? No, nobody asked. It’s a divine disruption. It’s Jesus basically saying, “I’m intruding in this moment and I’m going to do something that you wouldn’t really even imagine is possible.” And He does. And He can. And we’re to be reminded of that over and over again. Two only sons that Jesus see. God’s only son. Two kinds of crowds that we saw, and two outcomes that we saw here: The healing of the one who is sick, and this other dead person being brought back to life. But we see one Savior, don’t we? We see one who does all of this. And we see countless lives changed, ours included. Here we are talking about these two events. Two thousand years later, we’re still talking about these two events because of who He is. “We must be ready,” Bonhoeffer said, “to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending people with claims and petitions.”

You might hear from a centurion this week, somebody wanting you to help them in some way or help somebody they know and love. You might sort of identify with a centurion, in that you’ve prayed for somebody, and you’ve actually seen God respond to help that somebody in some way. Is that you? Raise your hand. Testify. Is that you? You’ve prayed for somebody, and you’ve actually seen God respond to your prayer and move in somebody’s life in some way? Raise your hand up high. Be bold. Testify. Look at this. These are people you go to church with. They’ve seen God work. It’s pretty cool.

But a lot of us may have had experiences where God intruded in, and we didn’t even know He is coming. Maybe we gave up on praying for that thing, whatever it is. Maybe we’re helpless and hopeless like the widow of Nain’s son, and yet God intruded in our space, in our story and a divine disruption that was a positive and a great and a wonderful disruption. He moved on you and in hindsight you can kind of see stuff like that in the rearview mirror. Is that you? Raise your hand. Testify. Is that you? God intruded in your life in some way. Yeah. No reason to not raise your hand, man. We got to be a testifying church. Trophies of grace. Yeah, that’s what we are. He does do that. No person in the world, no place in the world, no condition in the world is beyond the reach of the gracious compassion and redemptive power of Jesus. That’s what we see here, right here in these 17 verses.

We also see that the Lord is near to the brokenhearted. He saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions even of the righteous. That’s right. We have pain and suffering in this world as well. Even though we belong to Jesus, that happens to us. That’s right. But the Lord delivers the righteous out of them all. When does the Lord do that? I don’t know. I’m not in charge of his timetable. I wish I was. I mean, I want all the stuff I pray for. I want a microwave, God. I want to program it to hit the right temperature and the right timing. Man, I mean, I put my Lou Malnati’s pizza in a microwave like that and heats up in exactly 60 seconds from the refrigerator. It’s really awesome. God doesn’t operate that way. He doesn’t operate on my timetable or your timetable. And He is always in charge of the outcome. That’s why I want to turn to Him though, because He’s sovereign and He’s powerful and compassionate at the same time. Doesn’t always do it the way I prescribe, doesn’t do it the way I want Him to or in the timing that I want Him to, but He is always ultimately going to glorify himself and deliver us out of all of our afflictions.

Charles Spurgeon, “There are many sorts of broken hearts. Christ is good at healing them all.” Is that you today? You here today like the widow of Nain? Perhaps thinking it’s all over whatever it is, and I don’t know what it is. And it might be all over for this life. I don’t know. Again, I don’t have God’s mind on these things. What I do know is I don’t have to go it alone and neither do you. Let’s turn to Him. Sometimes I think this passage also does this for me: It reminds me that even though sometimes I will go to Him, there are other times I don’t go to Him. He comes to me, and that’s what He did with the widow of Nain thing. He entreated. He didn’t have to come for the centurion’s request. He could have turned that down, just said, “I’m sorry, you’re not a Jew. You’re not Jewish. I’m not coming. I’ll put that off.” But He decided to go, and He’s shocking all of us by doing that kind of thing. It’s surprising. He is good at healing all of our hearts.

Just say the word, Lord, please. Just say the word. For all of us here in this room, just say the word, Lord. We trust You. We believe in You. Because of the Scriptures, folks, we now know that there’s a narrative of redemption. Paul Tripp says it this way, “Without the Bible there would be no narrative of redemption, no clear gospel [or good news] message, no knowledge of the attributes and plan of God, and no knowledge of sin and God’s offer of forgiveness.” We need all of that, and I’m so glad He has sent it for us.

In these stories, Luke gives us a glimpse of the life-giving presence of Jesus. One that is both mighty and merciful, who speaks with authority and moves with compassion. Today the same Jesus stands ready to meet you, to meet me, to meet us. With a heart of compassion, He’s gentle and kind. He has the power to bring life out of death. He has power in His word to change things and to change us as well. May we trust in His authority and be moved by His compassion ourselves as we live in this world and join Him in the mission He has for us in this world. Let’s pray.

Lord, thank You for this passage. What these stories, or maybe I should say these accounts, historical accounts, tell us about who You are and how You invite us, no matter who we are, to come to You, to turn to You. I don’t always do that naturally, Lord. I suspect a lot of my friends don’t always do that naturally either, whether we’ve forgotten or whether we are feeling too guilty and unworthy ourselves or whatever it might be. But help us to see from this story, it’s not about our worthiness. It’s about Your compassion and Your authority. And You invite us, no matter who we are, to come to You. So, Lord, help us to come to You, help us to turn to You. May we trust in Your power and authority and Your compassion. And may we live out in this world, reflecting Your compassion to others. This world desperately needs it, especially right now. Let us show as we rest in your sovereignty, that there is a joy that’s inexhaustible and available for those who trust in Jesus. The one who is kind, who is gracious, who is all-powerful, who is compassionate. We thank You in Jesus’ name, amen and amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs:

“How Great Thou Art“ by Stuart Wesley Keene Hine
“Revive Us Again“ John Jenkins Husband and William Paton MacKay
“He Is“ by David Crowder, Hank Bentley, and Jeff Pardo
“Jesus Strong And Kind“ by Colin Buchanan, Jonny Robinson, Michael Farren, and Rich Thompson
“Christus Victor (Amen)“ by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty. Matt Boswell, Matt Papa, Bryan Fowler
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois

All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #200369

Call To Worship: Steady Dependence

Compose our spirits to a quiet and steady dependence on your good providence, that we may not be anxious for anything, but by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, still make known our requests to you, our God. Help us to pray always and not faint; in everything to give thanks, and offer up the sacrifice of praise continually; to rejoice in hope of your glory; to possess our souls in patience; and to learn in whatsoever state we are, there to be content. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!

Source: John Wesley (edited)

Confession:

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You this day, in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole hearts; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Grant to Your people pardon and peace, that in Your great mercy, we may be forgiven all our sins, and serve You with a quiet and contrite heart. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Classic Prayer: Ulrich Zwingli, 1484-1531

Almighty, eternal and merciful God, whose Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, open and illuminate our minds, that we may purely and perfectly understand your Word and that our lives may be conformed to what we have rightly understood, and in nothing may we be displeasing to your majesty, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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