My father-in-law has a large
collection of Lionel trains. In his
basement is a train layout where four trains can simultaneously travel around
the train room. He also subscribes to
the magazine called Classic Toy Trains.
Each issue includes details of fascinating layouts that have been built
by master modelers. These layouts are
often large, complex, and very detailed.
Some modelers work hard for realism; they make the structures look
weathered, the locomotives look dirty, and even model weeds growing in drainage
ditches. Some create a scene where
firemen are putting out a house fire, or a tow truck is responding to a car
accident.
Nevertheless, these miniature worlds
are still very simple. Life is static
for the miniature residents. Clean
people are always clean. Dirty people
are always dirty. The whole world
operates at the turn of a knob or the push of a button. The world calamity that ever strikes is a
train derailment. And when that happens
– from the perspective of the miniature people on the layout – a hand reaches
from the sky and quickly puts all to rights again.
Many people see the real world working
that way. They want life to be simple. They want things to stay the same and be
predictable. Then when a major calamity
strikes they want a divine hand to reach down from the sky and put everything
back into right order again. But that is
not the way the world works, nor is it the way God works. God does not operate the creation the way a toy
train enthusiast operates a train layout.
There are two scenes in today’s gospel
and it is interesting to contrast them.
Both involve miracles but the circumstances are different.
From the first miracle you could get
the idea that God does indeed run the world like a train layout. The Roman centurion would have had charge of
100 soldiers. He and his troops were
probably stationed in the area to keep the peace and also let the locals know
who’s really in charge. Some Roman
soldiers were harsh with the locals. Others were not. This particular centurion appears to believe
that the best way to keep the peace was to be kind to the locals he oversees. He has gotten to know them and is supportive
of their religious needs. It is an
attitude that probably served him well.
This centurion knows that many Jews
would consider entering the house of a Roman something that could make them
ritually unclean; or be ritually defiled.
That wouldn’t be the end of the world for a Jew, but it would mean
they’d perform cleanliness rituals afterward to remove the defilement.
He has been paying enough attention to
what is going on in the community around him to know that Jesus of Nazareth is considered
a great healer; and that Jesus spends a lot of time in Capernaum. When a beloved slaved becomes seriously ill,
and the centurion learns that Jesus is in town, he asks for Jesus’ help. But he does not approach Jesus himself. Again, such
interaction could also potentially lead to. Instead he asks some Jewish leaders to
approach Jesus on his slave’s behalf.
Jesus, being who he is, decides to go
to the centurion’s house. Upon learning
that the centurion sends friends to Jesus telling him he need not come. The centurion believes Jesus can heal from a
distance and asks for that. Jesus’
praise for the centurion is about more than just his belief in Jesus’ healing
power. His praise is for the entire
attitude the centurion brings to his life.
The centurion is strong but kind.
As if by remote control, Jesus heals
the slave from a distance.
Many of the world’s religions,
including Judaism and Islam, view God in this light. God stays away from the earth and instead
sends messengers or angels to interact with people. But as Christians we believe something very
different. God does not stay away
operating a simple and tidy world by remote control. Through Jesus God has entered into the
messiness of life. He is not afraid to
get his hands in the dirt, know first hand how people suffer, and even suffer
and die himself. Jesus would have had no
problem meeting the centurion and going into his house.
The second scene proves just
that. A widow’s only son has died. This son was probably her only real hope for
survival. In those days a woman needed a
man in order to survive. There were few
legitimate jobs she could have and women weren’t allowed to own property. This woman’s future was in serious jeopardy.
As Jesus enters the town he sees the
funeral procession. He has compassion
for the widow. From the previous scene
with the centurion’s slave we know that Jesus could revive the woman’s son from
a distance. He could simply stand back
and make the miracle happen. But he does
not do that.
Jesus walks right up to the
corpse. While entering a Roman house or
interacting with a Roman may or may not cause defilement, touching a corpse
certainly does! Yet the Bible makes it a
point to tell us that Jesus touched the bier and probably the body as
well. As a clean upstanding Jew this was
an act of defilement. According to
Numbers in the Old Testament Jesus would now have to go through a seven-day
ritual of cleansing before being considered clean again. Though not at all necessary, Jesus enters
into that defilement to restore the man’s life.
Being close with people was more important to Jesus than being ritually
clean. In this case Jesus restores the
man to life.
Life is complicated. Life can be messy. Sometimes the complexities and the messes
seem to go on forever with no real hope for improvement. We may wish for a divine hand to come from
the sky and fix things. That would
certainly be nice, or so we think. But
God isn’t in the business of giving simple solutions to complex problems.
God knows how messed up things can get
in the world. And God is not afraid of
those messes.
In the video course A Glimpse at
the Spirit of Islam, a video created by the ELCA, host Dr. Doug Cox gives
an example that shows that as he explains a difference between Christians and
Muslims. He suggests imagining that it’s
dark and you’re lost in the woods. You
can’t find your own way out. A Muslim
believes that through revelations and writings God has given you a map of the
woods, and maybe a flashlight too. Using
the map and flashlight you would then be able to get your own way out.
Christianity teaches something
different. Again, imagine it’s dark and
you’re lost in the woods. Again, the
Bible could be seen as giving you a map and a flashlight to help, but you would
not be left there alone. In Christ we
believe that God would join with us and accompany us on the journey. We are not left alone and abandoned. And it is not up to us to find the way
out. We are accompanied by God every
step of the way. God may not divinely
rescue us. God will work with us to get
through.
There is no place too dark for God to
go. There is no mess too great that God
will not wade into. There is no
hardship, pain, or heartache that is too great for God. God is not afraid to get dirty to be with his
people.
And if God can be in the difficult
things, remember that God is also with us in the wonderful things. God accompanies us in times of success and
happiness and joy. God is always with us
as a companion and a guide. God provides
strength when we cannot find it. And
when we are truly down and out, unable to move at all, God’s strength alone
will do the moving for us. God will take
us to his kingdom.
We are God’s no matter what. Jesus didn’t have to touch the dead man, but
he wanted to. God doesn’t have to be
close to us, but God wants to. May we
always feel God’s presence and know the joy that comes with it.
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