Matthew 8:5-13
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.
6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” 7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” 8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
As a boy of 16, my worst fear when learning to drive was merging onto the expressway. I had a terrible fear that I would be driving onto the on-ramp and when I would go to merge over into the right lane of the interstate, a tractor-trailer would be in the place on the road I wanted to get to. Obviously the two of us could not occupy the same spot on the road and if we did, my little car was going to lose that fight. What my driving instructors taught me was that if that ever happened, I just needed to wait until the truck passed me and then I could merge in behind. I just needed to yield to the bigger truck.
We need to yield to the bigger Lord. When God and we come together, both of us can’t be in the same spot. Both God and us when we are merged together, cannot be the same thing. With God united with us through the Son and in the Spirit, we both cannot be in the same driving lane. Both of us cannot be Lord, one needs to be Lord and one needs to be follower. We need to yield to the bigger truck, we need to yield to God who is already Lord.
In the gospel of Luke, we have a centurion of great authority, great wealth and great respect yielding to a person of greater authority, Jesus of Nazareth. The centurion built the Jewish people of his town a synagogue. The centurion was so well respected by the Jewish elders that they testify to Jesus of how worthy he is. Obviously this centurion is a man with just about everything we Americans desire, power, money and respect. But with all the authority this centurion possessed, he still lacked an authority over the power of sickness, that his most treasured servant lay dying.
But his ears pick up the town gossip that a man whose name was Jesus had this greater authority, even an authority to speak and people are cured. So this centurion who commands Roman soldiers, who can afford to build a synagogue, this centurion yields to the bigger truck. This lord over people, yields to the bigger Lord over all things. The centurion says to Jesus, Only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,” and he comes and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it. A centurion with authority over others yields to the one with God’s own authority set over him, Jesus the Christ and Lord.
How slow we are to recognize what the centurion recognized? How slow we are to see what the centurion saw. This is what John the Baptist foretold, God has come down to his people as the man Jesus of Nazareth. If this Jesus is God with us, then how slow we self-proclaimed lords over others, yield to the one with the ultimate Lordship over us, the very Son of God!
But thanks be to God that Jesus is not only Lord over us, but also that Jesus is Brother inside us. Not only does Jesus possess power over evil and death, but Jesus also possesses humility which yields to his Heavenly Father. Not only does Jesus have authority over everything making him the Lord. But Jesus also has compassion to help us yield to God, making him the Brother. Who better I ask you to help us yield to almighty God, than the Son who yielded his entire life to the will of what his Father asked of him?
So, if Jesus is Lord and Brother to all who will have him as such, then let us so filled and held by the Son’s tender embrace, learn to be sons and daughters of the Father, yielding to God’s will. I can think of no bigger truck we merge with, therefore let us yield to God and just simply fall in behind. After all, when we yield to God, we just might find that is where Jesus already is, yielding to God.
In Christ,
Rev. Mark
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