Gettysburg Presbyterian Church

Power in Words
Luke 7:1 – 17
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Rev. Daniel T. Hans
January 6, 2008

There is power in words. While our passage contains two powerful actions by Jesus, each action done is preceded by words spoken. The healing of the Roman centurion’s sick servant and the resuscitating of the Jewish widow’s dead son occur after Jesus speaks.

I
Words carry power.
1. The Bible begins with this truth.
In each of the six symbolic days of creation, Genesis 1 declares:
“And God said: Let there be light or let there be a firmament or let the waters be gathered together… And it was so.”
God said and it was! Words carry power.
2. Judging by the length of their sermons, preachers believe this to be true. The average word count of my sermons is 2300.
That’s 2300 possibilities of power or 2300 opportunities to doze.
3. The top two news stories in the Gettysburg Times in 2007 centered upon words: the word that a police chief passed along and the word that a park superintendent retrieved. With those as our top two news stories, I think we can borrow a line from Garrison Keillor: It’s been a quiet year in Gettysburg, our hometown.

Words carry power. Benezar Bhutto of Pakistan knew this truth.
Her words of freedom, opportunity, and equality were words of hope for Pakistan and words that got her assassinated by terrorists.
Words carry power. A homeless man in downtown Chicago stood on a street corner one day, pointed to each passerby, and shouted one word: Guilty.
Each recipient of his word paused, looked around nervously, rushed away hastily, and wondered for the rest of the day: “Yes, by how did he know?”
Words carry power. Jesus knew this truth and that is why, before he acted in each of his acts of power in our passage, he spoke words of power.

II
Let’s walk through this passage. The text begins: “After Jesus had finished all his sayings.” Jesus just completed his Sermon on the Plain, as Luke presents it. It is very similar to Matthew’s more familiar version called the Sermon on the Mount. Both “sermons” contain the beatitude blessings, the command to love, the command not to judge others, and the caution to build a solid foundation for faith. Then, in Luke’s gospel account Jesus’ life, Jesus practices what he preaches. Words and actions must go together. What we say must relate to what we do; and what we do must follow what we say;
otherwise, our words are empty or worse we are hypocrites.

In the first action incident, a word appears in both its positive and negative forms: worthy and unworthy. A Roman centurion has a beloved servant who is deathly ill. Of this foreign captain of 100 troops (centurion) the Jewish people tell Jesus that he is worthy of Jesus’ help. He is worthy because he helped build a Jewish synagogue and he respects the Jewish faith and traditions. Rather than despising and denigrating the people whose land he occupies, this soldier respects them and helps them. We see an echo of this attitude in our own US soldiers as they respect and help Iraqi civilians even though some of those civilians are terrorists seeking to kill US troops.

Even though the Jewish religious law prohibited devout Jews from entering the home of a non-Jewish Gentile, like this Roman captain, the Jewish people declare this man worthy. While we might expect a Roman captain to display arrogant entitlement and declare: ‘Yes, I am worthy of having you enter my home and help my servant”, the centurion’s humble gratitude declares: “I am not worthy of having you in my home, nevertheless, I need your help. Just say the word and I know my servant will be healed.”
This Roman centurion knew the power of words. He knew what it was to possess the authority to say a word and to have people jump into action: “Go” and they go; “Come” and they come; “Do this” and they do it, “Be healed” and the servant is healed. Throughout his Gospel, Luke repeatedly calls for humility, especially among those who have positions of power.
In this foreign captain, we see Luke’s desired humility before God.

Today is Epiphany Sunday on the church calendar. Epiphany commemorates the wise men’s visit to the Christ child and the revelation of God’s love to Gentiles as well as to Jews. Our passage is right to give prominence to a Gentile Roman soldier because God’s love in Christ is for all people in all walks of life. Tragically, we heard once again this past week from Kenya with the burning of a church where 50 men, women and children were killed that this message of universal love even for one’s opponents is not embraced by everyone.

Jesus responds to the centurion’s speech about the power of words by saying: “Not even in Israel have I found such faith.” Here Jesus is referring to the leaders of his own religion who are experts in the law and theology but have forgotten and abandoned the ways of loving faith in God that this Roman soldier displays. Many a church member has a better grasp of God’s love for the world, a better prayer communion with God, and a better openness to God than do some clergy.

The Roman captain’s faith seems to surprise Jesus. It makes us wonder: Could Jesus be surprised? Normally in Luke, Jesus says and does things that surprise, amaze and astonish others. But here, Jesus is one who is surprised, amazed and astonished. It begs the question: Can God be surprised? I think so. The future is not written in stone. Our actions are not fatalistically predetermined. 2008 is a story yet to be written because it is yet to be known
– by us and by God. We can surprise God in 2008 with words and actions of selfish disobedience; or we can surprise God with words and actions of love, service, and obedience. Wouldn’t it be a great conclusion to 2008 to hear God declare: “Even in Gettysburg I have heard and seen great faith”?

The Roman captain says to Jesus, “Lord, just say the word and I believe it will be done.” Apparently Jesus said the word because the servant was restored to good health. If only our New Year’s resolutions carried that power: say it, promise it, and resolve it; and it is done. What promises will we make this year, what pledges will we take, what words will we speak, the outcome of which will carry restorative power and give new life and maybe even pleasantly surprise God?

III
On the heels of the restored servant comes the resuscitated son. Aware of the power of words, I use the word “resuscitate” rather than “resurrect”. I believe there is only one resurrection from the dead in the Bible and that is Jesus’ resurrection. Every other life-giving action is a resuscitation of someone who appeared to be dead and would later die. I think it fair to say that at times people who are reported to be dead are not clinically dead but only apparently dead given the limitation of observation and understanding at the time. In times of battle many a gravely injured soldier, thought to be dead, was placed among the corpses only later to be discovered still to be alive.

Years ago I heard a preacher named Max Stratton tell about an experience abroad ship during WW II. His ship was torpedoed by the Japanese. Many fellow sailors were killed or seriously burned. One sailor who was presumed dead and placed in a room with corpses was a Christian young man who had been talking to Max Stratton about the importance of having faith in Jesus Christ. Stratton was not a Christian at the time and was not open to the sailor’s words. The day after the attack Stratton was helping clean up near the morgue when he heard a faint call for help. Entering the morgue, he found his Christian comrade severely burned, lying among the dead, yet still alive barely. In his hand was a pocket Bible that he kept with him and was trying to read. As the sailor slowly died in Max Stratton’s presence, he asked Max to communicate with his mother and tell her how he died and ask her not to hate the Japanese but to forgive them. Stratton said that the power of that word of forgiveness spoken by that dying man changed his own life forever.

In our passage, the apparently-dead son of a widow was restored to life in the same way that the clearly-sick servant of the soldier was restored to health- by the power of a word. The word of God’s love through Jesus offered to all people, the Eternal Word of God that became flesh in Jesus at Christmas, speaks to Gentile and Jew, to soldier and widow, to the powerful and the powerless with the same promise of hope.

While the centurion’s faith was prior to and central to Jesus’ healing of his sick servant, there is no mention of faith in the resuscitation of the dead son.
The bereaved mother does not appeal for Jesus’ help nor does the crowd appeal on her behalf. Jesus’ compassion is the sole motivation for the word and act of power he displays. That is very good news for us: God’s power is not limited by our faith. God can act freely out of sheer compassion for our need even when we are not seeking God’s help or open to God’s love- as in the case of Max Stratton.

IV
Words carry power. There is tremendous power in one word that God has for us and that God directs to us – the word “love”. In Jesus, God says to all people in all circumstances: I love you. Those words open doors to possibility and empower us to build our future on hope. So as we move into a New Year: choose carefully the words we speak; be sure to live out our words with actions; and know that even when our words fail and when we fail our words, God’s Word of love for us in Jesus Christ prevails.

Our passage ends with a final word about the power of words. Luke writes: “The word about Jesus spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.” When a person speaks clearly enough for others to hear and
when that person does what he/she says, people take notice.

The word spreads when spoken words of commitment, encouragement, truth, help and hope are acted upon. When someone actually does what he/she says and fulfills promises made, people take notice. There is wisdom in our passage for presidential candidates in the primary season and for all of the rest of us in a New Year.

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