Unexpected

Luke 7:1-10

Unexpected.  That is what our text for today is.  A centurion with faith in Jesus.  As a Roman centurion this man spends his days giving orders to his servants and having those orders obeyed.  In his own words, “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.”  As a member of the Roman military he would have been a Gentile, a non-Christian  Yet he was asking Jesus to heal his servant.  His servant was a man of faith, more specifically he is the one who had built their synagogue.  It is unexpected that the centurion is even attempting to communicate with Jesus, but the way in which he asks for healing for his slave is the most unexpected.  He apparently has enough trust or belief in Jesus to know that Jesus can heal the slave.  He even believes that Jesus is powerful enough to command him to be healed, even from afar, without even seeing the servant.  Yet, Jesus is not even concerned that the Roman centurion is making this request.  As one who does not draw lines between insiders and outsiders, Jesus willingly travels with the Jewish elders toward the home of the centurion.  Jesus is amazed by this man’s faith, the way he believes that Jesus can just command the servant to be healed, and responds, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  This is truly an unexpected request from and unexpected person with unexpected faith.

I don’t think the unexpected faith of the centurion is a one time instance.  It is in unexpected events that faith is often strongly impacted.  When I think about the unexpected, the first thing I think of  is the sudden death of a loved one.  I saw this happen to several families while I was doing my summer unit of chaplaincy at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  The most unexpected situation that I encountered one night was a 17-year-old patient who had recently undergone open-heart surgery at another hospital.  While he was in that hospital he developed MRSA, which is an antibiotic resistant staph infection.  As his condition continued to worsen the family decided to have him transferred to Mayo for a second opinion.  I met the patient and his family at 11pm on a Thursday night.  He was awake and alert.  He was asking many questions of the medical staff.  Throughout the night his condition worsened and at 4am I was called to come back to be with his parents.  They were a Roman Catholic family with deep faith.  They had seven children and had lost a set of twins at birth.  The patient was the third oldest of his siblings.  He was an athlete and was going to be a senior in high school.  As his parents and I walked the hallway together praying the rosary I kept thinking about the life of this teenage boy.  He was sick.  He was suffering.  His once normal earthly life had gone awry.  Then he died on Saturday afternoon after several surgeries on his heart and a few episodes of cardiac arrest.  His family was heartbroken, but still filled with a profound sense of faith, even though they had faced the unexpected.

Yes, faith comes out of death, but faith also comes out of life, especially unexpected life.  Many of you know Brad W., who continues to be a living miracle.  On May 24, 2012 he suffered a severe heart attack with lack of oxygen and low blood flow for twenty minutes.  Doctors gave him only a five percent chance to live and a less than five percent chance to live with his faculties intact.  He spent ten days in a coma.  One year ago this weekend he opened his eyes for the first time since his heart attack.  Then on June 9^th, about 385 hours after the attack he began to speak.  That is five times longer than doctors want after brain injury.  Each time Brad’s family went to make a medical decision God intervened and made the decision for them.  When they began end of life discussions he started moving and opening his eyes.  When they discussed moving him a long term acute care facility across the state he started talking.  When they began talking about rehabilitation he improved fast enough to stay in Rapid at the rehab hospital.  God’s care and peace carried Brad and his family through this unexpected event.  Throughout the past year as we have heard stories of his recovery we have all been amazed by his unexpected recovery and his life. 

Unexpected faith comes out of other unexpected events in our world, as well.  As runners at the Boston Marathon ran to donate blood after the bombings, faith was restored in a world that had just been shaken by death and explosion.  After tornados hit Oklahoma an outpouring of support came from across the country and faith was present again.  When the hungry and homeless in our community walk into Trinity Lutheran and other downtown churches and receive care through prayer, food, and other necessities faith is re-established.  We often rally together to support others because of our faith.

It is in the face of death, life, and other unexpected events that seeds are planted in people and they begin to see the good that is happening around them.  We know that good to be God, but others may have not named it as such in their lives.  It is likely that each one of us can think of at least one person who is not a Christian or is not currently involved in a community of faith.  Those are the centurions in our midst.  It is through the expected and unexpected work of you and me that faith is passed along.  We, as members of the body of Christ, have that ability.  In daily life we have the opportunity to share the good news of the Gospel with those who are on the inside and those who are on the outside.  As people who share the presence of the risen Christ through our words and actions, we have the power to influence the faith of others.  We have the ability to plant seeds in the lives of the centurions around us, which could lead others to unexpected faith and belief in the God, who we call good.  Let us all be agents of that unexpected faith.  Amen.