In the fourth chapter of Luke, Jesus goes down to Capernaum , a city on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee . He performs many mighty acts in that area. In the sixth chapter he goes out to a mountain to pray. According to Luke, the next morning he chooses the twelve apostles from among those disciples following him. He goes down to a level place and preaches the Beatitudes to the large crowd gathered there. Soon afterward, he goes out to cities and villages proclaiming the good news and performing more mighty acts in testimony to his identity. In between these events, he performs three miracles. He raises a widow’s son from the dead, he forgives the sins of a sinful woman and he heals a Centurion’s slave.
The three miracles in Chapter seven of Luke are important just because they are miracles performed by our Savior and recorded in the Gospel of Luke. But, like everything in the Word of God, there are more reasons than might first meet the eye that these stories survive the editor’s cut. What is special about these three stories sandwiched in between Jesus’ evangelistic ministry to large crowds?
First, these miracles are done for the insignificant among us. All Jesus’ miracles have an element of dealing and uplifting the disenfranchised, but these three stories seem to be even more in that vein than usual. Jesus’ targets are the slave of a Gentile, the son of a widow and a fallen woman. These people are practically invisible. The Centurion had stature in the community, but his slave was nothing more than a piece of property. The son might grow to be someone, but the only son of a widow? What real chance did he have to make a mark in the world? A woman of the city had no credentials other than bad ones. These people were the unnoticed even while they were going about their daily lives.
The stories are about faith…faith that exists at the edge of darkness…faith that bursts forth when there is no reason to have it…faith that perseveres when there would seem to be no more reason for its existence. These are the stories of people who hope beyond hope, believe in the middle of unbelief. These are stories which, as they played out in front of Jesus, touched him as he witnessed…acknowledged, the kind of faith he had been preaching and looking for. Jesus had commenced his ministry and was delighted to find those who were willing to live by faith.
Commencement is one of those funny words. We hear it most often in conjunction with graduation exercises of one sort or another. We or our sons or daughters graduate from high school or trade school or college and we attend commencement exercises where they are recognized. We hear speeches and we celebrate. Finished! Graduated! Well, yes, but that’s not what commencement means. Commencement means the beginning! Commencement is most noteworthy for marking a point of beginning. A point of beginning, by its very nature, also marks the end of something. How else could you begin had you not finished something? And yet, the emphasis of commencement, if we are to honor that which the word describes, is all about where we are going, not where we have been.
Today, we honor those of our number undergoing commencement exercises. They are moving on. Something has been finished, and something is about to begin. The story of Jesus in these opening chapters of Luke is no different. Jesus has finished thirty years of maturing. He has been baptized by his cousin John in the presence of witnesses and his heavenly Father. He has undergone forty days in the wilderness preparing himself for the experiences to come. He has commenced. His early ministry is underway.
In the passage at hand, we learn very early in Jesus’ ministry that faith is the switch that turns him on. In the story about the Centurion, we watch Jesus sought by a Gentile, a person until this point outside the scope of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus does not hesitate to help. It does not matter to Jesus that the seeker comes from the other side of the tracks. It is unimportant to him the pedigree of the patient. All that matters is that the person has faith in Jesus, that he or she acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God. That will take Jesus to some strange places. The places Jesus will go are both beautiful and ugly, down the road and right next door. The places Jesus will go are driven by a desire for service and obedience, not by ambition and self.
“Oh, The Places You’ll Go.” was first published just a year before Dr. Seuss’s death at the age of eighty seven. It was only fifty six pages, and only that long because of the very few words on each boldly illustrated page. Yet it contains some of the best advice outside of the Bible. It has been given out by teachers, principals and university presidents as a graduation present. It is highly read because it is highly truthful. In that respect, it makes a good companion for the Bible. The Bible makes a good companion for Dr. Seuss’s book, too, because the book says nothing about faith, and the Bible is all about faith. Dr. Seuss’s guarantee of 98 and ¾ percent is great, but Christians do even better. Christians know, and learn even more clearly on their journey through life, that faith is the missing ingredient. Put it in the pie of life and you have the feast you’ve been looking for. Omit it and your life will be lived in frustration. You will never experience the joy that comes with faith.
The Centurion had that kind of faith. In Luke’s gospel, curiously, Jewish friends are sent as the Centurion’s ambassadors, saying that he is worthy of help. The gospel of Matthew has the Centurion himself coming out to meet Jesus [Mt. 8: 5 et seq.]. Either way, Jesus commits to help. Before he can arrive, the Centurion sends friends to say that Jesus need not come; that his authority and power are sufficient to accomplish the task by willing it so. Now, Jesus is impressed. Now Jesus has gone somewhere new. Jesus has seen true faith.
Oddly for us as we read of this, that abiding, overwhelming faith comes not from a religious leader, not from a Jew, not even from a disciple. That faith comes from a Gentile stranger. Don’t we wish that we would see evidence of that faith from inside the church, or at least from inside our own circles of friends!
On that day in that place, the Savior of mankind commenced his ministry to the Gentiles. He taught that faith has no fences. He came after those who would believe, not those who presented birth certificates and other credentials of authenticity.
Oh, the places Jesus went! He went to the religious leaders. He went to the Holy City
Now that these young people have graduated, they are going to commence their journeys. I remember my first graduation. It was from high school… a few years ago. As was the custom, my class donated something to the high school as a remembrance. It was the seal of our school and it was etched into the tile floor at the school’s entrance. The motto engraved upon it was this: “A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step.” I offer that thought to you graduates today. As you commence that which comes next in your life, be it job or school or military or some other adventure, take a step. That’s the way you begin journeys, big and small. As Dr. Seuss said:
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
As you go, as you commence this next chapter of life, remember those who love you. Remember you are not alone. Remember that if you will let him, your Savior will mark every step of that journey with you. And, for God’s sake, take the faith of that Centurion with you as your guide. He knew that Jesus could fix anything, even from a distance. He had faith in the power and authority of the Son of God and his faith was rewarded. His slave was healed and Jesus never even saw him. If you take that kind of faith with you on your journey, you will succeed. And that’s 100% guaranteed!
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