2 Pentecost Proper 4
1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43
Psalm 96:1-9
Galatians 1:1-12
Luke 7:1-10
Lectionary Link
Chike: In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. You may be seated.
Catherine: Help! Help! I need help! Like a good neighbor. State Farm is there.
Arinze: How can I help you Catherine? I’m not a State Farm agent wearing Khakis but I’m happy to help.
Catherine: Perhaps you could help me understand the Gospel that we have read today.
Chike: Well, the centurion in the Gospel at first did the State Farm thing.
Catherine: What do you mean?
Chike: When the Centurion wanted help for his valued employee, he cried, and like a good Savior, Jesus is there.
Arinze: But Jesus did not get there.
Chike: This is strange. First he wanted Jesus to come and then he stopped him before he could arrive.
Arinze: A Centurion was a high ranking officer who was in charge of a hundred or more soldiers. If he gave a command to an officer, the officer would give the command to all of the other soldiers. Each soldier did not have to come and get the command directly from the centurion because they knew how the system of command worked. The order came from the centurion and the soldiers would follow the command even if the centurion was not present.
Catherine: Okay, but what is this Gospel trying to teach us?
Chike: I think there are several lessons.
Arinze: Like what?
Chike: This Gospel shows us that during the time of Jesus slavery was practiced and that even though Jesus said to love our neighbors as ourselves, the people of his time did not yet understand how people were equal in the eyes of God.
Catherine: It shows us that sometimes good rules exists and people are blind to how they should practice these good rules.
Arinze: Yes, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutions of the United States are very good rules for justice, but it has taken a very long time for us to really bring equal justice to all people.
Chike: I think there is another important lesson in the Gospel today. I have a clue in my pocket here.
Catherine: Chike - you have remote control. How is that the clue to understanding the Gospel?
Chike: With this remote control, I don’t have to be at the TV to change the channel. In fact, I can bounce the signal off the wall and even change the channel from another room without even being in the same room as the TV.
Arinze: I get your clue. The Gospel lesson tells us that faith works like remote control. Jesus did not have to be present for the centurion’s slave to be healed. He had faith that Jesus could heal remotely. And sure enough remote healing happened.
Catherine: That is still true for us today. We don’t see Jesus but we often need his help and so we have to have faith that Jesus can still help us from a distance.
Chike: Yes and you know what our remote control device is?
Arinze: No, what is it?
Chike: It is prayer. We use our prayer as an expression of our faith and we believe that our prayers are remotely delivered by God’s Holy Spirit.
Catherine: Well, do you guys ever fight over the remote control? We do in our house.
Arinze: Well, yes we do because sometimes my brother wants to watch the wrong show.
Chike: No, you want to watch the wrong show.
Catherine: Guys, don’t argue. But I think I just thought about another lesson from the Gospel.
Arinze: What? That we should both have our own TV’s right?
Catherine: No, during the time of Jesus and the early church, people fought about who could have the remote control.
Chike: You’ve lost me, Catherine. I don’t think they had TV’s then.
Catherine: No, no, no, no…..I’m not being literal. I’m speaking metaphorically, of course.
Arinze: Metaphorically?
Catherine: Yes, during the time of Jesus and the early church people argued about who could have access to God. Many religious people did not think that Gentile people could have access to God.
Chike: I see what you are saying. The centurion was not a Jew because he controlled soldiers in the Roman Army. So he was a Gentile, but he still exercised his faith towards Jesus and Jesus honored his faith.
Arinze: Yes, and all of us are Gentiles too. And we believe that God honors our faith. We learn from this lesson that Jesus honors the faith of all people who seek his help.
Catherine: So today, we have learned that not even Jesus could stop slavery in his own time. And we have learned that faith gives us the ability to have remote access to Jesus.
Chike: And we have learned that our prayers are an expression of our faith.
Arinze: So today, let us exercise our faith with our prayers and
All three: Like a good Savior, Jesus is here! Amen.
1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43
Psalm 96:1-9
Galatians 1:1-12
Luke 7:1-10
Lectionary Link
Chike: In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. You may be seated.
Catherine: Help! Help! I need help! Like a good neighbor. State Farm is there.
Arinze: How can I help you Catherine? I’m not a State Farm agent wearing Khakis but I’m happy to help.
Catherine: Perhaps you could help me understand the Gospel that we have read today.
Chike: Well, the centurion in the Gospel at first did the State Farm thing.
Catherine: What do you mean?
Chike: When the Centurion wanted help for his valued employee, he cried, and like a good Savior, Jesus is there.
Arinze: But Jesus did not get there.
Chike: This is strange. First he wanted Jesus to come and then he stopped him before he could arrive.
Arinze: A Centurion was a high ranking officer who was in charge of a hundred or more soldiers. If he gave a command to an officer, the officer would give the command to all of the other soldiers. Each soldier did not have to come and get the command directly from the centurion because they knew how the system of command worked. The order came from the centurion and the soldiers would follow the command even if the centurion was not present.
Catherine: Okay, but what is this Gospel trying to teach us?
Chike: I think there are several lessons.
Arinze: Like what?
Chike: This Gospel shows us that during the time of Jesus slavery was practiced and that even though Jesus said to love our neighbors as ourselves, the people of his time did not yet understand how people were equal in the eyes of God.
Catherine: It shows us that sometimes good rules exists and people are blind to how they should practice these good rules.
Arinze: Yes, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutions of the United States are very good rules for justice, but it has taken a very long time for us to really bring equal justice to all people.
Chike: I think there is another important lesson in the Gospel today. I have a clue in my pocket here.
Catherine: Chike - you have remote control. How is that the clue to understanding the Gospel?
Chike: With this remote control, I don’t have to be at the TV to change the channel. In fact, I can bounce the signal off the wall and even change the channel from another room without even being in the same room as the TV.
Arinze: I get your clue. The Gospel lesson tells us that faith works like remote control. Jesus did not have to be present for the centurion’s slave to be healed. He had faith that Jesus could heal remotely. And sure enough remote healing happened.
Catherine: That is still true for us today. We don’t see Jesus but we often need his help and so we have to have faith that Jesus can still help us from a distance.
Chike: Yes and you know what our remote control device is?
Arinze: No, what is it?
Chike: It is prayer. We use our prayer as an expression of our faith and we believe that our prayers are remotely delivered by God’s Holy Spirit.
Catherine: Well, do you guys ever fight over the remote control? We do in our house.
Arinze: Well, yes we do because sometimes my brother wants to watch the wrong show.
Chike: No, you want to watch the wrong show.
Catherine: Guys, don’t argue. But I think I just thought about another lesson from the Gospel.
Arinze: What? That we should both have our own TV’s right?
Catherine: No, during the time of Jesus and the early church, people fought about who could have the remote control.
Chike: You’ve lost me, Catherine. I don’t think they had TV’s then.
Catherine: No, no, no, no…..I’m not being literal. I’m speaking metaphorically, of course.
Arinze: Metaphorically?
Catherine: Yes, during the time of Jesus and the early church people argued about who could have access to God. Many religious people did not think that Gentile people could have access to God.
Chike: I see what you are saying. The centurion was not a Jew because he controlled soldiers in the Roman Army. So he was a Gentile, but he still exercised his faith towards Jesus and Jesus honored his faith.
Arinze: Yes, and all of us are Gentiles too. And we believe that God honors our faith. We learn from this lesson that Jesus honors the faith of all people who seek his help.
Catherine: So today, we have learned that not even Jesus could stop slavery in his own time. And we have learned that faith gives us the ability to have remote access to Jesus.
Chike: And we have learned that our prayers are an expression of our faith.
Arinze: So today, let us exercise our faith with our prayers and
All three: Like a good Savior, Jesus is here! Amen.
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