In Luke 7, Jesus heals two people: the slave of a centurion of the Roman military, and a man who has died. The centurion’s story in particular is one of trust: he trusts Jesus’ authority to heal and asks for Jesus to heal his very valuable servant.

Jesus responds to the centurion by heading towards his house. The centurion sends word to Jesus on the way: don’t both coming, I’m not worthy. Instead he says, “only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.” Despite the problematic nature of master/slave relationships in Jesus’ time, despite the centurion not belonging to Jesus’ faith, and despite the centurion’s own protestations that he’s “not worthy,” Jesus responds with amazement at the centurion’s faith, speaks the word, and heals the slave.

There’s a popular old hymn that says “’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take him at his word.” But we don’t actually teach that kind of trust at Covenant: we teach people to think through their faith, to ask questions and be honest about doubts. The trust we have in Jesus isn’t just blind faith – it’s based on consistent past actions as an accurate predictor of future behavior. This kind of trust gives us the ability to “go out on a limb” and act in ways that are risky because we trust that Jesus won’t take advantage of our trust.

But this kind of trust can also be problematic. If you trust Jesus enough to ask for healing and not go to the doctor, you’re going to be disappointed. And almost everyone has a story of God not answering prayers to heal someone or save someone from death – even though that’s what Jesus did in these two stories.

These healing stories aren’t stories about how we can access Jesus’ healing and save ourselves and our loved ones if we’re faithful enough. These stories are more about Jesus’ authority – the power he has over sickness and death, the power he has to expand the boundaries of God’s kingdom to include Gentiles as well.

With his authority, Jesus gives us an example of how to act in faith. His example tells us to include everyone without regard to whether they seem to belong in our culture, religion, or social order. His example tells us that it is valuable to work towards the healing of others. As a church, we follow this example by opening our doors and our hearts to our whole community without exception. We follow this example by seeking not only physical well-being for others, but emotion, financial, and spiritual well-being. We seek the shalom, the wholeness and peace, of the world.

Jesus has given us one other teaching in these stories: that he won’t do this work for us. He didn’t heal everyone, only these two people and some others he encountered during his life. Instead, he entrusts us to continue his work. I believe we can trust Jesus – that he is consistent and good and works towards good things for our world. But what’s just as important is to know that Jesus trusts us.

Jesus has called us and challenged us to be the “Body of Christ.” We are the ones who are to go out and heal and love others. Jesus specifically calls us to do acts of love and service on behalf of the vulnerable and outsiders, echoing the refrain from throughout Hebrew scriptures to show love to the “foreigner, orphan, and widow.” And Jesus asks us to do these acts of love and service at personal risk, trusting that he will be with us. It’s not always safe to show love to the vulnerable and oppressed, but Jesus chose to do that anyway, defying religious tradition and authority with his own authority and new traditions. But if you trust in Jesus, you can do what’s right; regardless of the risk.

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
                    -St. Teresa of Avila