Call On Me Anytime

Second Sunday after Pentecost

June 2, 2013

Luke 7:1-10

Call On Me Anytime

In the name of Jesus.

Jesus had just finished His famous Sermon on the Mount, when He walked into Capernaum. Capernaum was a coastal town on the Sea of Galilee, not too far from Jesus' hometown of Nazareth.

And then, after a long day of preaching and then walking, Jesus gets a phone call from one of His members. Not really. But sort of.

One of the fears that you may have is bothering me, your pastor. You'll often start your sentences to me on a non-Sunday by saying, “Pastor, I know your busy” or “Pastor, I don't want to bother you.”

When you say this kind things, I always smile because I see your grace and concern for your pastor. I'll usually respond with the truth.

“I'm not busy. What's up?”

Or “It's not a bother.”

Or “I'm busy, but what you need to tell me is more important.”

I hope I do a decent job of communicating my desire for you to come to me with problems. That's why I'm here and I hope you know that you can approach me with your life and your troubles anytime. I'm here to mourn when you mourn and to rejoice when you rejoice. I'm here to listen and to comfort.

But still, I'd guess that it'd be hard to believe that I'd want you to call me on a Sunday evening after I've preached here and then gone down to Burlington to preach again.

I'd guess that the centurion who asked for Jesus' help was uneasy. He must have felt like he was intruding on Jesus' time. Being an invader in a foreign land and also a man who got to know the people and community around him, it was his job to know the local news. He almost certainly knew that Jesus had been preaching and and healing and traveling all day.

And this centurion was not a brutal heathen, who could have heard of Jesus and His healings, and then ordered Jesus to come and make his slave better. Instead he was a believer in the one true God and he trusted Jesus, God's Son. And so he didn't order Jesus around like Pontius Pilate would do later on. He asked for help from a very tired Jesus.

And Jesus said yes. The centurion asked in great faith trusting in the words of the Psalms that he knew well from his time in the synagogue.

Answer me when I call to You,

my righteous God.

Give me relief from my distress;

have mercy on me and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4:1)

I call on You, my God, for You will answer me;

turn Your ear to me and hear my prayer. (Psalm 17:6)

Call on Me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you will honor Me. (Psalm 50:15)

Through the Psalmists and Prophets Jesus had urged His believers to call on Him anytime, because the day of trouble can come in the middle of the night, in the morning or evening, or it can remain for many years.

The centurion didn't trust in the opinions and cares of men. He didn't care about having to owe the Jewish leaders a favor. He didn't care that his fellow Roman soldiers would despise him for asking for help from a Jew.

Instead he trusted in Jesus' saving word to heal his slave. He cared about his servant and above all who Jesus is and what He said. This faithful soldier knew that Jesus is God and His Word creates Reality and Truth and Salvation. When Jesus says, “Go,” it goes. When Jesus says, “Come,” it comes. And when Jesus says, “Be healed,” you are.

We, too, trust Jesus' word of healing. By it, our souls are forgiven and we are set free to trust Christ and one another. We can trust the forgiveness spoken by the pastor and by one another, so that when forgiveness is declared, it is not merely a pious wish. Instead it is the Truth of Christ proclaimed to a fellow sinner.

So when evil is troubling you, call on Christ and call His shepherd that He has placed under Him—your pastor. Call him anytime and hear Jesus say to you, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” (Matthew 8:13)

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.