Bridge builders not fence builders

This is an abridged and adapted version of a sermon preached at Sheldon Road Methodist Church Chippenham on 29th May 2016

One of the stories in the Gospels I find fascinating is related in chapter 7 of Luke’s Gospel. In the story a Centurion sends for Jesus to come and visit as the Centurion’s servant is gravely ill. The Centurion has heard that Jesus can cure people.

Very often when preachers speak about this passage they do so to talk about the Centurion’s faith. But when I read the story again recently I was struck by how the Centurion was crossing cultures.

I like Roman history and recently enjoyed watching the BBC series “Mary Beard’s Ultimate Rome”. (I’m currently about half through the accompanying book.) It was a fascinating series and I have learned a great deal. The final episode proved to be the most interesting for me, as in it Professor Beard explored the Roman Empire’s relationship with faith and, in particular Judaism and Christianity.

As you may know, the Romans worshipped many gods. And if I understand Professor Beard correctly, Romans would make sacrifices to a different god depending on the time of the year or what they were doing. For example, if someone was about to embark on a sea journey then a sacrifice might be made to the god Neptune. And Romans were very adept at incorporating gods from other cultures (whom the Romans had conquered) into their own culture. For example, the cult of Mithras originated in Persia but was widespread throughout the Roman Empire.

Professor Beard argued that on the whole most Romans then were comfortable with worshipping many gods. And an important part of that worship was making sacrifices of animals.
Given this – the worship of multiple gods and the widespread use of sacrifices – Professor Beard argues that Romans were deeply suspicious of Judaism and, in due course Christianity. Both Judaism and Christianity of course advocated worshipping God solely. And whilst Judaism had sacrifices as part of Temple worship, sacrifices were not part of the Christian faith. This was something the Romans found very strange.

I say all this, to show that the Centurion mentioned in the passage from Luke must have been something of an exception, as he clearly has close ties with the Jewish community in Capernaum. In the story the Jewish elders say to Jesus about the Centurion:

‘This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.’ Luke 7: 4 – 5

This doesn’t mean of course that the Centurion was a practising Jew. I suspect that would not have been permissible to a Roman officer. But clearly the centurion felt able to assist the Jewish community in Capernaum.

Luke doesn’t give us much information about the Centurion. There are several unanswered questions. As I’ve said we may wonder about whether he was a practising Jew or not. And then we might wonder why he was in Capernaum? And how could a Centurion afford to build a synagogue?

We can only speculate why the Centurion was living in Capernaum and we can have an informed guess about how he managed to pay for the synagogue. But one further question must be Why did he do what he did?

As I said earlier, it is unlikely that he was Jewish. In fact, careful reading of the passage seems to confirm this. If he was Jewish, he would have felt able to welcome Jesus into his home. But given that he sends people to Jesus with a message suggests that the Centurion was sufficiently sensitive to Jewish purity laws that forbade a Jew entering the home of a Gentile. He wanted the help of a Jew, but he knew that a Jew could not enter a Gentile home. Though as we know, Jesus was not concerned about such things.

So if he was not Jewish, why did he build a synagogue? It seems to me he was motivated by a sense of wanting to demonstrate an act of generosity or an act of kindness, to the community in which he lived. It had nothing to do with his own faith.

Back in 2013 I read an incredible story in The Guardian newspaper.

Bradford’s only remaining synagogue was faced with closure. It was a story familiar to many of our chapels. Falling numbers and lack of money to keep the historic place of worship open. But then some unlikely benefactors stepped in – representatives of Bradford’s Muslim community.

The secretary of a nearby Mosque aided by the owners of a curry house and a textile business raised funds and helped the synagogue members with an application for lottery funds. Zufil Karim who is on the board of the Bradford Council of mosques was quoted as saying:

"It makes me proud that we can protect our neighbours and at the same time preserve an important part of Bradford's cultural heritage."

Mr Karim also goes on to say how important it is for faith communities to get to know one another. The Christians, Muslims and Jews of Bradford have started to share meals and visit one another’s places of worship in an effort to understand one another better.

Perhaps the Centurion realised the importance of dialogue between cultures 2,000 years ago? We don’t know of course. But we can agree that he acted in a way that was “counter cultural” That is he acted in a way that went against the usual. For not only did he have close relations with his Jewish neighbours – so much so that they thought highly of him; He also treated his slave in a way that many would not have done.

Now of course was cannot overlook the fact that he kept slaves. And although the NIV and other translations use the word “servant” in all probability we are talking about a slave. As we can imagine slaves in Roman society were generally held in low regard. Yes of course they had a value it is though unusual for a slave owner to be so concerned for a salve’s welfare.

The very fact that the Centurion is concerned with the lives of others shows how he has an understanding of Jesus’ values and teachings. The Centurion demonstrates a love for his neighbour 3 chapters before the story of the Good Samaritan!

In his New Testament commentary on the story of the Good Samaritan John Wesley offers the following explanation for the words “Now go and do likewise”

Let us go and do likewise, regarding every man as our neighbour who needs our assistance. Let us renounce that bigotry and party-zeal which would contract our hearts into an insensibility for all the human race .... With an honest openness of mind, let us always remember the kindred between man and man; and cultivate that happy instinct whereby, in the original constitution of our nature, God has strongly bound us to each other.

The 18th century English may be difficult to follow exactly. But I think we can all get the meaning. It was Wesley’s view that as followers of Christ we are to regard all people as our neighbours. We are to turn our backs on those things that seek to impose barriers. We are to avoid becoming fixated on our own kind. We are to be aware of our own prejudices and put them aside. We are to remember that all people are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

This is exactly what the Centurion was doing. Breaking down barriers. Crossing divides. Reaching out to those who were different. Avoiding “Us” and “Them”. The Centurion was practising those words of Wesley “cultivating that happy instinct whereby … God has strongly bound together”

In 1990 I visited friends in what was then still West Germany. They lived in Bavaria and in the funny period between the Berlin Wall coming down and German reunification they took me into East Germany. We drove along an efficient West German autobahn until we reached the border. (Near Hof.) There the autobahn stopped. A bridge between East and West (built before the Second World War) had been destroyed by the Russians. We left the autobahn and crawled along country roads until we reached the East German autobahn complete with cobbles!)

In 2000 we were back in Germany and I purposely drove the same section of autobahn. The bridge (the Elster Viaduct Pirk)had been rebuilt and in fact it was hard to tell where the frontier and its barriers had been.

I suppose there have always been divisions between people. Jew and Gentile. Slave and Free. Divisions of nationality. Divisions of religion. Brexit and Remain. And so on. But that does not mean that we as Christians should be comfortable with these divisions. As followers of Christ we should be working for barriers between people to be broken down not built up. As followers of Christ we should be bridge builders not fence builders. And we should challenge those things that seek to create division and work for those things that promote unity.