A Dear Slave ( repeat )

Luke 7:1-10

         ( This is a repeat of a Sept blog entry as the lectionary has returned to this reading and I am on vacation )
   
  I think it's fair to say that there is considerable internal conflict, tension and turmoil in any faithful person who realizes that they are gay. Most of us who have been raised Christian or as a Roman Catholic have been faithfully taught that being gay, if not an outright sin, is certainly not something you wish to be or admit. If you have been a faithful person like myself and think you might be gay, you search for comfort in the one source of confidential and unconditional love that is available to you, Jesus. Sadly, there are no references or comfort to be found in scripture. Or is there?

          In point of fact there are several in both Hebrew and Christian scripture. As with any selection from scripture you can derive so many messages and the Lord does in fact speak to us in scripture in many ways. Read a section of scripture at 20 years old and you may get one message, read it 20 years later from a different perspective and with more knowledge, you get a totally different message.

          At face value this passage could easily mark how Jesus reached out in compassion beyond the bounds of Judaism. A centurion represents several direct conflicts forJudaism. Jesus' boundless love is a true lesson for us.

           Do a little digging and you find something else though. As with any selection of scripture that we read (in english), the passage has gone through numerous translations from the original texts. While the people who translated and transcribed such texts take painstaking efforts to get it right, there are still questions about words from the original texts. In this reading the original text word in question is "Pais"( in regard to the person needing healing). This word has many possible meanings and one of them would be a homosexual lover or the junior sexual partner of a powerful man. It is true that this cannot be determined without question but a powerful centurion of an occupying army that actually begs an itinerant jewish preacher for a healing of his "servant" (when the word is not servant but "pais") seems quite extraordinary. This must be an a very special 'servant' indeed.

           Because it would be problematic for a religion that has invested so much in rationalizing it's own sexual mores and in fact has vilified homosexuality, any translation that could possibly justify or even acknowledge same sex relationships would be quashed. Still, Jesus did not mention anything about same sex relationships in any way, pro or con. Any mention in scripture comes from the cultural context of the writer.

          All that I can say is this reading seems mighty peculiar in it's original texts. What I derive from all this is the generosity and love of Jesus and his welcoming arms to all, even those that would seem anathema. I think if we ask for God to heal us and love us, there is no question as to what his answer would be. 

         

After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death.

When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave.

When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy of having you do this for him,

for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us."

And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof;

therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.

For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it."

When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."

When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.