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The small house in Jerusalem was overcrowded with guests, for this was the house where Paul and his companions stayed on his last trip to the holy city. Seated on the floor were two men from Ephesus in Asia Minor, Tychicus and Trophimus; near them were Aristarchus and Secundus from northern Greece, then Sopater from Berea and Gaius from Derbe; beside the door sat their host, Mnason, an early disciple of Christ from the Island of Cyprus. Over to the side another man bent over a small table, writing on a roll of papyrus.

The door opened and a young man entered.
Timothy spoke to the men in the circle
and then walked over to the writing desk.
"Greetings, Luke,
it's good to see you back from Galilee.
We've prayed for your safety.
Our Lord Jesus has many there who love Him -
but there are also those
who are not very gentle with His followers,
especially a Greek.
What have you learned on your trip?"

Luke laid down his pen and stretched his arms.
"I'm glad I went.
It's hard to sit here in Jerusalem, just waiting,
with Paul in prison in Caesarea,
not knowing when he will be put on trial.
So I've been trying to talk with people
who knew Jesus
and write down what they said.
This trip to Galilee was marvelous, marvelous.
The disciples there led me to men and women
our Lord had healed - of dozens of diseases -
palsy, leprosy, blindness, paralysis -
some near death.
As a physician, I know those cases are hopeless,
yet there the people were,
alive, in good health;
and their families attest to their cure.
I met so many people Jesus had lifted up in spirit:
his forgiveness changed their lives.
It's been nearly thirty years,
and there are still so many
to whom he has given hope,
so many who remember his compassion.

"Here, listen to what I've just written."
After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion was there who 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 he 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.

Sopater spoke up.
"Tell us more, Luke.
Did you meet any of those people?"
"Yes, I met the centurion,
and I met one of the elders he sent to Jesus.
It was the elder who told me the details.
That centurion is a remarkable man.
No one gets to be a Roman centurion
unless he is very capable,
but this man is unusual.
He's about 70 now, still in command,
and a leader of the Christians in Capernaum.
He's unusual in his compassion,
not hard and callous like so many Roman soldiers.
Some Romans treat their slaves like animals
or things,
tools to be used and then thrown away.
This man cared about his slave,
loved the slave and his family.
When the slave was paralyzed and in pain,
the centurion cared,
and he went asking for help.
He was unusual, too, in his friendship with Jesus.
Most Roman soldiers despise Jews as weak,
a subject people.
They know the Jews hate them,
and they hate right back.
This man saw the goodness of the Jews,
and he realized that their goodness
came from their faith in the one true God.
He became a worshipper of God,
a friend to the Jews in Capernaum.
He dug into his own pocket to build their synagogue,
and they in turn accepted him as a friend.
And he is humble.
You don't expect a Roman officer to be humble -
they are trained to command -
but he knew how to recognize true greatness.
He had heard how Jesus had healed other people,
right there in Capernaum,
and he didn't try to command Jesus.
He sent Jewish elders,
thinking they might have more influence than he;
and they in turn went
because they liked him and respected him.
He was considerate, too.
He knew Jesus would be criticized
if he entered a Gentile house,
so - to spare Jesus -
he said he was unworthy for Jesus to come,
and he asked Jesus to heal from where he was.
Above all, the man had faith.
He was a man of authority,
and he knew his authority produced results.
He reasoned that Jesus had greater authority,
authority over healing,
power over life and death.

He said with perfect confidence,
'Lord, I know you can do this at a distance.'
He didn't need to see medical treatment;
he didn't even need to see Jesus in person:
Jesus could do it.
Many, many people were demanding
that Jesus show them visible signs
before they would believe:
this man had real faith, and Jesus answered it -
praised it, in fact.
He healed the man's servant,
and he said he had not found such faith
in native Israelites."

Mnason, their host, raised a question.
"Luke, I've heard that story.
I haven't met the centurion,
but I've heard it from John and from Peter
and from Matthew, who were there.
But what does it mean for us?
What lesson do you think the Lord has for us?"

Luke thought for a moment.
"The first lesson I see is the greatness of God,
the unlimited power of Christ.
We physicians need to see a patient,
examine him carefully,
touch him,
treat him with potions and ointments.
Even then,
there are so many things we cannot cure.
We learn our limits.
Jesus was not limited to medicines,
or to the touch of his hand.
He was not limited by space:
he was a mile away.
Across that mile he spoke a word,
and the man was healed.

"The greatness of the centurion
was that he realized the power of Jesus
was not limited by distance.
We're finding now that his power
is not limited by time.
It's thirty years since Jesus died and rose.
His power is as great now,
and his life fills our souls with a new birth.

"His power is unlimited,
and his grace, his love, is unlimited.
The centurion is a Roman, not a Jew;
he worshipped God,
but he had not taken the step of becoming
a full convert.
Jesus didn't hold back.
He listened to the man's need.
It was one of the first times Jesus broke out
of the tight-closed walls of Judaism.
God's love, God's good news,
is not limited to any one people.
Look at us here in Mnason's house:
some of us Jews,
some of us Greeks,
Timothy half-and-half.
That Roman centurion is now a believer.
God's love doesn't depend on ancestry,
or language,
or color,
or education,
or wealth.
There is one gospel, one good news -
and only one -
for all the nations of the earth:
the gracious love of God who gives salvation
to all who come to him in faith.
That gracious love has no limits."

Timothy nodded his head.
"Yes, that gracious love of God has no limits.
We came here as companions of Paul,
and this is the one gospel we have proclaimed
along with him:
God's free gift of life, of faith,
forgiveness, love, salvation -
unlimited gift -
to all who come to Him in faith.
Yet there are so many who try to limit God.
Romans trot out their old gods for ceremonies,
but that has nothing to do
with the way they run their government.
Greeks write poetry to gods on Olympus,
but keep them out of their business
in the marketplace.
The army tries to be god:
it builds stronger spears, harder shields,
bigger warships,
more powerful battering rams,
as if this will rule the world -
and forgets it is God's world."

Luke agreed.
"Yes, so many would try to limit God's power,
keep His power out of their affairs,
or claim His power as their own.
And so many forget God's unlimited love.
Each difference becomes prejudice, and prejudice
leads to oppression, and oppression begets hatred.
Rome conquers a country;
the Roman minority holds the majority as slaves,
tells them where to live,
how to work, whom to marry;
they have no vote, no power.
Can we who know the love of God
ever agree to such a system?
Suppose the army builds that battering ram -
even one that can wipe out whole cities.
Would it ever be right to use it?
How can they say another nation is unfit to live,
when God's compassion is unlimited,
offered to all peoples?

"We are strangers here in Jerusalem,
where King Solomon built his temple
and offered this prayer at its dedication:
O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all thefr heart ... when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name - for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm - when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel ...
This is a world of strangers,
some carried off as slaves and captives,
others travelling for commerce
or just to earn their bread,
still others - many others -
fleeing from their homelands as refugees.
Christ our Lord fed the hungry,
healed the sick,
forgave the repentant:
can we refuse food for the starving,
comfort and acceptance for the lonely,
sanctuary for the oppressed?
Christ our Lord forgave those
who nailed Him to the cross;
can we refuse to love our enemy?

"The Lord our God is unlimited;
how can we limit our praise?
The love of God is unlimited;
how can we limit whom we will help,
or whom we will love?"