Sermon Tone Analysis

Pain of separation

0 Just the other day one of my old uni friends asked if I happened to know the address of the house we had shared together - 25 years ago - crikey, getting old!

Reminded me of one particularly memorable episode [Leamington Spa; Will + Ajay + thermostat; divergent views on optimal temperature; one fateful day (can’t remember hot or cold)... ]

small thing - but it ended the relationship between Will and Ajay; not even a Facebook friend.

I’m sure many of us could think of people we were once close to but now are alienated from, separated from.

Perhaps because of things they’ve done - perhaps because of things we’ve done - perhaps both.

I think most of us have mourned the loss of a relationship at one time or another, felt the pain of separation.

Continuing our journey through Luke’s biography of Jesus and we come to a section today which, although it might not seem like it at first, once we dig in a bit, we’ll see is a story about separation - but not just separation - it’s also a story about restoration.

I think

Jesus, aged about 30, has just begun his ministry.

Rejected in his hometown, he’s celebrated in Capernaum, healing and delivering, but he moves on to spread the good news of the Kingdom of God.

Last week we saw him calling his first disciples through an extraordinary fishing trip.

Where do things go from here?

Come with me to Luke chapter 5, and let’s find out:

3:30 READING

Unclean therefore separated

unclean -> separated from people and from God

4:15 key character has a terrible skin condition.

“leprosy” => whole category of conditions

unclean -> separated from people and from God

We’ve already seen many healed, “all” in Capernaum.

Why does he get the spotlight?

his own story?

What’s new?

unclean -> not just opposite of clean, separated from people and from God

Rulebook for life in this time and place sets out what that separation looked like in practice:

Meant to keep it that way, outside of the camp, calling out “unclean, unclean”

Sounds extreme, right?

But this separation from people was at least in part pragmatic, practical - leprosy, at least, is contagious - other serious conditions the term covers are likely to be too.

A desperate approach

6:15 But he dares to approach Jesus

But he dares to come to Jesus

an emotional moment:

falling on his face [many meet Jesus, few fall facedown],

begging [may ask, speak, call out; few beg]; it’s a big deal.

High stakes: rejection, separation - or the hope of restoration

why? High stakes: rejection, return to separation - or the hope of restoration

Knows Jesus is able - his question: is Jesus willing?

recognises how big an “ask” it is

Jesus’ willing touch

His question: is Jesus willing?

7:30 Jesus touches the man first

Risky for Jesus - will he get sick?

Risky for Jesus - will he get sick?

Costly for Jesus - will it make him unclean?

perhaps legally; at least by association

Not the sort of thing fine, upstanding people do: getting Pilate to meet them outside

Uneccessary for Jesus

Unnecessary for Jesus - seems to be his word that heals rather than his touch v13

so why?

Jesus actually cares about people

also pictures end of separation

“be clean!” command; immediate results

separation ended; connection restored - sudden yet profound

Marching orders

Willing to reach out and touch, to comfort

Able to make clean -> ending separation, removing distance

9:30 But that’s not the end of the story; Jesus has marching orders for the newly cleansed man:

He’s to carry a message to the religious types

ever heard the phrase “show-don’t-tell”?

picture = 10^3 words?

commanded not to tell anyone

not even the priest

doesn’t need to tell anyone

Show-don’t-tell: he is the message

Show-don’t-tell: he is the message

can’t argue with cleansed skin [would be the best skin product ad ever - before/after!]

can’t argue with clean skin [skin product ad!]

demonstrates Jesus’ undeniable power, unique power

more: a testimony of his identity

Moses commanded the priest go outside, to the healed, and cleanse them

Jesus sends the healed one inside, to the priest, already cleansed

Jesus is the one true high priest

Jesus touched the unclean, the untouchable

And now I’m clean

a cost they would not like to pay - e.g.

getting Pilate to meet them outside

which makes him unclean - has a cost

And now I’m clean

challenging their presuppositions

challenging their presuppositions

Implication: the once-separated is now to be welcomed back

in Jesus, our holy God comes to the broken + outcast

comes with compassion and mercy, not judgement

Implication: the once-separated is now to be welcomed back

And Jesus will do more than just cleanse the leprous as high priest

[but as we’ll see, they’d prefer things stayed separate]

The great separation

12:00 Let me bring this back to where I started:

we know the pain of losing relationships with others

often because of wrongs done - leaving us separated, alienated

we were all made for a relationship with God - that’s what the Bible tells us

but just like we’re separated from others by wrongs done,

we’ve been separated from God by the wrong things we’ve done

like our first parents, sent out of the garden, separated because of wrongs done

this alienation, separation, we know its wrong-ness in human relationships

Like the ache of a lost loved one; or a best friend who is friend no more

separation isn’t how it’s meant to be with God either

But here’s the Good News: Today’s story isn’t just an amazing healing - lots of them already

Jesus’ restoration of the separated one is a picture of something much greater he will do