The Gadarene Demoniac: Luke 8:26-39
The widow with the dead son: Luke 7:11-17
Crippled Woman: Luke 13:10-13

But in these cases there are three expressions of faith.

The faith of the centurion – Luke 7:1-10. This is a man who deserves a miracle for all the good he has done. I think he might have sent the lobbyists at first and then changed his mind. It is not unlike the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts. His faith is based in humility and an understanding of the authority of Jesus. What’s surprising to me is Jesus’ response. He does not bristle and say there are no special favors for powerful people or tell them he can come and stand in line like everyone else.

The faith of the woman who touches his robe and his healed – Luke 8:40-48. Her faith is completely desperate. She has spent all she has on medical help with no results. There is nothing she can show to prove she deserves it. She just took the chance.

Again, Jesus does not respond as you would think. Because she is so desperate and the condition is so personal, you would think he would just let it go but he stops everything until she comes and publicly admits what she has done.

The faith of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. Faith in spite of the facts. He is told to have faith in spite of those around him urging him to “not bother” Jesus. While it sounds pretty cold the way his friends respond, it is a surprise to see Jesus delay and then tell Jairus to believe anyway.

Each expression of faith is different. There is no formula or magic words. There are no books to tell people exactly how to gin up the kind of faith that will guarantee a healing. “Your faith has healed you” is an elusive explanation and I am not sure we are to look for generic lessons about having enough faith in these accounts. They are individuals and not pieces of a puzzle that we put together for an answer. We are tempted to read these stories like fiction with a secret meaning instead of true accounts of Jesus encountering real people who were different in each case.

2.  Something else you notice in these encounters is that Jesus went with people. He did not demand they come to him. Over and over we read about Jesus going to a house or walking along with people. He is not a guru but a companion. The road to Emmaus is a good example.

3.  In Acts 10, Peter says that Jesus of Nazareth “went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” One of the characteristics of Jesus’ ministry and life was his simply going around doing good.

At least during this part of the ministry – and that changes in chapter 9 when he sets his face toward Jerusalem – he is simply walking through towns and responding to people. The word here is “dierchomai” and Luke uses it 41 times – more than any other writer. He wants to show a pattern and a way of life. Jesus did not have a strategic plan in the way we would define it. He did not identify a particular disease he was going to eliminate. He did not target a particular town or people group. He responded to those he met.

Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message, talks about his own life as a pastor in much the same way.

Some people set their eyes on a goal and don’t let anything or anyone interfere.

That’s not the Rev. Eugene Peterson’s approach.

The language expert, Bible scholar, professor, and best-selling author — his Bible translation, The Message, has sold more than 15 million copies — likens his life’s path to that of a dog, sniffing his way “from bush to hydrant to tree.”

“Intently haphazard” is the term he uses, quoting a line by poet Denise Levertov, in his latest book, “The Pastor: Every Step an Arrival”.

Overland to the Islands

Let’s go—much as that dog goes,
intently haphazard. (The
Mexican light on a day that
‘smells like autumn in Connecticut’
makes iris ripples on his
black gleaming fur—and that too
is as one would desire—a radiance
consorting with the dance.)
Under his feet rocks and mud, his imagination, sniffing,
engaged in its perceptions—dancing
edgeways, there’s nothing
the dog disdains on his way,
nevertheless he
keeps moving, changing
pace and approach but
not direction—’every step an arrival.’

“There is obviously no lack of intention in the dog’s behavior, but if you could have asked him what his intention was and he could have answered, he wouldn’t have been able to tell you where he was headed — just one scent after another. Seemingly haphazard. But not without purpose,” he writes.

“Let’s go” is the way Jesus describes much of the way he led the disciples. Dierchomai over and over again. They never knew from one day to the next what that meant – but he did. For those of us who like everything on a calendar this is not a comfortable way to live, is it? “Every step an arrival” does not describe our lives because we are so much on the way to somewhere in our lives. Anything that disturbs that is an interruption.

In a real sense, Jesus lived with no interruptions. He had complete flexibility because he left his daily life up to God. He could change directions or go with someone or respond to an individual with no disruption. He had a purpose that was clear and focused – but not a plan in the way we would think about it.

How did he do that?

Simon Sinek in his book “Start With The Why” describes individuals and companies that never lose sight of the “why” of what they are doing. Others get distracted by what they do or how they do it and they lose their way. People are attracted to people who never lose sight of why they are doing what they are doing. “People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you are doing it.” That was the case with Jesus. He always knew why and so he could make the what and how secondary. That is why we are frustrated looking for a formula for faith or why some people were healed and others were not. We get caught up in the how and the what. Refer to Luke 4:42-44.

What do you notice? He knew why he was sent. What else? How did he keep from becoming distracted? He spent time in a solitary place. Five times in the book of Luke he describes Jesus going to a solitary place to pray. It was not time to go over his plan but time to pray and obey.

The disciples were always losing track of the why and getting caught up in the what and how. They turned away children. They were upset about those with lack of faith. They were angry about others doing miracles. They argued over who would be the greatest. They scolded Jesus for talking about suffering. They wanted to constantly guard him from interruptions or do crowd control.

Jesus never lost sight of why and that gave him the confidence to respond to people and to preach the good news – not as a crusade but as he went along.

Some scholars have read the text of the Great Commission in Matthew 28 in the same way. “As you are going make disciples” and not come up with a strategy for a crusade to win people. Our witness in our every day lives is what Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians 4.

11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

4.  The crowds never became a means to an end for him. Part of his solitary time was staying clear about his temptations. “Turn stones into bread.” “Chase after authority and splendor.” “Put God to the test.”

Modern ministry can become all about numbers. It is the way we describe success and influence. In Baptist life we describe how many we are “running in Sunday School” or how many attend services. Increasingly, pastors are encouraged to sell to the crowds they can gather. Refer to Skye Jethani’s article in Relevant.

Consider the scale of the evangelical industrial complex that survives by perpetuating this system. The Christian Booksellers Association, representing 1,700 Christian stores, sells $4.63 billion worth of merchandise a year. And that doesn’t count retailers like Amazon and Walmart. Some estimate the total evangelical market to be over $7 billion a year. Evangelicalism is a very, very large business…that’s why I call it an industrial complex.

And this massive market has grown in conjunction with the rise of megachurches since the 1970s; they rely upon and perpetuate each other. Megachurch leaders offer publishers pre-existing customer bases (their own congregations), and publishers make megachurch pastors into celebrities to perpetuate and expand their bottom lines. As a result, evangelicalism is not a meritocracy where talent, gifting, character, or wisdom result in a broadening influence. It is an aristocracy where simply having a platform entitles you to ever-increasing influence regardless of your talent, gifting, character, or wisdom.

So, as more people begin discussing and worrying about the existence of a celebrity-class of pastors, we need to see beyond our human tendency to idolize leaders or even the historical fact that celebrity preachers have always existed. Today it isn’t simply Christians who are creating celebrity pastors, it’s the Christian market. We live in a new age where consumerism and mega-congregations have resulted in a self-perpetuating evangelical industrial complex that not only creates, but also depends upon a growing number of celebrity pastors.

Jesus never lost sight of why he was sent. He never thought of crowds as markets. He lived an intently haphazard life in these chapters – not caught up in strategies and plans but open to whatever God had for him that day. Can we say the same? Can we live life with purpose and direction but without detailed plans and strategies? Can we keep our eyes on why we are doing what we are doing and not become distracted by what and how? Can we be relaxed and confident enough to simply go about doing good in obedience to God?

“In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women
centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where
it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an
institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture.
And, finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise.”
– Richard Halvorson, former Chaplain of the United States Senate