Proper 4: 1 Kings 8.22-23, 41-43; Galatians 1.1-12; Luke 7.1-10

O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in you, mercifully accept our prayers and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace, that in the keeping of your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

WE BEGIN our post-Trinity reading of Luke's Gospel with the story of the centurion, a Roman soldier in charge of 100 men, who maintained the sometimes uneasy peace in Israel through policing rather than military duty. The Roman occupation was deeply unpopular, and there were regular uprisings and what we would call terrorist attacks by individuals and groups.

Jesus had two disciples - Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot - whose names suggest links with Jewish freedom-fighters. He also had Matthew, formerly a Roman tax-collector and collaborator. The centurion's request could not help but provoke tension among the disciples.

There are parallels with the world today: a military leader on peace-keeping work in a volatile country far from home. In this harsh world, the centurion was an unusually kind man. Not only did he care about his slave's well-being, but he had the enthusiastic support of the local Jewish leaders, who said that he was worthy, loved the Jewish people, and had built a synagogue for them. In today's jargon, he had won their hearts and minds. In the political context of the day, it was extraordinary.

Everything about the centurion's actions was topsy-turvy. We might expect a story about a slave's being sent to secure healing for the centurion's friend; instead, the centurion sent Jewish elders and then his friends to secure healing for his slave. He treated both the slave and Jesus with immense respect.

He knew his authority and maintained discipline - he spoke, and people acted - yet he recognised the limits of his authority, and, powerful man that he was, acknowledged his need, and turned to an itinerant preacher with a reputation for healing. Having done that, he did not presume anything, and so did not command Jesus, his social inferior, but tried to avoid inconveniencing him.

Unlike Matthew, Luke does not actually record Jesus's healing of the slave, or even his sending back of the messengers; having been amazed at the centurion's faith, Jesus's part in the story is no longer recorded. The friends simply returned, and found the slave healed. This suggests a link between authority and faith: the centurion and his friends trusted the right use of authority, as expressed in kind action.

Worthiness is central to all this week's readings. The Jewish elders (not always an easily satisfied group) said that the centurion was worthy to have Jesus heal his slave, while he described himself as not worthy to have Jesus come to his house. Solomon acknowledged that there was no God like the Lord, who could be approached only because he kept covenant and steadfast love with his people, including foreigners such as the centurion.

Paul described his commission as God-given, having no human origin, and his message as given by revelation - neither, therefore, earned by his worthiness. The collect underlines this in acknowledging the weakness of our mortal nature, which means that we can do no good thing without God.

Related to the question of worthiness is the question of presumption. The centurion's "I did not presume to come to you" surely inspired the beautiful prayer in the Book of Common Prayer: "We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness. . . We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table."

Faced with this truth, we might despair, were it not for two "buts": "but [we trust] in thy manifold and great mercies"; "but thou are the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy." This echoes the way in which Solomon dared to predicate his prayer on the steadfast love of God, and thus his articulation of the theological underpinning of the centurion's later trusting and humble use of his authority.

What do we presume: is it the manifold mercy of God? What do lives predicated on the mercy of God look like today for each of us, whether on peace-keeping duty in Afghanistan, or in the way we trust God to act for good in a gruelling family or work situation?

The collect's double emphasis on our intent and our action reminds us that, having trusted God's mercy, we please God through our response, in both will and deed. The readings show how this might work out.