The Centurion's Servant Healed

After giving the sermon on the mount, Christ entered Capernaum. It seems that the deputation of elders bearing the centurion's request met Jesus as He returned to the city. This man's servant was sick. This "servant" was held in high esteem by the centurion, doubtless for the valuable service he had rendered. The term itself may or may not imply personal affection, but in this particular case the centurion was "tenderly attached" to the slave. The servant was about to die. The centurion's knowledge of Jesus was limited to the reports that had reached him of the Saviour's great deeds. He had never seen Jesus previous to the present occasion.

The elders of the city approach Jesus on behalf of this centurion. These may have been either the leading citizens of the town or the board of elders of the local synagogue (see p. 56), or they may have served in both capacities. In the centurion's own eyes he was unworthy (vs. 6, 7). In the eyes of the "elders" he was "worthy" (v. 4). A consciousness of one's own unworthiness is a recommendation of the highest order. But with the centurion it seems that this appraisal of his status before Jesus was more than humility. Though a believer in the true God, the centurion was not yet a full proselyte, and accordingly in Jewish eyes still a heathen and therefore not eligible to participate in religious services (see on vs. 2, 5). Truly humble of heart before God, and probably conscious as well of his status in the eyes of the Jews, he sought to avoid embarrassing Jesus by obligating Him to enter a Gentile home. This would at best be repulsive to a pious Jew and would doubtless render him ceremonially unclean (see John 18:28).

Though the centurion protested his own unworthiness, Jesus later said of him, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel" (v. 9). The remarkable faith of this supposed heathen made him more worthy in the sight of Heaven than any of Jesus' fellow countrymen. The centurion's faith that a word from Jesus would be sufficient to heal his servant was extraordinary in itself. The fact that the centurion had never seen or conversed with Jesus made that faith all the more remarkable, particularly in view of the slowness of the Jews and even of Christ's own disciples to exercise faith (Matt. 6:30 8:26 16:8 see Mark 4:40 Luke 8:25 12:28 17:6). But the fact that the centurion was—officially, from the Jewish standpoint—a Gentile, made his faith seem great, almost beyond belief.