Matthew 8:5-13

 ⁵ Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, ⁶ saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” ⁷ And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! ¹¹ And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³ Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

Commentary

Vs. 5-7 ⁵ Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, ⁶ saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” ⁷ And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

The Lord Jesus having been rejected in His home town of Nazareth, and having preached His Sermon on the Mount to the disciples, now enters Capernaum, a city located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And it was from that region that Jesus’ called the disciples, Simon (i.e. Peter) and his brother Andrew, as well as the brothers James and John, then later Jesus will also call Levi (i.e. Matthew the tax collector) from that region, and so it was from there that the Lord Jesus would establish His early ministry. Jesus then having entered Capernaum, a Roman centurion now comes to Him, pleading with Him to heal His servant, who is paralyzed and dreadfully tormented. And with that request the Lord Jesus say’s to the centurion, “I will come and heal him” which is revealing, for the Jews at that time were subject to the Romans, and to willingly come to heal a centurions servant was crossing a boundary which most Jews would have never imagined the Messiah would cross. This then begins Jesus public ministry in Capernaum, a region which will experience many of the Lord’s miraculous signs and wonders, and yet the region itself, and the people of it, will not be moved to believe in Christ’s Person, while this one Roman centurion will stand out and stand apart from them all because He believed in the Lord’s Person and Power to heal one and all, even before he witnesses anything with his eyes. And so like at Nazareth where the people’s faith was likewise in short supply, and Jesus needed to cite to them two Gentiles from the Scripture as being the true people of God because they believed the Word of Lord spoken to them, so too this centurion will become a man through whom the Lord Jesus Christ will reveal faith that saves, not just from sickness, but from eternal destruction, which is a faith that you too can have, a faith that trusts in the Lord’s Person and Power to heal your soul and restore you back to God, so that you too can take your place along with all the Redeemed, of both Jews and Gentiles, who by their faith in God were witnesses for Him down here, and are now in the Kingdom of heaven forever (see Heb. 11).

Vs. 8-9 ⁸ The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Now with Jesus’ willingness to come to the centurions house and heal his servant, the centurion in a stunning display of humility and faith now says of the Lord that He need not come to His house, rather Jesus only need speak a Word and his servant would be healed (vs. 8), displaying then an incredibly simple and honest faith that believes in the Lord Jesus’ Person and Power to do this. Now the basis for his faith in the Lord’s ability to do this is his own experience as a man being under authority, having soldiers under himself. For as he says to Jesus: “I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” ^{Vs. 9} And so by his own life’s experiences the centurion has deducted that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is a Man under Authority, God’s Authority, who has been given His Authority by Him, and so just as the centurion can order men to come and go so too can the Lord Jesus being under God’s Authority exercise His Authority and Power over all sicknesses, diseases, and even death itself, thus believing in God the Creator and Sustainer of all things, the centurion displays for us all the most reasonable faith of all.

Vs. 10-12 ¹⁰ When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! ¹¹ And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Now when Jesus heard the centurion’s response He marveled, marveled that such great faith could be found in a gentile, and a centurion at that, but was could not be found in Israel (vs. 10, also consider Mark 6:6). And having said that the Lord Jesus now reveals that this centurion is not unique in his faith, for the Lord Jesus says many will come from the east and the west (meaning Gentiles from all over the world) too sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (vs.12). Therefore trusting that one is a descendent of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob profits no one nothing, for if they do not believe in the God’s Son and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ then they will be cast out in outer darkness as the Lord has said of them.

Vs. 13 “Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.”

And so returning to the centurion Jesus now says to him, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.” Please then take careful note of what the Lord Jesus has just said, and what has just happened, because receiving anything from the Lord hinges on one’s own faith, not your parents, not your pastors, not your husband or wives, but your own faith (Heb. 11:6). An so just as it happened according to the centurions own faith so too salvation happens to each and every one of us the moment we believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ for ourselves, because salvation is not based upon who we are, or what we do, it is based solely upon what the Lord Jesus Christ has already done and our faith and trust in Him for having fully satisfied ever requirement that God requires for our eternal redemption from sin and death. Therefore as with the centurion whose servant was healed the very hour he believed, so the Lord Jesus Christ likewise heals and restores us back to God the moment we repent and believe and receive Him for ourselves (John 1:12; Rom 10:9-10, 13; Eph. 1:13-14). Something which I now invite you to do, if you believe then please receive the Lord Jesus Christ for yourselves, confessing Him as Lord and following Him in discipleship because there is no other way to everlasting and abundant life then to repent and believe in the Gospel and thus too receive the Lord Jesus Christ for yourselves.

Scripture Quotations

The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.