Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant (Mt. 8:5-13)

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” 7 He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” 8 The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven, 12 but the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” 13 And Jesus said to the centurion, “You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.” And at that very hour [his] servant was healed.

A centurion, a Roman commander in charge of 100 soldiers, who was very familiar with Judaism and had contributed to the building of a synagogue in Jerusalem (Lk. 7:5), went to Jesus because one of his servants was paralyzed and suffering.  The Centurion, who had heard about Jesus’ miracles, addressed him as ‘Lord’, and appealed to him to cure his servant.  Jews who observed the Law were reluctant to enter the home of a Gentile because they could become ritually defiled, so when Jesus said ‘I will come and cure him’ the Centurion’s response, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed,” showed his respect, humility, faith, and belief in Jesus’ power to heal with only his word from a distance.  As a soldier in charge of 100 men, discipline and authority would have been of paramount importance.  The Centurion submitted himself to Jesus’ authority. 

When Jesus heard the Centurion’s answer he was amazed at his faith.  In his Divinity, Jesus knew everything, but in his humanity, he was capable of human emotional experiences such as wonder, amazement, anger, love, to name a few.  The servant was healed instantly from a distance by Jesus’ word.  This was an indication that the Gospel was not only for the Jews. The Centurion’s profession of faith impressed Jesus who warned the Jews against religious complacency because they believed that they would be the beneficiaries of the blessings of the Messianic age.  Many of the Gentiles will share in the Messianic banquet with the Patriarchs, but many of the chosen people will inherit the darkness and fear that lies outside of the Kingdom of God. 

Almighty God, in your mercy we implore you to heal our indifference, our arrogance, and our self-importance so that we may approach you in all humility and subservience, acknowledging our unworthiness for you to enter under our roof.  This we pray through Christ our Lord.  Amen!

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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.

                Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.