When he had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. 4 They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, “He deserves to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.” 6 And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. 7 Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. 8 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.” 9 When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10 When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
The Roman Centurion, a Gentile, was worried about his servant dying and sent Jewish elders to ask Jesus to save his servant’s life. Centurions were a very visible sign of Roman authority and oppression. This Roman official had a religious heart and was kind to the Jews. The local Jews said of him, “He loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us (v. 5).” He had only heard about Jesus and was acting upon the faith he received from hearing (Lk. 6:47-48).
The centurion in his reverence for Jesus and in his humility did not consider himself worthy to come to Jesus or to have Jesus enter his home. He had faith in Jesus’ power and believed that Jesus only had to say the word and his servant would be healed (v. 7). Jesus was amazed at the depth of the Centurion’s faith. It is not clear if the centurion recognized Jesus’ divine nature or not. The Centurion was a man of authority and power and acknowledged that Jesus was sent by someone with higher authority and power and could restore his servant to life by just speaking the word (Jn. 1:1-3).
This is in stark contrast to the Israelites who were awaiting the Messiah but refused to believe in Jesus even after the signs and wonders he did. Luke introduced the thinking that the Gentiles were worthy to receive the benefits of the Kingdom of God, not because the Jewish elders said so, but because of the Centurion’s faith.
Almighty God, we are not worthy for you to come to us, but in your mercy forgive our transgressions and lead us to everlasting life. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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.
Comments