Lesson 9 - Matt. 8:5-13 - THE CENTURION'S FAITH
INTRODUCTION: Last week in Matt. 7:13-21, 24-27, we covered the last of three chapters in what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. In the lesson, Jesus commanded His disciples (that's us) to enter the 'narrow gate' and walk the hard road or path that leads to life, as opposed to the 'wide way' that leads to destruction. Jesus then warned us about false prophets and teachers whom He said could be indentified by the 'fruits' they produce, which he compared to sick trees only capable of producing bad fruit, with fruit representing how they conducted their personal lives and the impact their teaching ultimately has on those who followed them. Jesus concluded the chapter with a spiritual metaphor about building your spiritual house on the solid foundation-the teachings of Christ-that will enable you to withstand all the storms of life. In terms of practical application, we learned that: (1) The 'narrow gate' represents a choice-the narrow, more difficult path of following Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior or the wide, easy way that appeals to our natural human desires and preferences. The difference between these choices is literally life or death, eternally. (2) The ability to distinguish false teachers and prophets requires spiritual discernment. The 'acid test' is the character of their 'fruit'-e.g., how they treat others in terms of honesty, humility, and personal godliness and whether good character is evident in the lives and attitudes of their own followers. (3) Being a saved believer in Christ requires more than a verbal profession of faith. A person must also believe in his or her heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on a cross for their sins, so that salvation is by grace alone by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. And (4) those who follow Jesus Christ have built their 'spiritual house' on a foundation that will withstand all the inevitable storms of life.
Thus far in Chapters 1-7, Matthew has been laying the foundation for his argument-to present conclusive evidence to the nation of Israel that Jesus of Nazareth is in fact the Messiah of whom the OT prophets had written. In Chapter 8, Matthew begins a series of narratives that reveal Jesus' authority over sickness, demons, distance, and even the weather. In the first four verses of the chapter, which we skip, Matthew describes an encounter with a man inflicted with leprosy, an incurable disease. In an attitude of great faith and humility, the leper knelt before Jesus and declared that Jesus could make him 'clean' if He commanded it. Then Jesus touched the afflicted man (which was ceremonially forbidden [Num. 12:9-15]), and he was immediately and supernaturally healed. Jesus thereafter commanded the man not to tell anyone what had happened, but instead to go to the priests and present the offering commanded by Moses for healed lepers so the he could officially be declared clean (Lev. 14:1-19). This week, in Matt. 8:5-18, we'll hear the story of a Roman Centurion who comes to Jesus and asks Him to heal his paralytic servant.
Read Matt. 8:5-7 - A CENTURION CAME TO HIM
5 And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6 and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented."
v. 5a: "And when Jesus entered Capernaum" - Having concluded His teaching to His disciples, Jesus came down from the mountain and entered Capernaum, which was one of the main trading towns in the Gennesaret area. Located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee (see map), it was a vibrant and prosperous part of Palestine that was home to about 1,500 people, many of whom were fishermen. It would become the headquarters for Jesus ministry in Galilee.
v. 5b: "a centurion came to Him, imploring Him," - A Centurion was an officer of the Roman army who commanded a Century, a military unit comprising 100 or more soldiers, and these units formed the military backbone of the Roman Empire throughout its far-flung provinces like Palestine. According to the Biblical record, the Centurions were generally fair-minded men whom the Jews respected. Capernaum would have been an important garrison in Jesus' day, and the common soldiers under this Centurion's command were most likely Phoenician and Syrian Gentiles. It's significant that a Roman Centurion would approach Jesus and lower himself to plead for His help. (In Luke's account [7:1-10], the Centurion doesn't come in person but sends respected Jewish elders on his behalf. Matthew, a concise record-keeper, often shortens his accounts for brevity.)
v. 6a: "and saying, "Lord," - Bible scholars aren't certain whether the Centurion's address to Jesus as "Lord" was intended as a matter of courtesy or was a reference to His deity. It could be either.
v. 6b: "my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented." - The word used here for "servant" (Gk. pais) generally means servant but it can also mean son. Or this servant might have been the Centurion's personal aide de camp, someone very close to hum. Luke reports that this was a new condition and the servant was near death, so the Centurion's concern was extremely urgent.
Read Matt. 8: 7-9 - JUST SAY THE WORD AND MY SERVANT WILL BE HEALED
7 Jesus *said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 But the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it."
v. 7: "Jesus *said to him, 'I will come and heal him.'" - This is a weighty statement. It's possible to translate Jesus response as a question: "Shall I (emphatic) come and heal him? This translation has the advantage of emphasizing, "I," to completely focus on the person of Jesus. In any case, notice that Jesus does not hesitate. He was fully prepared to go inside this centurion's house, irrespective of any concern over ritual cleaness. It was common Jewish practice in those days not to engage in many activities with 'unclean' Gentiles, which included never entering a Gentile's house. Jesus had already touched an 'unclean' leper in vv. 1-4, and here, notably, His absence of concern about remaining ritually clean demonstrated that He was overruling some provisions of the Mosaic Law (Deut. 18:18).
v. 8a: "But the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof," - The phrase used by the Centurion, "I am not worthy," are nearly the same Greek words used by John the Baptist when he declared he was "not fit" to remove the sandals from Jesus' feet (Matt. 3:11).
v. 8b: "but just say the word, and my servant will be healed." - This is a significant profession of faith. This Centurion clearly believed that Jesus possessed the divine power to not only heal, but to do so from a distance. In fact, he's certain that just one "word" from Jesus will be enough to heal his servant. In saying this, the Centurion not only recognized Jesus' power to heal, but also his power over nature to heal from any distance-the sovereign power of God, in this case, God in the flesh.
v. 9: "For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it." - When this Centurion issued a command to his soldiers, it carried all the authority of Caesar, the emperor of Rome, which compelled people obeyed him without hesitation, for to disobey him was the equivalent of disobeying the emperor himself. So, with the key word "also," the Centurion acknowledged and believed that Jesus operated under a similar system: Jesus was not only working under God's authority; He likewise had the power to carry out God's authority, and that Jesus' word was the equivalent of God's word. In short, the Centurion confessed that Jesus' power was God's power. Amazing faith. The text does not reveal whether this Centurion was a 'God-Fearer'-a Gentile who believed in Israel's God-like the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 or the Centurion Cornelius in Acts 10.
Read Matt. 8:10-13 - I HAVE NOT FOUND SUCH GREAT FAITH WITH ANYONE IN ISRAEL
10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. 11 I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 13 And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed that very moment.
v. 10a: "Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following," - That Jesus "marveled" is an interesting statement in itself. Since Jesus is all-knowing and fully God, He's incapable of being taken by surprise, yet, in His humanity, he can be emotionally moved by the things He sees and hears. This is the only recorded incident that describes Jesus' overt reaction to someone. In the gospels, the words "marvel" or "amazed" typically describe peoples' reaction to Jesus.
v. 10b: "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel." - The introductory clause, "Truly I say to you," announced to Jesus disciples that He was preparing to say something very important about His personal authority. The greatness of this Centurion's "faith" was based upon his perception of Jesus' relationship to Almighty God, not His ability to heal from a distance. Also, this Centurion was a Gentile who apparently lacked the OT revelation about the coming of the Messiah. Even so, no Jew that Jesus had thus far met had shown such remarkable insight as to His person and authority.
This incident foreshadows the great insight that later came through another centurion's faith, Cornelius (Acts 11:18), which resulted in making the message of the gospel available to Gentiles.
v. 11: "I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;" - Here, Jesus introduces a sobering truth: He alludes to the End-Time Messianic Banquet prophesied by Isaiah (Isa. 25:6-9; 65:13-14), where God revealed that Gentiles from all parts of the world would join the great Patriarchs in the kingdom of God. In reporting this, Matthew points to the fact that the OT has much to say about who will be included in God's kingdom. God will not only gather Israel from all parts of the earth (Ps 107:3; Isa. 43:5; 49:12); but also Gentiles from all quarters to worship God in His kingdom (Isa. 45:6; 59:19; Micah 4:1-2).
v. 12: "but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." - The "sons of the kingdom" is a reference to Jews who saw themselves as the Patriarch's descendants and thus, their heirs. They believed they had a right to God's kingdom based solely on their ancestor's righteousness; however, Jesus turns that idea on its head by announcing that many "sons of the kingdom" would not participate in it, while many gentiles would. Instead, many "sons of the kingdom" will find themselves cast into the "outer darkness," a place where there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth," which were common descriptions of Gehenna-i.e., hell (Matt. 22:13; 25:30; 2 peter 2:17).
v. 13: "And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed that very moment." - Other similar words of Jesus help us understand what He meant when he said He would do for the centurion "as you have believed." The word used for "as" (Gk. hós [hoce]) can also mean 'since' as in "since you believed." Thus, Jesus did not grant his request because the centurion showed faith, but did it in relation to what the centurion "believed," specifically, he expressed belief that Jesus had the power to exercise God's authority. This centurion, who sought the Lord's mercy towards his servant, came to came to Him on the basis of faith, and it is this faith which not only healed the servant, but saved the centurion. This passage tells how both Jews and Gentiles can be saved-by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
APPLICATION-Unconditional Humility and Faith
1. When the centurion came to Jesus, he approached Him with an attitude of complete humility. Although this centurion was himself a man of considerable authority, he showed complete humility when he willingly placed himself under Jesus' authority. The centurion confessed his submission to Jesus' authority when he declared, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof" (v. 8). And even today, the centurion's attitude of unworthiness forms a great model for any person who seeks to establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
2. When the centurion reached out to Jesus for help, He demonstrated unconditional faith by believing in Jesus' power to heal his servant. Although this man asked nothing for himself, he received a double blessing for his faith: His servant was healed and he was saved. Anyone today who approaches Jesus for his mercy and grace must have faith that that He has the power to save them.
So what in the world had happened to this man? We don't know. But there he is in Capernaum; a miracle of God's marvelous grace. And he's a firstfruit and a foreshadow of what Jesus had come to bring about. He was a living illustration that "many [would] come from the east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 8:11).
This centurion is also a reminder to us that "man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). I think we will be surprised someday when Jesus doles out rewards.
1. When the centurion came to Jesus, he approached Him with an attitude of complete humility. Although this centurion was himself a man of considerable authority, he demonstrated complete he humility by placing himself under Jesus' authority.
How different the request of the centurion is from that of the royal official in John 4:46-50. In this case, the official specifically asks Jesus to come to his home to heal his son, who is about to die. The centurion pled with Jesus not to come to his home. There were two reasons for this. First, he was unworthy215 to have Jesus enter his household (Matthew 8:8). Why should he presume to ask Jesus to defile Himself by coming to his home? The second reason is even better: there was no need for Jesus to come to his home. The centurion recognized our Lord's authority. Our Lord's authority was so great that He need not come to his home. He need only speak a word and heal Jesus from a distance.
The centurion was himself a man with a measure of authority. When he ordered men under his command to do something, they did it. The authority of Jesus was infinitely greater. Why should He defile Himself by coming to this man's house when He could heal him from where He stood?
The centurion gets far more than he asks for, and this is a result of his faith, not his authority as a commanding officer in an occupation army. We should remember that this man asked nothing for himself, only for his (Jewish?) servant. And yet he receives two of the finest blessings for which a man could ever hope.
First, the centurion receives the highest praise any man, Jew or Gentile, receives in the Gospels: "I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel!" (verse 10) This Gentile's faith surpasses that of any Jew in Israel, and it receives the commendation of our Lord. Second, this man receives the Lord's promise of inclusion and fellowship that he would never have imagined. The centurion did not consider himself worthy (qualified) to have Jesus pass through his door. But look what Jesus promises him, in response to his faith:
Most importantly, in the context of Matthew's account, it is not one's ethnicity that determines one's eternal destiny, but his faith. John the Baptist made it clear that many Jews would not enter into the kingdom of heaven, but rather into eternal judgment:
This centurion, who sought the Lord's mercy toward his servant, came to Him on the basis of faith, and it is this faith which not only healed the servant, but saved the centurion. Most of those who read this sermon will be Gentiles. This passage (buttressed by later New Testament revelation) tells us how Gentiles (and Jews) can - indeed must - be saved. Are these not the sweetest words we could ever hear? What a wonderful Savior!
