Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!

 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."  And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."  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.  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."  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!  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.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  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.

Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever.  So He touched her hand, and the fever left her.  And she arose and served them.  When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.  And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

"He Himself took our infirmities
And bore our sicknesses."

- Matthew 8:5-17

Yesterday we read that when Jesus had ended His Sermon on the Mount, the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.  And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."  And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."   A centurion was a commander over 100 men in a Roman legion.  Of course, the centurion is a Gentile.  My study bible says that Jesus is the Savior of all, and in Him ethnic distinctions are void.  I will come has also been frequently understood by Greek scholars to be a question:  "Shall I come?"  Regardless of its proper reading, Jesus is ready to deal graciously with this Gentile, my study bible points out.  Jesus even is ready to enter his home, which would make Him unclean in the eyes of the Jews.  See yesterday's reading, above, in which Jesus touched the leper in order to heal him.

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.  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."  The Romans rule over the Jews as colonizers.  Furthermore, within the strict hierarchy of this soldier's life there is loyalty only to Caesar.  But here this centurion expresses unusual faith in that he calls Jesus, a Jew, Lord.  In liturgical texts, his statement, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof," is frequently quoted as an ideal expression of humility.

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!  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.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  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.  There are two times in the Gospels when it's said that Jesus marveled:  at the unbelief in His hometown of Nazareth (Mark 6:6), and at the belief of this foreigner, the centurion.  We note also that in His statement He nullifies any ideas of ethnic superiority.  The rejected sons of the kingdom, my study bible notes, are both the Jews who deny Christ and those raised in the Church who do not live their faith; outer darkness and weeping and gnashing are descriptions of the state of the unrighteous dead in Sheol (Hades) in the Jewish tradition (Enoch 103:8).  These are common expressions in Matthew (13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30), and they also occur in Luke (Luke 13:28).

Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever.  So He touched her hand, and the fever left her.  And she arose and served them.  When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.  And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."  This passage and 1 Corinthians 9:5, in which Peter is called Cephas) tell us that Peter was married.  My study bible notes that Christ's healing miracles are diverse.  Here He heals by touch.  In verse 13 (above, in the healing of the centurion's servant), He heals by a word.  This healing of Peter's mother-in-law is immediate and complete, while others are gradual (Mark 8:22-25) or they require the cooperation of the person healed or of his or her loved ones (Luke 8:54-55).  As the quotation indicates, all of Christ's miracles manifest His redemption of ailing humanity.  The prophecy fulfilled is from Isaiah 53:4.

It's interesting that the centurion is a man who clearly understands and knows power and authority, especially in a worldly sense.   It's remarkable that he states that "I am also a man under authority," in responding to Christ.  Therefore his recognition of the authority in Christ is complete, absolute in some sense, as he compares himself to Christ in clear recognition of Christ's commanding authority.  It's remarkable because, of course, the one thing people truly take away from the Sermon on the Mount is the fact that Jesus speaks with authority, and not as the scribes.  In fact, the text tells us that it is at this that the people are astonished.  Jesus marvels because the centurion understands Him in ways that Jesus has not found in all of Israel.  The Greek word for faith has at its root the meaning of "trust."  And the centurion has full confidence in Christ, full trust.  As a man under authority, who understands authority and commanding power, he is willing to put his full trust in Christ, absolute confidence.  There is a kind of recognition that happens here, and it is a recognition that shatters assumptions about ethnicity and tribe and group.  We can  see in the centurion the Gentiles who will turn to Christ as Lord in the Church.   While the Gospels generally show state power as opposed to the work of God, what we see here is a man of the state, a servant and commander in his own right, with a  heart that has been given over in complete trust to Christ.  It teaches us that whatever our skills and knowledge, all will be used in service to what it is that we love or trust, and put our faith into.  In service to Christ, there is nothing lost.  Rather, all is healed, put in right order, given its proper place, and the centurion stands as one who embodies this great strength and redemption.  It is not simply his servant who is healed, but also the centurion who stands as an example of authority under obedience to the One who is King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).  The centurion can recognize what others cannot, and his life experience is rendered in service to faith in Christ, and to the Gospel.   Jesus will say of Himself, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind" (John 9:39).   May we also be able to see as did the centurion.