Matthew 8:6 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

My servant. — The Greek word might mean either “servant” or “boy.” The former meaning is the more common, and is fixed as the meaning here by St. Luke’s use of the word which means strictly “slave.” He is described as paralysed, but the words “grievously tormented” point to more acute suffering than is common in that form of disease, and imply either something like rheumatic fever, or tetanus, or the special kind of paralysis which benumbs the muscles only, and affects the nerves of sensation with sharp pain. A like case of paralysis with agonising pain is found in 1Ma. 9:55-56. The fact that this suffering touched his master’s heart with pity was itself a sign of something exceptionally good in the centurion’s character. It was not thus, for the most part, that the wealthy Romans dealt with their slaves when they were sick. St. Luke does not state the nature of the disease, perhaps as not having been able to satisfy himself as to its precise nature, but simply describes the slave as “ill, and at the point to die,” and adds that he was “dear” (literally, precious) to his master. His narrative states further that the centurion sent the elders, “having heard of Jesus.” The report had obviously been such as to lead him to look on the Teacher as endowed with a supernatural power. It may have come from the elders of the synagogue themselves; but the facts of the case make it probable that he had heard specifically of the healing of the “nobleman’s son” at Capernaum recorded by St. John (John 4:46-54). There he had found a precedent which now determined his own line of action, showing that a word from those lips might be enough to heal without touch or even presence.