The Centurion's Servant (8:5-13).
Jesus' first miracle had been on one who was skin-diseased, an outcast from society, one who was unclean and rendered all who came in contact with him as unclean. And he was made clean by Jesus' word of authority and power combined with His touch. The second will be on one living in an unclean household, the servant of a Gentile who was a centurion. Centurions, who were theoretically in charge of one hundred men, although more realistically around sixty, were important and respected figures. There would be about sixty centurions to a Roman legion. They were hardened fighters and formed the backbone of the Roman armies, which held the Empire under their control. And they were therefore in positions of considerable authority. That authority would be unquestioned by their men. It would also be held in awe by others. You did not mess around with a centurion. They could demand obedience in the name of Caesar, and one word from him could have devastating consequences for those involved. There was no better living example of a kind of authority which was in direct contact with the people. He did not hide in palaces. He met the people face too face.
There were, however, no permanent Roman legions in Galilee, but a kind of standing army set up by Herod Antipas made up of local auxiliaries, recruited mainly from the Gentile areas around. They were auxiliary legions. The centurion may have been a member of one of these auxiliary legions, or he might even have been a delegate from the emperor (through one of his generals) sent to assist in the control of the area. But this one believed in the God of Israel (Luke tells us that he had actually from his own pocket built a synagogue for the Jews), and the fact that he was a good and moral man (which had probably been what attracted him to Judaism and its Law) comes out in his concern for his slave. For slaves were seen as no more important than cattle or tools. They were ‘chattels'. But this good man was concerned about the suffering of his slave.
One thing especially we should note about this story. In it the centurion passes his verdict on Jesus. He declares Him to have supreme authority over disease as One Who is under God. He is declaring his recognition that they Kingly Rule of Heaven was present in Jesus. The irony of this lies in the fact that at the end of this section the Pharisees, who were supposed to be serving God, will declare Jesus' authority as coming from the prince of demons. The eyes of a blind Gentile have been opened, and the eyes of those who are supposed to see are revealed as blind.
(This account is paralleled in Luke. Thus it appears in the material common to Matthew and Luke, which is rare for narrative material. It therefore does not fit in with the idea that that source, if it was one source, was a ‘sayings' source. As that source, often called Q, is doubtful on other grounds its whole existence as a single source is thus thrown into question).
Analysis of Matthew 8:5-13.
a And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented” And he says to him, “I will come and heal him” (Matthew 8:5-7).
b And the centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed” (Matthew 8:8).
c “For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers, 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 (Matthew 8:9).
d And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them those who followed, “Truly I say to you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (Matthew 8:10).
c And I say to you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingly Rule of heaven, but the sons of the Kingly Rule will be cast forth into the outer darkness. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11-12).
b And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. As you have believed, so be it done to you (Matthew 8:13 a).
a And the servant was healed in that hour (Matthew 8:13 b).
Note that in ‘a' comes the circumstances and the request for healing, while in the parallel we learn that he was accordingly healed. In ‘b' the centurion reveals his faith, and in the parallel Jesus answers according to his faith. In ‘c' we have the commands to ‘come' and ‘go' and ‘do this' within the centurion's sphere of authority, and in the parallel many ‘come', and many are ‘sent away', and many ‘sit down' (do this) with Abraham and the patriarchs within the sphere of God's authority, His Kingly Rule. Finally and centrally in ‘d' is the stress on the greatness of the centurion's faith that made even Jesus marvel.