Matthew 8:5-9

Matthew 8:5-9

And after He entered into Capernaum, a centurion approached near to Him while earnestly entreating Him and while saying, “Lord, my personal slave has dropped down paralyzed in the house – tormented terribly.  And He says to him, “After I come, I will heal him.”  And after answering, the centurion was saying, “Lord, I am not worthy in order that you should come under my roof.  But only speak a word and my servant will be made well.  For I also am a man under authority while having soldiers under myself.  And I say to these, “Be gone,” and he goes away.  And to another I also say, “Come,” and he comes.  And to my slave I say, “Do this,” and he does.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

There is something neat about the stories of the centurions of the Bible.  Every single centurion mentioned in the Bible is spoken of honorably.*  This is interesting for a number of reasons.  First of all, at the time of Jesus the Roman occupation was hated among the Jewish people.  It says something that every mention of the common leaders of an occupying force would be uniformly honored.  Furthermore, the centurions formed the backbone of command in the Roman army.  They were the ones who disseminated orders to the soldiers.  They were the ones who had direct contact with the superiors and the conscripted footmen.  It says something that the Bible would choose to lift up the hard-working middlemen.  Whenever the centurions are mentioned we are reminded of the strong, steady, and faithful people in the world who often go through life without recognition but whom God clearly knows and acknowledges.

Have you ever noticed the love that the centurions get in the New Testament?  Do you think it odd that the Bible should have such a uniformly positive message regarding the backbone of an opposing force to the Jews?  Who in your life are the hard-working, strong, and steady people that are often ignored or disliked by the people around you but who truly deserve your respect and admiration?

* The other centurion stories are:

• The centurion at the cross who confesses that “surely this man was the Son of God” in Matthew 27:45,
• Cornelius, who Peter baptizes in Acts 10 and becomes the first Gentiles to be embraced by the followers of Christ without having to first become Jews,
• The centurion of Acts 22 who saves Paul from the angry mob in Jerusalem,
• The centurion of Acts 23 who listens to the son of Paul’s sister and gets Paul out of Jerusalem safely,
• The centurion who accompanies Paul to Rome in Acts 27 and who appears to greatly respect Paul as a person.

Second Thought:

I love the compassion of this centurion.  He is concerned about his slave.  In fact, the word used in the passage isn’t the normal word for slave.  This is an intimate word used for a slave that was much more personal in nature.  It wasn’t simply someone whom the centurion ordered around.  This would be the slave who attended to his needs and who probably oversaw the affairs of the centurion’s life that were too mundane to require the centurion’s attention.  But the centurion didn’t have to care.  There were probably plenty of slaves who would have readily stepped up into the position of the fallen slave if given the opportunity.  So the centurion displays great compassion for coming to Jesus regarding a slave that technically was easily replaced.  Here we find that the Bible desires us to see this person who was the backbone of the occupational army as someone who was unexpectedly compassionate.  This centurion was not someone worthy of a generalized stereotype.  This centurion had a heart.  He had love.  He had a completely unexpected character.

Have you ever been surprised to find character where you would not have expected it?  If so, where?  Have you ever loved someone that you didn’t need to?  Why would you do such a thing?  How does this give us insight into the centurion?

Third Thought:

In this centurion we also find a man who understands authority.  (We’ll get to his faith tomorrow).  The centurion knows what it is like to be under authority as well as to have authority.  He knows what it is like to have another’s authority extended through him.  The centurion would know what it felt like to have the authority of the leaders of the Roman army poured into and through him.  He understands the position of Jesus.  He understands that Jesus is under the authority of the Father but clearly Jesus also has authority over the world.  The centurion can know this part of Jesus well.  In this the centurion finds camaraderie in Jesus.

Do you understand what it is like to be in a position of authority?  Do you understand what it is like to have someone else’s authority poured through you?  How do you respond to the people around you that have authority poured through them?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 8:10-13