All true Miracles are rooted in faith, but the healing of the centurion’s slave is especially noteworthy. This miracle entwines several extraordinary circumstances that are not duplicated anywhere else in the ministry of Christ. The narrative evokes a poignant, yet powerful, message of hope that should brighten our darkest hours and fill our hearts with the deepest devotion and praise for the grace and mercy that has been made available to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Capernaum
The story begins with Jesus returning to Capernaum, a city that had become his hometown. It is very likely that Jesus owned a home in Capernaum (see Matt. 4:13 & Mark 2:1, see NI V, NAS), which would be a reasonable necessity for a carpenter if he was to practice his trade. Of course, this work is what Jesus did prior to commencing his ministry once he was baptized by his cousin, John. The absence of any mention of his father, Joseph, after the incident of Jesus disputing with the elders in the temple at Jerusalem at the age of 12, is generally considered to indicate Mary was eventually widowed. If this suggestion is correct, her eldest son was the responsible breadwinner in the family and Capernaum was a far more fruitful place for business than was little Nazareth. The filial care of Jesus for his mother, as head of the family in the absence of Joseph, is reinforced by the words he spoke from the cross when he placed his mother’s care in the hands of John the apostle. As a homeowner, businessman, and head of family, Jesus was probably very well known in Capernaum by both Jews and Gentiles.
Capernaum became the center of Jesus’ preaching efforts in the early part of his ministry. When the elders of the synagogue came out to beseech Jesus on behalf of the centurion, it is reasonable to assume Jesus was quite familiar both with them and the Gentile whose case they pleaded.
One synagogue per city
Archeological evidence has uncovered a synagogue in that city. This appears to be the one unique place in Capernaum where Jews met and worshiped. This uniqueness was indeed almost always the case in the ancient world. Both by community culture, and for reasons of limited capital, only one synagogue served a city and this pattern continued with the first-century ecclesia. We do not hear of Paul writing a letter to the Ephesian Main Street Ecclesia as opposed to the one on Socrates Lane! Indeed, even in so large a city as Jerusalem, we have mention of only one “church.” The pattern was one of a single place of worship in a community.
This is completely in keeping with the one temple and the anathema that is associated over and over in the Old Testament with attempts to set up competing places of worship anywhere else. There is much to be said for a single place of worship in a particular community. Such an arrangement provides strength and breath of fellowship, the ability to have a critical mass of workers for the various ecclesial tasks, and, most of all, it enforces a sense of community by all in one place, learning to work together regardless of personalities and temperaments. It is particularly sad to see places where two or more small groups of brethren and sisters reside yet they do not regularly worship together, for whatever reasons. Such cannot be the mind of Christ.
Unfortunately, given the distances, travel difficulties and enormous populations of cities in the world today, it is obviously not practical to have only one ecclesia in a particular city. With modern circumstances as they are, ecclesias could grow so large there would not be enough work for each individual to do that would foster their spiritual development. Nevertheless, let each ecclesia that does exist, be certain that its existence is for legitimate geographic reasons and not because of pride, personalities, doctrinal differences, or cultural affinities.
An exceptional Gentile
In Capernaum, the synagogue was built by a Gentile, a military man at that; he was a person no doubt known by all the Jews in that city. It would certainly be extraordinary if a “Gentile” offered to build a Christadelphian Hall for an ecclesia today and it was equally unusual in the first century. Recall that when Peter was sent to baptize the Gentile, Cornelius, he had to be persuaded to do so by a special vision from the Lord God. The Centurion must have been a “proselyte of the gate;” that is, he sat at the door of the synagogue and listened to the services but did not participate directly in any way. There were many Gentiles who were attracted to Judaism at the time of our Lord’s ministry but they did not want to submit to circumcision. It has also been speculated that this centurion was the same Cornelius later baptized at Joppa by Peter. Even though Joppa and Capernaum are some 100 miles apart, it is nevertheless entirely feasible that this was the case. It was the practice in the Roman legions to regularly rotate centurions to different posts. It was also true that rarely did an individual rise above the rank of centurion (higher ranks being reserved for Roman nobility). The repeated reposing to different places was one way of assuring the emperor that the loyalty bond between centurion and his legionnaires did not become so strong that it could lead to undue power and influence which could be used against Caesar.
Regardless of his specific identification, we can be assured that the centurion who came to Jesus pleading for his slave was a most unusual man. Remarkably, even though Jesus said he was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24), in this case our Master makes a major exception.
To the rigid-minded person this is inexplicable, but even the Jewish elders in Capernaum understood this centurion was worthy of exceptional treatment. Let us not be caught in our own patterns of rigidity. It is rare indeed that we can persuade someone of the righteousness of our cause when they see neither love nor concern for one another in our hearts. The love of the centurion for his slave was abundantly evident. Hence the character of the centurion spoke for itself, and when Jesus responded he did not tell him: I’m sorry I cannot help you because you are a Gentile!
Minor difference in two accounts
The gospel records two apparently different scenarios of how Jesus Christ was approached with the request for healing the centurion’s slave. The Matthew account has the centurion coming to Jesus directly, while the Luke story states he sent the “elders of the Jews” to plead his case for him.
Bible critics, who obviously have too much time on their hands, make much of such trivial textual anomalies. The fact is that probably both accounts are correct. The key lies in the words the centurion speaks in Matthew 8:9, For I am a man under authority…I say to this man go and he goeth. If the Jews went on his behalf, it was as good as if he went himself and later accounts could easily blur the fine difference.
We need not trouble ourselves further with exactly how Jesus was approached to perform this miracle. Instead, let us again reflect on the character of this remarkable man which led to the Jews’ pleading on his behalf. In a most unexpected manner, they acted on behalf of a military authority who was the embodiment of the Roman power which had enslaved them.
The slave
The actions of the centurion were unprecedented; indeed few centurions would have been concerned at all about the fate of a slave. A slave was the bounty of war, and considered chattel; if one died it was usually of no consequence to a hardened combat veteran. Slaves were easily replaceable and not something that any ordinary Roman centurion would have humbled himself, and to a Jew no less, to seek help.
The servant was sick with “palsy” which is a contraction of the word “paralysis.” The form of the disease this slave had is said to be where the limbs remain immovably fixed in the same position as when seized by it, and the person seems like suffering torture. It is frequently followed in a few days by death. Obviously in this condition there was absolutely no way this slave could have gone out to Jesus to plead for his own cause; it would have been difficult even for others to move him at all. The urgent action of his master, the centurion, was all that stood between him and death.
Christ acts on Centurion’s faith
Jesus responds immediately to the petition: I will come and heal him (Matt. 8:7). There was not the least equivocation. Not only did Jesus respond to the plea of a Gentile, but without a doubt the slave was also a Gentile. If this were not the case, it would be hard to explain the esteem in which the elders of the synagogue at Capernaum held this centurion.
The response of the centurion completely surprises us; instead of saying “let us hurry to my home to see my slave,” he completely humbles himself and says to a Jew: I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof! (Matt. 8:8). Imagine a centurion saying he was unworthy of the presence of a Jew in his home. This extraordinary display of humility is immediately followed by one of the most powerful demonstrations of faith in scripture: Speak the word only and my servant shall be healed
Here we have the faith of one person acting on behalf of another. We are told nothing whatsoever of the faith that the servant may or may not have possessed. Also, Jesus does not make any inquiry either; our Lord does not ask whether or not the slave is even a believer in God. For all we know he could have been a complete pagan, as most all slaves were at that time.
It is a powerful demonstration for us of the graciousness of the Lord and reminds us that our faith can have consequences for others regardless of their own state of mind. That is why we should pray without ceasing for those we love who are in need of the healing power of our Lord, for the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16). We are very much like the slave of the centurion. We are often afflicted and weary and metaphorically, or even literally, home in our sick bed. We can not see our Lord Jesus in the flesh; he is off in another place at the right hand of his Father. Yet if he would but speak the word, we would be healed. If we only had the faith of the centurion! It was a faith Jesus marveled at and testified that he had not found so great faith, no, not in Israel (Matt. 8:10).
Remarkable unbelief of the elders
Ironically, even as Jesus had found such great faith in his hometown in a Gentile, the same was not true in his compatriots. The miracle of healing the centurion’s slave had not apparently touched the hearts of the very elders who had come to beseech Jesus on his behalf. Jesus performed scores of other miracles in Capernaum and its vicinity, also with little apparent effect on the inhabitants of that city. As a result, Jesus make a chilling pronouncement upon Capernaum: And thou Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell, for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day (Matt.11:23).
But we believe
Fortunately, the blindness of heart that afflicted the citizens of Capernaum saddens us, but does not shake our faith. The miracles Jesus performed still live in our hearts and minds today. As we see the events unfolding in these latter days, the same keen anticipation that must have been felt by the faithful in the first century strengthens us, too. Even so, we look forward to that day, near at hand, when our Lord Jesus Christ will come and all the cares and sorrows of this life will be cured miraculously when he speaks but the Word: But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings (Mal. 4:2).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One