When
he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him, and saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel. I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 8:5-12
Matthew 8 [3.] Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Jesus said to him, “See that you tell nobody, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Matthew 8 [5.] When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him, and saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.”
Matthew 8 [7.] Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
Matthew 8 [8.] The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Matthew 8 [10.] When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel. I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” His servant was healed in that hour.
Matthew 8 [14.] When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and served him. When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.” Now when Jesus saw great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side.
Meaning:
After cleansing a leper (Matthew 8:1-4), Jesus returns to Capernaum, the lakeside town that had become his base in Galilee. There a Roman centurion asks him to heal his servant. The man’s faith so impresses Jesus that he holds him up as an example to Israel, and he announces that people from every nation will share in the Kingdom of Heaven.
- “A centurion came to him”
A centurion was an army officer commanding about a hundred soldiers. He was a Gentile and represented foreign power. Yet this officer cared for his suffering servant and came humbly to a Jewish teacher for help. He addressed Jesus as “Lord.”
- “I will come and heal him”
Jesus responds at once. A devout Jew would normally avoid entering a Gentile home, because it made him ceremonially unclean. Jesus was willing to go, just as he had been willing to touch the leper.
- “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof”
The centurion’s humility is striking. He also understood authority. As an officer he gave orders and they were obeyed without his being present. He believed Jesus had the same kind of authority over sickness: “Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” The psalm says of God, “He sends his word, and heals them” (Psalm 107:20).
- “I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel”
Only twice do the Gospels say that Jesus marveled: here at a Gentile’s faith, and in Nazareth at his own people’s unbelief (Mark 6:6). Israel had the Scriptures, the promises and the temple, yet a Roman soldier showed greater trust. Faith is not a matter of nationality or background, but of trusting Jesus’ word.
- “Many will come from the east and the west”
Jesus uses the picture of a great feast, the banquet of the Kingdom. Isaiah had foretold that on God’s mountain “Yahweh of Armies will make all peoples a feast of fat things” and “will wipe away tears from off all faces” (Isaiah 25:6-8). The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be there, and Gentiles from every direction will sit with them. God had said of his Servant, “I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).
- “The children of the Kingdom will be thrown out”
This was a shocking warning. Those who assumed they belonged by birth, the people of Israel, could be excluded if they rejected the King. “Outer darkness” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” describe the grief and anguish of being shut out from the light and joy of the feast. Belonging to God’s people is a matter of faith, not ancestry.
The Significance of Matthew 8:5-12
- Faith that takes Jesus at his word
The centurion believed that Jesus’ word was enough. Believers today are called to the same faith, trusting the promises of Christ without seeing the outcome first. Jesus’ answer and the healing follow in the next verse (Matthew 8:13).
- A Kingdom for all nations
This account anticipates the gospel going to the Gentiles. Years later Peter, in the house of another centurion, said, “Truly I perceive that God doesn’t show favoritism; but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34-35). No one is too far from God to come to Christ.
Cross-References:
Matthew 8:13: "Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed." The servant healed.
Psalm 107:20: "He sends his word, and heals them," God’s healing word.
Isaiah 49:6: "I will also give you as a light to the nations," Salvation for the Gentiles.
Conclusion: In Matthew 8:5-12 a Roman centurion asks Jesus to heal his servant and humbly says that a word from Jesus is enough. Jesus marvels at his faith, greater than any he had found in Israel, and declares that many from east and west will feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom, while those who rely on their heritage may be shut out. The passage celebrates humble faith and the welcome of all nations into God’s Kingdom.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible