The Centurion
As I was reading in Luke this week, a particular story caught my attention. The first part of chapter 7 tells the story of a centurion whose servant was very sick and near death and how he had faith that Jesus could heal him.
Luke 7:3-10
“The centurion heard about Jesus, and sent some Jewish elders to him, to ask him to come and rescue his slave. They approached Jesus and begged him eagerly. ‘He deserves a favor like this from you,’ they said. ‘He loves our people and built us our synagogue.’
Jesus went with them.
When he was not far off from the house, the centurion sent friends to him with a further message. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘don’t trouble yourself. I don’t deserve to have you come under my roof. That’s why I didn’t think myself worthy to come to you in person. But - just say the word - and my slave will be healed. You see, I’m used to living under authority, and I have soldiers reporting to me. I say to this one, “Go,” and he goes; to another one, “Come,” and he comes; and to my slave, “Do this,” and he does it.’
When Jesus heard this he was astonished.
‘Let me tell you,’ he said, turning to the crowd that was following him, ‘I haven’t found faith of this kind, even in Israel.’ The people who had been sent to him went back to the house. There they found the slave in good health.
I realized as I was reading, that this narrative sounded a bit different than what I imagine when I think of it.
In my imagining, the centurion came to Jesus to ask him to heal his servant. I wondered why I was remembering the story differently. So I made my way to Matthew and reread the story there.
Matthew 8:5-13
Jesus went into Capernaum. A centurion came up and pleaded with him. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘my servant is lying at home, paralyzed. He’s in a very bad state.’
‘I’ll come and make him better,’ said Jesus.
‘Master,’ replied the centurion, ‘I don’t deserve to have you come under my roof! Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. I know what authority’s all about, you know - I’ve got soldiers answering to me, and I can say to one of them, “Go!” and he goes, and to another one, “Come here!” and he comes, and I can say, “Do this,” to my slave and he does it!’
Jesus was fair amazed when he heard this.
‘I’m telling you the truth,’ he said to the people who were following. ‘I haven’t found faith like this - not even in Israel! Let me tell you this: lots of people will come from the East and West and join the great party of celebration with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness, where people will weep and gnash their teeth.’
Then he turned to the centurion. ‘Go home,’ he said. ‘Let it be for you as you believed.’ And his servant was healed at that very moment.
So, I don’t know about you, but this account from Matthew is more commonly the one I hear talked about - and it is definitely the one the picture in my mind is formed around. It got me curious as to why Matthew and Luke might have told this story with such different details.
In Luke, we hear the story from the view of the centurion sending Jewish elders on his behalf, advocates saying here is why we think you should help this Roman centurion. He has taken care of us and even built our synagogue. Please heal his servant.
Jesus seems moved by their story and goes with them to his house. But before arriving, the centurion sends out some more friends to say, please don’t go to any trouble - I don’t deserve you under my roof.
In this version of the story, I wonder how close Jesus got to the centurion’s house. Was he on the path, walking up to the door? Could the centurion see him? Could he hear him when he expressed his astonishment at his faith?
It feels as if Luke focuses on the part of the story that identifies the centurion as other. He was a Roman. He wasn’t a Jew. And yet, it is a glimpse into what was to come - the day when Gentiles would be grafted into the family of God.
Jesus acknowledges the centurion’s great faith.
N.T. Wright shares these words about the centurion, “For all his lack of appropriate religious background, he had grasped the very centre of the Jewish faith: that the one true God, the God of Israel, was the sovereign one, the Lord of heaven and earth. And he had grasped it in its shocking new form: this one true God was personally present and active in Jesus of Nazareth.”
The centurion understood what many in Israel couldn’t grasp: Jesus had the authority to heal his servant, and he didn’t even need to be in his house to do it!
Matthew tells us this story as if the centurion came to Jesus directly and asked for his help. I wonder if Matthew didn’t go into the same detail as Luke because he was getting at a different point. The centurion was a Roman, and yet Jesus is saying in front of everyone, many people from the East and the West are going to make their way into the family of God, but there are those in Israel who don’t understand who I am or the authority I have who are going to miss the celebration.
I wonder if Matthew simplified it down so that he could focus more on Jesus’s response.
As I sat with these two different versions of the same story, I thought about how we tell stories and how each person telling the story focuses on various details.
Matthew is writing to one audience. Luke to another. And we are in the future reading both narratives simultaneously.
Both narratives tell us of a centurion that understands who Jesus is and the power that he has. Both narratives tell us about Jesus and how he marvels at this man’s understanding of his power and authority. Both tell us the servant was healed. Luke’s narrative tells us more about those advocating for the centurion, and Matthew’s tells us more about how Jesus responded to his kinsmen.
When we weave these narratives together, we end up with a bigger picture of what happened that day. We might also end up with more or different questions.
I’m curious - what similarities and differences did you notice in these passages? What questions do these narratives about the centurion bring to the surface for you?
~ Melissa