5 As he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him
Jesus enters Capernaum the main home base of his ministry, this is also where Peter’s home is located. Capernaum (modern-day Kfar Nahum) was situated along the Via Maris, a major trade route connecting Egypt and Mesopotamia and therefore a bustling hub of commerce. Despite its residents being mainly Jewish in the first century, its economic productivity invited in a lot of Hellenistic and Roman influence. It had a major synagogue and a customs station where Romans collected their taxes as Capernaum was under their jurisdiction.
A centurion, a mid-ranking officer in the Roman army, typically in charge of up to a hundred men hence the name, approaches Jesus, “beseeching him” or parakaleo in Greek which according to other writings of the relevant period basically means to “call to ones side with purpose”. This gives the impression that the centurion is calling Jesus aside privately.
6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress.”
The Roman Officer calls Jesus “Lord” Kyrios in Greek which has divine implications. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures which is quoted over 80% of the time in the New Testament uses this word to refer to God. So the centurion recognises great authority in Jesus which is likely why he think he can help him.
He tells Jesus that his servant is paralyzed and in terrible distress. A curious word is used for servant in the Greek, Matthew chose pais, typically doulos or diakonos is used, the former leaning more toward slave and the latter leaning more toward someone who does service. Pais on the other hand has its primary meaning in a young child with its secondary meaning in a servant who has a personal relationship with their master.
By using this word Matthew is giving the reader the relationship between the centurion and his servant, they are very close. Some servants would work their entire lives for one master so they would become almost like a member of the family, this seems to be the case between the centurion and his servant and why he was so determined for Jesus to heal him.
7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
Jesus tells the centurion he will come and heal him. When Jesus says “I will come” the Greek word is erchomai which earlier in Matthew’s Gospel focuses on the coming to worship the baby Jesus and later is integral in the discussions on the coming of Kingdom of God so despite it being a common word it holds a lot of gravity when it comes to the movements of Jesus in his ministry.
The word for “heal” is therapeuō , it means to serve or to heal someone. It is the origin of our English word “therapy”.
Some translations actually have this response by Jesus proposed as a question “Shall I come and heal him?”. The tone is suddenly shifted if this is the case and might make some sense when we look deeper at the context. A pagan gentile is approaching a Jew asking him for help for his servant at his home. To enter a gentile’s home as a Jew was extremely scandalous because of the covenantal nature of the family house. There is no punctuation in the original Greek manuscripts so this is an interesting test case of translation editorship having a large effect on the tone of the interaction.
8 But the centurion answered him, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.
The centurion responds to Jesus, once again calling him Kyrios and humbly states he is not even worthy enough for Jesus to enter his home. This is a stark contrast to how Jesus’ fellow Jews have and will treat him during his ministry.
The officers continues “but only say the word, and my servant will be healed”. First of all this phrase should sound very familiar as a variation of it is said at every single Mass but secondly the Greek word Logos is used. Logos encompasses thought, reason, principle, message, and creative power, while “word” is a simple linguistic unit. Considering the Centurion is asking for a miraculous healing from a man he calls Kyrios, it is VERY unlikely that he is not using this with a divine implication.
9 For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
The Centurion continues with an explanation of why he thinks Jesus is able to do what he is requesting. He points out his position as a mid-ranking officer and that he is under authority which dictates his actions, he has soldiers under him whom he can give orders to and he also has slaves that he can order to do things and they do it. He believes that in the same way that this hierarchy functions, so does Jesus’ words. He believes that exactly as he can command a soldier to do something, Jesus can command the very reality around him.
This is a profound notion for anyone to realise but especially a gentile. The Jews had Yahweh and believed he had complete command over the universe but Gentiles did not have gods that had such abilities. This Centurion has crossed the Rubicon but skipped past the Jews and realised Jesus himself is Yahweh so he believes he can do only what Yahweh can do. If this seems like a leap, to reiterate, the officer has called Jesus, Kyrios , TWICE by this point.
10 When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.
After hearing what the Centurion had to say, Jesus “marveled” at him, he expresses amazement at what the man has said. Jesus then turns to those who were following him and told them “Amen I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith”. The chosen people were the most prepared for the messiah, they have been hand moulded so to speak by God himself for Millennia in order to reach this point but its a Gentile with no such preparation who makes such a large leap of faith to recognise God in Jesus.
11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
Jesus uses this entire interaction, which he likely planned from the start as a teaching opportunity to demonstrate to his followers that the Kingdom of Heaven, where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (the early patriarchs of the Hebrews) sit at the divine wedding banquet will be open to Gentiles with faith such as this as well as to the Jews. He says many will come from East and West, the entire world will be invited and the fact the Centurion could recognise Yahweh in the flesh proves this to be possible.
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