The Kingdom Movement

A Literary & Pastoral Study Guide to the Gospel of Matthew

The Inspiration of Matthew,

by Caravaggio

On the King's Errand

Devotional Reflections on Matthew's Gospel

Jesus Heals by His Word:  8:5 – 13

^8:5 And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, imploring him, ⁶ and saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.’ ⁷ Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’ ⁸ But the centurion said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.’ ¹⁰ Now when Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who were following, ‘Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; ¹² but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹³ And Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.’ And the servant was healed that very moment.

          This story follows immediately after the story of the leper, who Jesus healed by his touch.  Lest you be concerned that Jesus is not physically present now, and cannot physically touch you, this story answers that.  In it, Jesus heals from a distance.  He shows that he does not need to physically touch you to touch you.  He doesn’t even have to be in the same vicinity.  He merely has to say the word, and it is done.

          In fact, the Roman centurion shows more understanding of Jesus and Jesus’ power than anyone.  He says, ‘But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man under authority…’  The centurion’s background in military service gives him a helpful lens through which he sees Jesus’ power.  For the centurion, as for Jesus, power is shown in verbal commands.  Jesus just needs to speak for something to happen.  Jesus doesn’t need to touch the poor guy.  He doesn’t even need to be in the same place.  No one else has understood this about Jesus yet.

Furthermore, the Roman centurion recognizes where Jesus’ power comes from.  How does he do that?  He recognizes that Jesus is under authority.  The centurion says, ‘I also am a man under authority.’  The centurion recognizes that Jesus is also under authority just as he is.  Under whose authority?  The God of Israel, the God who spoke creation into being, who works by His word.  By recognizing Jesus’ authority, the centurion is also recognizing the authority of the God of Israel who has given His power to Jesus.  In essence, this Roman is sincerely respectful of the God of Israel, despite being a foreign occupier.

In the military, when an officer gives a command, his authority is imparted to the subordinate.  The subordinate is not just placed under obligation to do the task, although that’s a part of it.  The subordinate is given the authority to do the task.  The subordinate can go get whatever he or she needs to carry it out.  Power, when obeyed, is imparted all the way down the chain.  The centurion’s statement suggests that when Jesus issues a command, those whom he commands are not merely placed under obligation to carry out the command; they are given the power to do so.  This is a revolutionary insight.  Only say the word, because your word contains your power. 

         Once again, the proximity of this story to the Sermon on the Mount (5:1 – 7:28) must be considered.  When Jesus calls us to deal with our heart level problems with anger, lust, hatred for enemies, desire for public approval, materialism, anxiety, and judgmentalism, he is healing us of sin.  His word is authoritative, not merely in the sense that he can tell us what to do, but that he empowers us to do what he tells us. 

         I can list countless people who have found Jesus to give them his power to carry out his teaching.  In his book, Strength to Love, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. writes about coming to Montgomery to lead the bus boycott.  Right after the protest, King and his wife got all kinds of phone calls and letters threatening their lives.  After one such phone call, King says, “I hung up, but I could not sleep.  It seemed that all of my fears had come down on me at once.  I had reached the saturation point.  I got out of bed and began to walk the floor.  Finally, I went to the kitchen and heated a pot of coffee.  I was ready to give up.  I tried to think of a way to move out of the picture without appearing to be a coward.  In this state of exhaustion, when my courage had almost gone, I determined to take my problem to [Jesus].  My head in my hands, I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud, “…The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter.  I am at the end of my powers.  I have nothing left…”  At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never before experienced him.  It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice, saying, “Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth.  God will be at your side forever.”  …Three nights later, our home was bombed.  Strangely enough, I accepted the word of the bombing calmly.  My experience with [Jesus] had given me a new strength and trust.  I knew now that [Jesus] is able to give us the interior resources to face the storms and problems of this life.”  (Martin Luther King, Jr., “Our God is Able”, Strength to Love)