Among the scores of unnamed people in the Bible, we find one who was a high-ranking, powerful man who was actually so humble and full of faith the Jesus healed his servant and praised his faith. That man was the centurion found in Matthew 8:5-13 and in Luke 7:2-10.

Transition

A careful study of these two Gospels accounts yields interesting information about this unnamed centurion and gives us several challenges.

What do we know about this man?

1. He was a Roman captain.
   1. He was a centurion. Centurions were captains over 100 soldiers.
   2. Barnes states, “A centurion was the commander of 100 men in the Roman armies. Judea was a Roman province, and garrisons were kept there to preserve the people in subjection. This man was probably by birth a pagan.”
   3. David Guzik adds, “Most every Jew under Roman occupation felt a reason to hate this centurion, yet he comes to a Jewish teacher, and not for a selfish reason, but on behalf of his servant.”
   4. According to Pulpit Commentary, “It should be observed, by the way, that even the imperial troops stationed in Palestine were drawn, not from distant lands, but from the non-Jewish inhabitants of the country, perhaps especially from Samaritans.”
2. He was a powerful and responsible leader.
   1. No man earned such a rank unless this was true.
   2. His position gave him great power.
3. That being the case, he had a kind heart.
   1. He was generous and pious. He had built the Jews a synagogue (Luke 7:4-5).
   2. This authoritative captain addressed Jesus as “Lord” (v.6)
   3. Thus, we have a man who was Roman by birth, powerful in position, yet tender toward the Jewish people and their faith.
4. He was also compassionate.
   1. He cared for his suffering servant. For the servant, Luke uses the word doulos (slave), but Matthew has pais (child or servant). This may indicate that the servant was young.
   2. His servant suffered intensely and was near death (Luke 7:2).
   3. He desired that Jesus heal his servant.
5. He was humble (v.8; Lu 7:6-8)
   1. Luke tells us that the centurion did not come to Jesus in person, but asked the Jewish elders to make his request (Luke 7:3) and when Jesus neared his home, he sent friends to asked Jesus not to come in but to just say the word to heal (Luke 7:6-8).
   2. He readily admitted that he was not worthy to have Jesus enter his house (v.8).
6. He requested only a healing word (v.8-9)
   1. He asked Jesus to speak the word only to heal.
   2. His reasoning was that he could speak a word to his own servants and know that they would obey, therefore, Jesus, being even more powerful, could do the same thing to the sickness.
7. He had great faith (v.10)
   1. Jesus marvelled at his faith.
   2. He complemented his faith above all the faith in Israel.

How did Jesus respond?

1. Jesus praised his faith as we just noted (v.10)
2. Jesus honoured his faith by healing the sick servant (v.13)
   1. In Matthew, Jesus seems to be speaking directly to the centurion, but not in Luke. Does this contradict? Not really. He likely was speaking to the centurion through those he had sent.
   2. When the friends returned to the house, they found that the servant was fully healed.

What should we learn from this?

1. God honours those who have humility and faith.
   1. God despises competition. He alone is God. He has no just rivals.
   2. He is greatly pleased when His servants (you and me) are humble and not rebellious or puffed-up.
   3. Humility must precede faith.
   4. Faith is acting on trusted information. Before we can trust the Lord, we must acknowledge that he is right.
2. We desperately need to cultivate these two qualities.
   1. We constantly struggle with humility. Our sinful nature likes to think we are better than we are.
   2. We struggle to have faith because we do not humbly see God as absolute sovereign and trustworthy.

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The Unnamed Centurion
8 January 2025 Wed ~ Matthew 8:5-13