§ 8. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee Continued

This man knows the word of a true authority gets things done.

Isaiah 55:10–11

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

The centurion's observation is critical.

• He first sees a pattern of authority in his own life and work.
• Then, he understands that Jesus has authority in the spiritual realm.
• Finally, he draws the conclusion that Jesus can make things happen with His authoritative word.

And Jesus calls it "faith"!

The Greek for "marvel" (θαυμάζω) indicates a real wonder, an event that defies explanation. It occurs many times in Matthew and the rest of the New Testament, but the next occurrence suffices for getting its meaning across:

Matthew 8:26–27

…Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?”

Jesus began to say this "to those who followed Him," meaning the Jews, and the saying ends in the 12th verse. The saying runs counter to expectation; if anyone has faith, shouldn't it be an Israelite?

Several Old Testament passages describe gathering up Israel from distant lands. But this saying of Jesus makes clear that people will come to God from all over the world, not just from Israel.

The passage below from Zechariah is particularly suitable for comparison here. Zechariah writes while Judah is still in Babylonian captivity and Jerusalem lies in ruins. While other passages specifically mention the people of Israel, here the Lord distinguishes "this people" to whom He is speaking from "My people" whom He will call. God even repeats a phrase that indicates a new beginning: "they shall be my people, and I will be their God."

Zechariah 8:3, 6–8

Thus says the LORD: I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain.
…
Thus says the LORD of hosts: If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my sight, declares the LORD of hosts? Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.

Jesus's reference to Abraham is rather pointed. These who were following Him would have considered themselves the children of Abraham (as opposed to the rest of the nations of earth). But Christ here continues a line of reasoning first introduced by John the baptist: God is not limited to giving Abraham children by the natural process.

Matthew 3:9

And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Ironically, Isaac himself came not by natural means but by the intervention of God; faith is actually the only way God ever has given children to Abraham. Paul makes explicit that the former divisions into nations and cultures are done away with in Christ, telling the Gentiles in Galatia they themselves are sons of Abraham.

Galatians 3:28–29

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

This phrase appears almost exclusively in Matthew, the gospel that captures the Jewish perspective. (Luke 13:28 is the only other place it appears.)

There is one incident in particular during the wandering in the wilderness where both the weeping and the gnashing from this illustration appear. Despite being fed by God in the form of manna, the people are weeping because of the lack of meat, regretting have left Egypt. God's anger is unleashed on them while they are still chewing. Thus weeping indicates selfish complaining, and gnashing indicates anger in pain.

Numbers 11:13, 18–20, 33

[Moses said,] “Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’”
…
[God replied:] Say to the people, “Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, ‘Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.’ Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before him, saying, ‘Why did we come out of Egypt?’”
…
While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague.

The Scriptures independently use gnashing teeth to denote a harsh anger, especially directed at others.

Psalm 35:15–16

But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
they gathered together against me;
wretches whom I did not know
tore at me without ceasing;
like profane mockers at a feast,
they gnash at me with their teeth.

Psalm 112:10

The wicked man sees [it is well with the righteous] and is angry;
he gnashes his teeth and melts away;
the desire of the wicked will perish!

Lamentations 2:13, 16

What can I say for you, to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
…
All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; we see it!”

Acts 7:54

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

Thus, "weeping and gnashing of teeth" is a horrifying picture of hell: souls weeping over their own lost estate while lashing out in hot anger at others.

And in what measure did he believe? His belief was so strong, "the servant was healed at that very moment." The centurion considered it done as soon as Jesus said it.

While Matthew does not mention it, Luke and John say the precise timing of the healing was only discovered when they got back home. But Jesus said it would be done in accordance with the centurion's faith; that man didn't need to get home to know the boy had been healed.

This note harmonizes Matthew's "servant" with John's "child." For details, see A Difficult and Beautiful Harmony below.

Though Matthew does not mention the use of messengers—whether the elders here or the friends in verse 6—the centurion is clearly still the agent. The ancient world made little distinction between a person speaking directly and his servant or chosen representative speaking for him.

While it is kind of the elders to hold the centurion in esteem and seek a favor on his behalf, the blessings of God are not bestowed based on merit. The centurion himself protests, "I am not worthy," in verses 6 and 7, the parallel to Matthew 8:8.

Literally, "I did not consider myself worthy to come to you."

While an "official" is not necessarily a "centurion," John's use of the term is not at odds with Matthew and Luke. John never uses the word "centurion," and the word he does use here (βασιλικός) also appears in Acts 12:20–21, where it refers to the royal Roman authority vested in Herod, a local official.

The centurion may have had a son by one of his slaves. For more details on the harmony between Matthew's "servant" and John's "son," see A Difficult and Beautiful Harmony below.

That is, to come down from where He was speaking. For more details, see A Difficult and Beautiful Harmony below.

The physician Luke also recorded this detail (Luke 7:2), and it is the reason for the urgency of the centurion's request in the 49th verse here.

All three accounts record Jesus rebuking these Israelites for their disbelief. But John summarizes the longer Matthew 8:10–12 with this simple phrase so that he can focus instead on the faith of the centurion. Because of his belief, the centurion stands in stark contrast to these who do not believe.

John's focus on what makes for faith is consistent with his stated rationale for writing his gospel.

John 20:30–31

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

On harmonizing John's "child" with Matthew and Luke's "servant," see A Difficult and Beautiful Harmony below.

It is also the hour he believed he would receive what the Lord promised him.

Matthew 8:13 recorded, "the servant was healed at that very moment." John makes it clear no one who heard Jesus say the word was attending to the young man when he suddenly recovered, and vice-versa. Only when the two parties come together do they have the complete story. The facts lead to one conclusion: "And he himself believed, and all his household."

Again, John draws contrast between the physical house of Israel and the spiritual. The leader of the house has a direct impact on the outcomes. And the word of the Lord—even when relayed through messengers—is powerful enough to generate faith.

We must note, too, that a similar theme plays out with a centurion in the Acts. Peter was shown in a vision that he must not call Gentiles unclean, while a Roman centurion was told to summon Peter to hear a message of salvation.

Acts 11:14

[Peter] will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.

Acts 10:24

…Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

The result is one of the clearest statements in Scripture on the topic of Jew and Gentile.

Acts 10:34–35

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

The Philippian jailer is another example of this pattern (Acts 16:32–33).

On first reading, I was very skeptical of the scholars' claim that the event recorded in John was the same event Matthew and Luke recorded.

1. A son did not seem to be consistent with a servant.
2. The man appeared to ask Jesus to come, in apparent contradiction to the narrative of the synoptics.
3. Jesus upbraided the lack of faith, in apparent contradiction to marveling at such great faith.

However, I now see all three accounts are indeed harmonious. The difficulty for me arose from the fact the accounts are complementary, giving different perspectives on the same event.

The centurion may simply have had a son by a slave woman; such a child may well have been considered a servant, and these facts may be the simplest explanation for one account calling him a son while the others call him a servant.

But there is Biblical precedent for calling a servant a son, as well.

Genesis 15:3

And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”

Proverbs 17:2

A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully
and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.

Proverbs 29:21

Whoever pampers his servant from childhood
will in the end find him his heir.

Luke's description of the patient as "highly valued" (7:2) especially reflects the thought in Proverbs 29:21. And while the Greek word in John 4:49 for "child" (παιδίον) primarily means a child up to 7 years old, it also commonly describes a young slave.

The official did not ask Jesus to come to his home, but to "come down."

The word here translated "come down" (καταβαίνω) implies something from which to come down, such as a mountain, a boat, upstairs, a horse, a podium, etc.. We can see this meaning in John 1:32, where the Spirit comes down from heaven, as well as John 3:13, where the Son of Man does. The lexicon also mentions metaphorical uses like, "condescend", and "pass to a less lofty style."

So, the official is requesting to have a word with Jesus, the favor of a brief interruption from His teaching at the (metaphorical) podium. Incredibly, John thus has the man intending to take only a minute to ask Jesus to say the word, never intending to have Him come to his home!

So also, "as [the official] was going down" (v.51) could better be rendered, "as he was dismounting the horses" (i.e., on his arrival at home). John is emphasizing the household servants' eagerness to share with their master the good news.

When Jesus upbraids them, saying, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe," He is talking to the crowd, not to the official who came to Him.

In John 4:48, the Greek "you" is plural, addressing the crowd; in verse 50, where He tells the official to "go your way," it is singular, addressing the official alone. Luke 7:9 has Jesus "turning to the crowd that followed Him" to say He had found no such faith even in Israel. And the rebuke of Matthew 8:11–12 is followed immediately in verse 13 with, "And to the centurion Jesus said…," making clear the centurion (or his representative, following John) was standing there while Jesus turned to rebuke the Jewish crowd's disbelief.

Thus, "you [all] will not believe" (John 4:48), becomes the polar opposite of, "he himself believed, and all his household" (v.53).

The account of the centurion features all these things:

• the salvation of the humble,
• the power of the word,
• the need to draw conclusions,
• the reliability of the message as delivered through servants.

This man's faith is amazing indeed!