And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not fit that thou shouldest enter under my roof; but only speak a word, and my servant shall be healed.
The Lord had just offered to come and heal the sick servant, and the centurion asks Him not to make the trip. This Roman officer, an outsider to Israel, has a low view of himself and a very high view of what one word from Jesus can do.
He is not being polite about the state of his house. The word means fit or qualified, and his sense of being unfit grew the moment the Lord offered to come.
"I am not worthy" (adequate or qualified) "to have you come under my roof." The Lord's own grace, which offered to come and heal the servant, awoke in his heart a deeper sense of the Lord and of himself... He saw in Jesus what made him nothing. Yet he also saw what gave him courage to lay his plea for a dying slave at His feet.
Being unfit did not stop him asking. Once he stopped measuring himself, he saw what Jesus was. He also saw that Jesus came to serve people whose only claim is need.
With the centurion there is the most thorough humility. He is not fit for Christ to come under his roof, but in this we already see the faith that moves him. With self behind his back, his view becomes clear, and so he sees in Him One whom all things serve. Yet He Himself has come to serve, and to serve people who have no worthiness — no fitness except their need. Let Him speak the word then: everything will do His bidding.
What he asks for shows what he believed about Jesus. A visit would add nothing.
As for the Gentile, the Lord's offer to go and heal his servant brought out the unusual strength of his faith... He had only to say the word, and his servant would be healed. The bodily presence of the Messiah was not needed. A question of place could not limit God; His word was enough. Disease must obey Him, as the soldier or the servant obeyed the centurion, their superior.
Commentators put the weight of this confession high. One writes that among all the titles given to Jesus across these chapters, the centurion's sentence stands out:
The Gentile centurion rises perhaps highest of all in the words: "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof."
In Luke's account the man sends a delegation of Jews. Matthew leaves them out, and does so on purpose.
His faith and his lowliness are two sides of one thing. And this faith turns up in a Gentile, outside Israel.
But this divine grace shown in Israel, being divine, could not limit itself to Israel. A Gentile saw the divine power at work far more fully, because Jewish thoughts did not shut him in. He saw that the Lord could dispose of all things, just as he himself sent his soldiers here and there. So he looks for mercy for his servant. But his faith, as faith always does when it realises the divine presence, produced true lowliness of heart, and he counts himself unworthy that Jesus should come under his roof. A word from the Lord, ready as He was to go to him, was enough.
This is the ground believers stand on now. Christ is not here in person, but His Word is.
This is what drew out our Lord's praise: his confidence in the power of His word while He was absent in person. Here is a principle vital to us at this hour. Christ is not here, having gone up to the Father's throne. But His Word is with us; in the Scriptures we may at all times hear His living voice... On His Word we rest; it is our all, seeing that He Himself is no longer with us. If anyone could tear His Word out of our hands, we would be left in total darkness.
- Need: he came with no fitness to offer, only a dying servant — and He "has come to serve people who have no worthiness."
- Lowliness: the Lord's offer to enter his house is what made him feel unfit. Coming near to Christ deepened his sense of himself; it did not ease it.
- Sight: with self out of the way his view cleared, and he saw One whom all things serve.
- Word: he asked for no visit and no touch, because God is not limited by place — a spoken word would do it.
- Reach: faith in an outsider showed that grace could not stay inside Israel. It maps our place too: Christ unseen, His Word in our hands, and that Word enough.
For *I* also am a man under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say to this [one], Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my bondman, Do this, and he does it.
A Roman officer asks Jesus for mercy for his servant, then tells Him not to come under his roof. His reasoning in this verse comes straight from his own barracks, and it shows what he believed about Jesus.
The centurion builds his case from the smaller to the greater. He knows what his own orders do, and asks how much more the Lord's word can do.
When Jesus says to him, "I will come and heal him," at once his heart shows itself. He answers, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof." He himself could say to one, "Go," and he goes; to another, "Come," and he comes; and to his servant, "Do this," and he does it. How much more, then, could the Lord "only say the word, and my servant will be healed"? Jesus had indeed authority over all diseases; but was it merely a question of His putting His hand on the leper? Not at all. He had only to speak the word, and it was done. The centurion assumes the great truth that Jesus was God, not merely Messiah.
He does not describe himself as a man with power. He says he is a man placed under it — and that is the hinge of the whole comparison.
He says, "I am a man" — not in but under authority. A Roman captain over 200 men, he was a long way from being the head of the Imperial army. Even so, he had this power to order the soldiers under him. There is something very sweet about that. His argument is that the Lord had all the authority in Himself.
The centurion held a borrowed position. He could give orders because he took orders. Commentators see him crediting Jesus with the same pattern, only without limit.
His faith owned that Jesus had the very same power, and indeed more. The centurion was only a man under authority. Jesus, the perfectly dependent and obedient Man, could command all, always to the glory of God the Father. Even the centurion, under authority as he was, still had authority himself to order this one and that one, and his own servant most of all. All things were but servants to Jesus — all served God's glory by Him. He had only to speak the word: disease itself must obey.
Seeing that much did not make him bold about himself.
A Gentile owned the divine power at work far more fully, since he was not shut up in Jewish thoughts. He saw that the Lord could dispose of all things, just as he himself sent his soldiers here and there. So he looks for mercy for his servant. Yet his faith, as always when it realises the divine presence, produced true lowliness of heart: he counts himself unworthy that Jesus should come under his roof.
Jesus praised trust in His word, not a wish for His presence. Writers draw the line straight to where believers stand now.
It was this that drew out our Lord's commendation — his confidence in the power of His word when He was not there in person. Here is a principle that is vital to us at the present hour. Christ is not here, having gone up to the Father's throne. But His Word is with us; in the Scriptures we may at all times hear His living voice.
An outsider's faith becomes the occasion for a warning about who ends up inside the kingdom.
This is the beautiful way in which we are here shown the different bearing of the Lord on the Jew and on the Gentile. But we learn more: Israel would refuse the blessing, and the Gentiles would become the objects of mercy. As it says here, "I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" — that is, many Gentiles will come. "But the sons of the kingdom" were the natural children, the seed, but not the true children according to Abraham's faith. These would be "thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
- Authority recognised. The centurion argues from the chain of command he lives in. He is under authority, so his own orders carry weight. He credits Jesus with an authority that is His own.
- Authority obeyed. He commands soldiers. Christ commands everything, and disease itself must obey the word of the perfectly obedient Man.
- Authority humbles. The clearer his view of that power, the lower his view of himself — he thinks himself unworthy to receive Jesus at all.
- Authority at a distance. He asks for no visit, only a word; that same word is what believers have now while Christ is absent, and it is enough.
- Authority widens. This faith turns up outside Israel. Many will come from east and west, while those who counted the kingdom theirs by birth go into the outer darkness.
And when Jesus heard it, he wondered, and said to those who followed, Verily I say unto you, Not even in Israel have I found so great faith.
A Roman officer asks Jesus not to trouble Himself with a visit to the house. He asks only for a word of command. The reply is startling: the Lord marvels, and tells the crowd He has found nothing like this faith in Israel. Two questions follow. What made this man's faith "great"? And why did the Lord hold up an outsider, rather than one of His own people, as the example?
The Lord marvelled at two things, and they sit at opposite ends of one scale. One writer sets them side by side, and shows what unbelief costs:
Jesus had come to bless men, and unbelief could not altogether stop this work. It might reduce the stream of blessing for a time, or turn it into other channels, because faith is essential to its outflow... The unbelief of Nazareth was as striking as the faith of the Roman centurion. Jesus marvelled at both.
One writer points to two short sentences the centurion spoke in verse 8:
Great faith was marked by two things seen in verse 8. He said, "I am not worthy," condemning himself, and so ruling himself out of the question. He also said, "only say the word," when addressing the Lord. He had no opinion of himself, but he had a great opinion of Him. It was so great that he was ready to trust His word with no support from outside. Some people want the word of the Lord backed up by feelings, or by reason, or by experience. But great faith comes from discovering in Jesus so great a Person that His bare word is enough.
This officer had given real help to the Jewish people, yet he thought nothing of himself. The two things belong together:
He recognised the honour God had put on His people. Though they were despised and failing badly, he still loved His nation and had built them a synagogue. His humility was genuine, for his faith went far beyond the people he honoured. So he had a very high grasp of the power and glory of Christ's Person as divine, reaching beyond Jewish thoughts altogether... Faith always makes humble, because it lifts up the object of faith. And note, his faith came by report, by hearing.
So where did a Roman officer learn such faith? One writer traces it to the synagogue and to a sense of need:
Can we wonder that the gracious Lord wondered? It was faith simple and strong, the fruit of divine grace. The word of God was read and heard in the synagogue, and it taught the centurion about God's nature and ways. None of the Jews learned this. They listened with no such sense of need, and claimed instead that the word was theirs alone. Not even in Israel, the Lord said, had He found so great faith.
A healing done at a distance, by a word alone, pictures how blessing reaches people now:
Such is our position. Jesus is away and unseen. We hear His word, take hold of it, and are saved. This is the beautiful way in which we are shown here how the Lord dealt differently with the Jew and with the Gentile. But we learn more. Israel would refuse the blessing, and the Gentiles would become the objects of mercy. Many Gentiles will come from east and west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Rejecting their Messiah, the Jews as a nation were going to be rejected.
Praise like this can discourage a believer whose own faith feels weak:
Our acceptance does not depend for its value on how great or how feeble our faith in Him is. It is the same for all. (What we enjoy from it does depend on that.)... Our faith may be defective, like that of the leper who said, "If you will, you can." He admitted the power but doubted the will. Or it may be strong, like the faith the Lord said was greater than any He had found in Israel. In each case deliverance was sought, and it did not depend on the faith of the men asking but on the love and power of the Lord.
- Heard. His faith came by report, by hearing — Scripture read in the synagogue he had built. It started with a man who knew his need.
- Humbled. Faith always makes humble, because it lifts up its object; the higher his view of Christ, the lower his view of himself.
- Word. He asked for no visit, only a word — great faith finds Jesus so great that His bare word needs no backing.
- Wonder. The Lord marvelled at two things: unbelief in Nazareth and faith in this Gentile. Both surprised Him; only one released blessing.
- World. Faith outside Israel opened the door east and west. Blessing still reaches us the same way — from a Saviour unseen, through His word.