FOURTH QUARTER.

LESSON I.--OCTOBER 2.

THE CENTURION'S FAITH.--MATT. 8:5-13.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel.--MATT. 8:10.
      TIME.--A. D. 28.
      PLACE.--Capernaum.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Matt 8:1-4; Luke 7:1-10; Heb. 11:1-10; John 4:47-53; Luke 13:24-30.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. The Centurion's Prayer; 2. The Centurion's Faith; 3. Gentiles and Children of the Kingdom.

INTRODUCTION.

      The healing of the centurion's servant almost certainly followed close upon the Sermon on the Mount. At the close of the Sermon the Lord returned to Capernaum, and as he entered that city the messengers sent by the centurion met him on the way and importuned his help. It will be found by consulting the parallel account, recorded in Luke 7:1-10, that some of the details are omitted in Matthew's more condensed narration. The centurion did not make his appeal in person, but sent those whom he, not knowing that the Lord was entirely free from Jewish narrowness, supposed would be more likely to be heard than a Gentile. The Jewish elders plead that the centurion is worthy, "loves our nation and has built us a synagogue." This Gentile officer, like Cornelius, seems to have outgrown paganism, and to have been a "devout man," a believer in Jehovah, but not a circumcised proselyte. In the ruins of Tel-Hum, identified as those of Capernaum, are found the remains of a synagogue, probably the very structure that he erected, and the one in which the Savior delivered the wonderful discourse on the bread of life found in John, chap. 6.

      This centurion, whose name is unknown, is one of the three named in the New Testament who indicated belief in Christ, the second and third being the one at the cross, and Cornelius. A fourth, Julius, is spoken of in very favorable terms, and there is a tradition that he became a Christian. There is a peculiar significance in this incident, following so close upon the Sermon on the Mount. In that sermon the fundamental principles of the kingdom soon to be inaugurated were developed. His hearers supposed that the benefits of the kingdom were to be confined to the Jewish race; but almost immediately a Gentile officer is commended for exhibiting a faith surpassing anything the Lord had found in Israel, and he declares that "Many shall come from the east and the west (Gentiles from afar) and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven," while the children of the kingdom (Jews) shall be cast into outer darkness." [270]

      I. THE CENTURION'S PRAYER.--5. When Jesus was entered into Capernaum. Capernaum, hallowed in its associations because Christ made it his center during his Galilean ministry ("his own city"), was located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Its site is identified by archæologists in the ruins of Tel-Hum. It is remarkable that three cities, Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin, upon which the Lord pronounced woes because they had neglected their splendid opportunities, have been extinct for many ages, while other cities of Judea and Galilee have continued to exist. There came unto him a centurion. The centurion was a Roman military officer, corresponding to our captain of a company. The Roman legion contained ten cohorts (regiments), each with six centuries (companies) making sixty in the legion. These, if filled to the maximum, contained a hundred men each, and hence the company was called a century from centum, a hundred, and its captain a centurion, or commander of a hundred men. All Palestine was under Roman military government at this time, with headquarters at Cæsarea, and from a century to a cohort in every leading town. This centurion probably commanded the company stationed at Capernaum. He was, of course, a Gentile instead of a Jew. As we learn from Luke 7:3, he came to Jesus, not in person, but by Jewish elders, whom he supposed would have more influence with the Lord.

      6. Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy. Luke says his servant "was dear unto him," and the whole account of Matthew indicates intense solicitude. While Romans often treated their slaves with great inhumanity, there were many instances of devoted affection. The slaves were prisoners taken in war, or their children, were usually white, and often highly educated. Thousands were freed by kind-hearted masters, were sometimes made their heirs, and these freedmen often rose to great prominence. Horace, the most distinguished of Roman poets, was the son of a freedman. Sick of the palsy. Paralysis, or palsy, was a common disease in those days. (See Matt. 4:24.) Alford says, "The disease of the text may have been tetanus, or lockjaw, which the ancient physicians included under paralysis, and which is more common in hot countries than with us." If the disease was lockjaw the evidences of haste and importunate entreaty are accounted for. Luke says that "he was ready to die."

      7. He saith to him. To his messengers, the elders who had been sent to intercede; "I will come and heal him." Luke tells us that he started at once, but was interrupted by what follows. [271]

      II. THE CENTURION'S FAITH.--8. The centurion answered. Through friends whom he had sent for this purpose (Luke 7:6). I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof. This humility was partly due to his consciousness that be was a Gentile, and as such not an heir of the blessings bestowed upon the Jews; but still more to the esteem in which he held Jesus in consequence of what he heard of him (Luke 7:3). Rigid Jews did not hold social intercourse with Gentiles, and the centurion may have supposed that so holy a Jewish teacher as Jesus would hesitate to come under his roof. Hospitable entertainment between those of different races was far less common then than now. Speak the word only. "Speak only a word," is the idea, and "my servant will be healed." Not even Martha (John 11:21) thought that Jesus could have saved her brother Lazarus without going to him. The prophet had to go to the son of the Shunammite woman in order to raise him. Yet this Gentile centurion believes that Jesus has an omnipresent power which can reach to other localities than where he is bodily present. Though he may not have known it, he had faith in his divine power.

      9. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. The meaning is: "I know how to obey, being myself under authority, and in turn know how others obey, having soldiers under me." The inference is: "If I then, in my subordinate station of command, am obeyed, how much more thou, who art over all, and whom diseases serve as their master."--Alford. "His view of the relation of Christ to the spiritual kingdom is as original as it is grand. The Lord appears to him to be the true Cæsar and Imperator, the highest over the hierarchy, not of earth but of heaven."--Trench. He believes that all things, the powers of nature, disease and spirits obey the Lord as promptly and absolutely as the soldiers under him obey his own command. As he could say "Go" to a soldier or a servant and it was at once obeyed, so Jesus could say "Go" to the disease and it would obey him.

      10. What Jesus heard it he marvelled. There are two cases in our Lord's history where he is said to have marvelled, here and in Mark 6:6. In one case [272] he marvels at the faith of a Gentile; in the other at the unbelief of the Jews. It has been said, "What can be more wonderful than to see Christ wonder?" "Facts came to him, in that true humanity, as to other men, unlooked for, and as with a novelty that caused surprise."--Plumtree. I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. The greatness of his faith is shown in his lofty conception of the power and dignity of Christ. That an Israelite, educated in the Jewish Scriptures which were full of the testimony of the coming Messiah, should be ready to believe in him, was only natural, but this man, a Gentile reared in heathenism, shows a profounder faith than had yet been exhibited by any one of Jewish blood. "We may observe that the surprise of Jesus is inconsistent with the theory that he had himself, by a direct operation of the Holy Spirit, wrought this great faith in the heart of the centurion. If he had done this he could not have marvelled."--McGarvey.

      III. GENTILES AND THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM.--11. Many shall come from the east and west. The terms "the east and the west," the extreme points of the compass, are taken to indicate the regions that are far away, the whole world. The Lord means not only those who are geographically far away from Israel, but those who had been far away spiritually. The centurion was a Gentile, his faith was of surpassing excellence. None need wonder that he is commended, for he is only one of a vast number of Gentiles who shall enter into the kingdom, becoming children of Abraham by faith. "A prophecy that the Gentiles, even those the most remote, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. The centurion was a kind of first fruits of the rich harvest of the future extending to all the nations of the earth."--Schaff. Shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. The Jews were accustomed to speak of the delights of the Messiah's kingdom as a feast with the patriarchs. The language implies intimate domestic intercourse and fellowship. The patriarchs were the first separated from the Gentile world. The Gentiles shall be again united with them in the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven refers, rather, to the eternal blessed state rather than to the church on earth, for the patriarchs lived too early to sit down in the kingdom of heaven on earth, which both John the Baptist and Christ spoke of as still in the future ("The kingdom of heaven is at hand").

      12. But the children of the kingdom. The Jews, the natural children of Abraham, the "Father of the faithful," were heirs of the promises made to him and had they not rejected it, would naturally have been the children of the [273] kingdom. They had the promises, the word of God, the privileges, but turned away from these, while the Gentiles became "Abraham's seed and heirs of the promise by faith." Cast into outer darkness. "The expression denotes darkness the most remote from the light, and is employed in opposition to the most brilliant lights, which are figuratively supposed to be burning in the banqueting-room. The history of the Jews for 1800 years has been a fulfillment of this passage."--Gilmore. The Jews by their rejection of the kingdom have shut its doors against themselves and excluded themselves from the eternal kingdom. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The Revision correctly supplies the article before weeping and gnashing, which makes the terms more emphatic. The weeping indicates intense sorrow, and gnashing, intense rage on account of expulsion from the kingdom. "There is a hint at the wretchedness of a future state of punishment. The figures are fearful: black night, grief, rage."--Schaff.

      13. As thou hast believed. The Centurion believed that Jesus could heal his servant by speaking the word, without going to his house, and Christ tells him that it shall be according to his faith. In that hour, at the moment these words were spoken, the servant was well. Like the other miracles of the Lord, it seemed as easy for Christ to heal the palsied servant as to speak. It was always true of him that he spake and it was done.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      FAITH.--There is here no analysis of faith, and no definition of it. It seemed to be assumed by Christ that all would understand what faith is. The thing is enacted, not described. Men philosophize about Christ, study and scorn about him, do everything but to trust him. Trusting, I mean, after the simple method of this Centurion who went to him for help. Faith is at once the most active and the most quiet of all qualities.--Adam.

      MARVELLED.--Christ marvelled on earth but at two things, faith and unbelief. Twice he commends greatness of faith, once in the case of the Syro-phenician woman, and the other in the case of this Centurion. Both were Gentiles. Midway between the Jew and Gentile stood the woman of Sychar and the other Samaritans who believed without a miracle that he was the "Christ who should save the world."

      CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM.--The Lord meant primarily the Jews, but he means, farther, all who enjoy special privileges and neglect them. Every child of Christian parents, all who have the Bible in their homes, all who are reared in a land of churches where they can hear the gospel [274] preached, all who can know of Christ if they will, are "Children of the Kingdom." Shall they be cast into outer darkness, or will they come to Christ?

      FAITH SAVES.--Because it leads to action. It is not a passive but an active quality. It leads the Centurion to appeal to Christ and to trust him. It saves all moved by it to come to, trust and obey the Lord.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Show when this miracle occurred, just after the great Sermon, after the principles of the Kingdom were unfolded. 2. Show where it occurred and the relation of Capernaum to Christ's ministry. 3. Bring out what a Centurion was, name the New Testament Centurions, their relation to the Jewish people, the character of this one. 4. Show his race, how Gentiles stood to Jews, what Jews thought of them, the significance of this miracle, and its prophecy of the future. 5. Bring out the incidents of the lesson, the beloved servant at the point of death, no human help, the appeal to Christ as the only hope, how that appeal was made. 6. Note the quality commended in the Centurion, how it was exhibited, how greater than found "in Israel." 7. Show why Christ gives such importance to faith, why without faith it is impossible to please God, how faith saves. 8. Show wherein we must be like the Centurion if we would be healed. 9. Point out the prophecy in "coming from the East and the West," etc., and how it has been fulfilled. 10. Note the prophecy in the "Children of the Kingdom" being cast out, and how it has been fulfilled; how too it might be fulfilled in us. 11. Call for the practical applications in this lesson and for hints by which we may profit.

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: