Healing of the Centurion's Servant

Biblical Text and Narrative

This account appears in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. Both Gospels record that it took place when Jesus Christ entered Capernaum.

In Matthew, the centurion comes to Jesus in person. He reports that his servant is lying at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. When Jesus offers to come and heal him, the centurion answers, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only" (Matthew 8:8). He adds that he himself is a man under authority, and that when he gives orders to his soldiers, they obey. Jesus marvels at this and says, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel" (Matthew 8:10). The servant is healed in that very hour.

In Luke, the servant is sick and ready to die. The centurion does not come himself but sends Jewish elders. The elders tell Jesus that the centurion loves their nation and has built them a synagogue. As Jesus nears the house, the centurion sends friends to convey the same confession. When those who had been sent return to the house, they find the servant already well.

Background

A centurion was an officer in a Roman-style military organization who commanded roughly one hundred soldiers. Because Galilee was then ruled by Herod Antipas, some scholars think this centurion may have served in Herod's forces. In either case, he was a Gentile, not a Jew.

Jewish reluctance to enter the homes of Gentiles is also reflected in Acts 10:28. For this reason, some read the centurion's declining of Jesus' visit as a gesture of consideration for this custom.

The word rendered "servant" differs between the Gospels. Matthew uses the Greek pais, which can mean either a child or a servant. Luke generally uses doulos, which usually means a slave or servant, though in 7:7 he uses pais.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

• The faith of a Gentile: Matthew follows this event with a saying of Jesus: many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 8:11-12). This saying is interpreted as an indication that the kingdom of God would be opened even to the Gentiles. In Acts, the first Gentile to receive the gospel is likewise a centurion, Cornelius.
• The authority of the word: Jesus heals from a distance by his word alone, without seeing or touching the sick man. Matthew places this account among the healing narratives that immediately follow the Sermon on the Mount, while Luke places it directly after the Sermon on the Plain.

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

• Differences between the two accounts: In Matthew the centurion comes in person; in Luke he sends others. Interpreters differ on how to account for this. Some harmonize the two accounts by regarding Matthew's wording as a convention in which something done through agents is described as done by the person himself. Others regard the accounts as a single tradition transmitted differently in each Gospel.
• Relationship to John's Gospel: The healing of the nobleman's son in John 4:46-54 is also an account of healing from a distance by a word. However, because the man's status, the patient, and the description of the circumstances differ, some view it as a separate event, while others view it as a different tradition of the same event.
• The meaning of pais: Some interpreters read pais as referring to a same-sex partner. Most commentators, however, conclude from the context that it means a servant or a child. This discussion is treated in the article Homosexuality and the Church.
• What the text does not say: Scripture gives neither the centurion's name nor any account of his later life. The specific illness, palsy, is mentioned only in Matthew.

Church Tradition and the Korean Church

In the Catholic Mass, the prayer said before Communion is based on the centurion's confession in Matthew 8:8.

In Korean Protestant preaching, "speak the word only" is frequently cited as a model of faith that trusts in the authority of the word. The centurion, who pleaded on behalf of his servant, is also presented as an example of intercessory prayer.