Matthew's Centurion (part 2 of 2)

In all of the uses of “Lord” that have been encountered up to this point in Matthew’s Gospel, the Greek term that is used is “Kurie.”  We see this in Matthew 7:21, Matthew 7:22, and in Matthew 8:2, as it used four times by Jesus, and then once by the leper that Jesus heals.  Then we come to the Roman centurion in Capernaum.  He is aware of this man Jesus.  He sees the crowds following Him.  He has most likely heard of Jesus’ usage of the term “Kurie, Kurie” in reference to Himself, along with His associating that usage with entering “the kingdom of heaven” and His “Father in heaven” (7:21).  As a good, Roman soldier, loyal to Caesar, he should be casting a suspicious eye towards this fellow called Jesus, and be ready to arrest Him for His claims.

So what does the centurion do?  When Jesus enters Capernaum, the centurion “came forward to Him, appealing to Him” (8:5b).  What did he say to Jesus?  How did he greet Jesus?  He said, “Lord” (8:6a).  This is more than just a sign of respect.  What reason would this centurion have to show Jesus such respect?  This usage of “Lord” is incredibly worthy of our attention.  Why?  Because in the Roman empire, in the first century, it was Caesar who was Lord.  Caesar was “Kurie.”  Not only would this be true for the vast majority of the people under his dominion, but it would be especially true of a solider of the empire.  This solider, however, having heard about Jesus, having likely heard of the cleansing of the leper, having heard of the way that the leper approached Him by calling Jesus Lord, and recognizing the power to heal and the connection of that power to the telling of words of the kingdom that he has heard, comes to Jesus and says, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly” (8:6). 

How does Jesus respond to this Roman centurion, this Gentile?  Well, He responds the way that we have been trained to think He would respond.  He says, “I will come and heal him” (8:7).  Does He respond in that way simply because it is in Jesus’ nature to heal, or is it something deeper?  Does Jesus respond in that manner because the centurion calls Him “Lord”?  Should we equate Jesus being called “Lord” with Jesus’ own preaching of the kingdom, which is invariably connected with His performance of healing?  In essence, by calling Jesus “Lord,” this centurion preaches the Gospel, and does so in a revolutionary way, especially as we consider the context in which his statement is made, in which it is probably quite likely that the only person that this centurion had ever referred to as “Lord” up to that point, and in that way, was Caesar himself. 

Making his reply to Jesus, the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed” (8:8).  From there, he goes on to speak about authority and commands and servants.  Clearly, this centurion understood the nature of power.  In addition to that, it is becoming increasingly obvious that he knew of the cleansing of the leper, because in that instance, Jesus had spoken and the leper had been cleansed.  With this understanding of power and authority, and by his calling Jesus “Lord,” he knew that Jesus need merely speak the word for healing to take place. 

Here, it must be said that “Jesus is Lord” is the message of the Gospel.  The Gospel announcement, as Paul would say, is the power of God to salvation.  Salvation entails a rescue and a deliverance from all those things that are the effects of the failure of the divine image bearers to rightly bear that image, and sickness and disease are numbered among those effects.  Recognition of Jesus as Lord is salvation (joining with the covenant people of God so as to share in the prescribed responsibility to be a blessing).  In that moment, we can say that, rightly understood, the centurion and his servant experienced God’s salvation through Christ.  They experienced His eternal life---the renewal and restoration that Jesus brings as the in-breaking of the age of new creation to come---and they did so because the centurion called Jesus “Lord.”  It is no different for us.    

We read that “When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who followed Him, ‘Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith’.” (8:10)  What a remarkable statement!  Jesus makes the point that the first overt recognition of Him as Lord, and of the power of His kingdom, came from a Gentile, and not from a member of the people of Israel.  By extension, this would indicate that the leper that was cleansed was a Gentile as well, which we can well understand, as Jesus was in “Galilee of the Gentiles”.  After making this crucial point, Jesus goes on to say “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (8:11).  Almost immediately, Jesus embarks upon the usage of covenant language, referencing the covenant first given to Abraham, and then passed along to Isaac, and to Jacob, and then to Israel, that through that covenant all of the families of the earth would be blessed.  Jesus was fulfilling the covenant, according to God’s covenant faithfulness, in extending the blessings of that covenant to the Gentiles, by being the light of the world that had been God’s intention for His people Israel. 

Israel had failed in that, though all they truly had to do in order to be that light was refrain from idolatry, keep God’s Sabbaths, and reverence His sanctuary (which, in the end and according to the Scriptures, would look a great deal like caring for orphans and widows).  That had proven to be too much, so they experienced cursing and exile and dominion by foreign nations.  This was designed to get them to return to the covenant and be that light to all nations for the glory of their God.  Instead, they had ostracized the Gentiles.  They had separated and isolated themselves from the Gentiles.  They had risen up violently against their Gentile rulers, and would eventually demand that Jesus do the same if He was to have their support.  It is for this reason that Jesus follows up His invoking of the covenant and its inclusion of Gentiles, by saying “while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (8:12).  Indeed, this is the lot and end of all that fail to live up to the terms of the covenant that Christ delivered, which is to believe the Gospel and to preach the Gospel, so that God might be glorified.

Jesus goes on to say to the centurion, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed” (8:13a).  It is written that “the servant was healed at that very moment” (8:13b).  What was it that was believed?  Why was the servant healed?  Did healing take place because the centurion believed that Jesus could heal?  Absolutely.  More importantly, it was the belief in Who Jesus was, and the proclamation of Jesus as Lord, and its associated proclamation of the kingdom of heaven, that was the more crucial aspect of belief.  That was what showed forth faith and its associated allegiance.  That was what brought the healing.    

Matthew's Centurion (part 1 of 2)

When He entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to Him, appealing to Him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.”  And He said to him, “I will come and heal him.”  But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” – Matthew 8:7-8  (ESV)

At first glance, this passage does not strike us as one of the most significant passages in the Gospel of Matthew, but it should.  There is much to be learned here, especially as it relates to Jesus’ mission, the message of the Gospel, the proclamation of the Kingdom of heaven, God’s covenant faithfulness, and healing. 

Just before we reach this story of the centurion, we read in the seventh chapter of Matthew, Jesus saying, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father in heaven’.” (7:21).  Jesus follows that with another “Lord, Lord” reference, saying, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and do many mighty works in Your Name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness’.” (7:22-23)  Those words come near the close of what is generally referred to as “the sermon on the mount.” 

Shortly thereafter, right after Jesus has made these “Lord, Lord” statements, we read “When He came down from the mountain…a leper came to Him and knelt before Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You will, You can make me clean’.  And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean’.  And immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (8:1-3).  One thing we can notice here, is that contrary to Jesus becoming unclean by touching the leper, Jesus actually makes the leper clean through His touch.  This is contrary to the declarations of Leviticus concerning leprosy.  This would not be looked upon as insignificant by those that viewed this encounter, nor by those that would hear or read about this encounter.  Apart from that, the thing of which we should take greater notice is that, for the first time in the Gospel of Matthew, a person has come to Jesus and called Him “Lord”; and this has followed closely on the heels of the ominous “Lord, Lord” statements that were spoken on the mountain.  Additionally, not only did the leper call Jesus “Lord,” but he also knelt before Jesus while using the title.

When Jesus gave His “Lord, Lord” warnings, what was missing from the words of prophesying, casting out demons, and doing many mighty works, was a kneeling before Jesus, in recognition that He was truly Lord.  This might cause us to reflect on what Paul would write in Philippians, perhaps reflecting on the Jesus tradition of which he was aware and that was circulating in his day prior to the composition of the Gospel records, “that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (2:10-11).  The other thing missing was the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord “to the glory of the God the Father,” as the prophesying, the casting out, and the doing of works was proceeded by the words “did we not.” 

In the fourth chapter of Matthew, we read that Jesus “went all throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and affliction among the people” (4:23).  The Gospel, of course, is intimately connected with the Kingdom, because the Gospel message is the proclamation of Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords.  It is only shortly before this that we read of Jesus first saying “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (3:17b).  We must note that He first made this proclamation, not in Jerusalem, but in “Galilee of the Gentiles” (3:15b).  We also take note of the fact that this is also the first mention of healing in the Gospels, and it is bound up with Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom of Heaven.  As it relates to the leper of whom we have already learned, we can make the connection that his recognition of Jesus as “Lord,” and his kneeling before Him as Lord, as though he recognized Jesus as the Sovereign of a Kingdom, is what brought the healing, as the life of the age to come (the new creation, in which there is to be no sickness and no disease), breaks into the world where Jesus is recognized as Lord.  In the leper’s words and actions, the Gospel of the Kingdom was preached. 

This interaction with the leper occurs just before Jesus enters Capernaum and encounters the centurion.  Great crowds had followed Him down from the mountain (8:1), and undoubtedly, many had witnessed the interaction with the leper.  Though Jesus had told the leper “See that you say nothing to anyone” (8:4a), it is quite likely that, due to the crowds, the news had spread rather quickly.  This information would have come to the ears of a Roman centurion, who would be charged with keeping peace and order.  A man with large crowds following Him, about Whom such things was being reported, would put the centurion on alert.  This makes his interaction with Jesus all the more interesting.      

A Mother's Gospel

And He said to her, “What do you want?”  She said to Him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, in Your Kingdom.” – Matthew 20:21  (ESV)

This request is quite telling because of what it is that immediately precedes it as the narrative unfolds.  It comes from the woman known only as “the mother of the sons of Zebedee” (20:20a), that being James and John, the proverbial “sons of thunder.”  What immediately precedes it is her coming up to Jesus “with her sons, and kneeling before Him” (20:20b).  They kneel before Jesus.  The kneeling is key, and it is connected to what it is that they have just heard Jesus say. 

Now, as we look through the Gospel of Matthew, we read about people coming to Jesus on a regular basis.  In Matthew 8:19, a “scribe came up” to Jesus.  In 9:14, “the disciples of John came to Him.”  In 13:10, 13:36, and 18:1, “the disciples came” to Jesus.  In 15:1, “Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem.”  In 15:30, “great crowds came to Him.”  In 16:1, “the Pharisees and the Sadducees came…to test Him.”  In 18:21, “Peter came up” to Jesus.  In 19:3, we again see that the “Pharisees came up to Him and tested Him.”  Finally, in 19:16, we see that “a man came up to Him.” 

These, however, are not the only times that people have come to Jesus.  There are another set that we will now examine.  In Matthew 8:2, we find that “a leper came to Him.”  What did this leper do?  He “knelt before Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You will, You can make me clean’.”  Shortly thereafter, in 8:5, “a centurion came forward to Him, appealing to Him,” and said, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly” (8:6).  In 9:18, “a ruler came in and knelt before Him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live’.”  In 9:28, “blind men came to Him.”  When Jesus questioned them as to whether or not they believed He could heal them, they replied by saying, “Yes, Lord.”  In 15:25, a Canaanite woman “came and knelt before Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me’.”  In 17:14-15, “a man came up to Him and, kneeling before Him, said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son’.”         

In the first set of people that we saw coming to Jesus, nobody was kneeling.  What do we see in the second set?  Four times, we see people coming to Jesus and kneeling before Him.  Each of those occasions is accompanied by an addressing of Jesus by use of the word “Lord.”  The two that do not recount any kneeling before Jesus, nevertheless, still show Jesus being recognized and addressed as “Lord.”  In the first set, not only did we see no kneeling, we also did not see any use of the word “Lord.”  To go along with that, we also do not see any healing.  The author appears to make the point that when Jesus is addressed as Lord, healing takes place.  When there is no kneeling, and when there is no calling Jesus “Lord,” for the most part, we only hear questions.  As we think about all of this kneeling, we make note of the fact that when the mother of the sons of Zebedee comes to Jesus, her sons are there with her.  All kneel.  This is the first time that we read about any of Jesus’ disciples kneeling before Him.    

How does this help us in looking at the actions and request of the mother of the sons of Zebedee?  Well, we have to look at what it was that came before she came and knelt before Jesus.  Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem.  Throughout His ministry, He had been feeding a growing awareness or expectations that He might very well be the Messiah of Israel.  His disciples have just heard Him say, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world (or ‘in the regeneration’), when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (19:28).  We can trust that the mother of the sons of Zebedee hear these words as well, or at the least, had them told to her by her sons.  This use of “Son of Man,” with its connection to Daniel that so permeated the air in first century Israel, was unmistakable messianic speech, as it spoke to the hope that Israel’s enemies were going to be put down by the very hand of their Creator God.  These words were being said after Jesus “went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan” (19:1).  He was working His way towards Jerusalem, “and large crowds followed Him” (19:2). 

After talking about the Son of Man and twelve thrones, Jesus goes into a dissertation about the “kingdom of heaven” and a “vineyard” (20:1).  In this, His listeners were hearing very clear statements connected with Israel, the expected activity of its God, and its Messiah.  Right in the middle of all of these grand declarations, which had to be causing great excitement among His disciples, Jesus says, “we are going up to Jerusalem.  And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and He will be raised on the third day” (20:18-19).  Now, this should have stopped them all dead in their tracks.  They should have been taken aback by this language.  According to Jewish expectation at that time, and if this Jesus was the Messiah, these things were not to happen.  Jesus should most certainly not be saying such things. 

His disciples were not deterred by these words.  Indeed, they did not seem to regard them at all.  It is directly after this that Matthew has the mother coming to Jesus, apparently still thinking about His declaration about the Son of Man and His glorious throne, and the twelve thrones for His disciples, making her request that her two sons sit on those thrones to Jesus right and left hands (positions of great honor).  Apparently, there is something of a communication that she (and presumably her sons) had missed His statements about His death and His Resurrection, and all of that wasn’t a part of Messianic expectation of the day anyway.  Honestly though, we can’t fault her too much for that, as the rest of the disciples were too busy being indignant at James and John, because of their mother’s request, to notice what Jesus had said.  Of course, had they actually heard Him, Peter would probably have just taken Jesus aside again to rebuke Him for making such statements, just like we find him doing in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew. 

Nevertheless, with all of this, let’s remember the kneeling together with the substance of the request.  In those things, we find that this woman recognized that Jesus was Lord (though it was left unsaid), that He was the promised King of Israel, that He was indeed the Messiah, and that His kingdom was going to be established.  In her kneeling and in her request, she preached the Gospel, proclaiming that Jesus is Lord.