ped him, saying: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And 3 Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying: I will, be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith 4 unto him: See thou tell no man; but go thy way, show thyself to him, he comes to salute Jesus at some distance, and beseeches his interposition. Worshipped him, i. e. did him obeisance, or prostrated himself before him, as was done to persons of great distinction.-Lord. Sir, or Master.-Thou canst make me clean. His request is modest and trustful. He doubts not the Saviour's power, he only prays that he might be disposed to exert it to cure him. The leper, according to the laws of Moses, was an unclean person. His cure he naturally speaks of therefore as making him clean, and taking off those social disabilities under which he was suffering. 3. Touched him. This act was significant. It implied that there was a connection between Jesus and the cure of the leper. By the Jewish law, one who touched a leper incurred uncleanness. It was a mark of confidence and a sign of power in Jesus, to touch one infected with this foul disease. I will, be thou clean. An instance of the sublime, similar to that in Genesis: "Let there be light, and there was light." The loathsome disease retreats before the power of God, exerted by his Son. The Father gives Jesus this control over the worst of maladies. Though he uses the personal pronoun I, it is by no means to be supposed that Jesus possessed in himself the power adequate to a cure. It was the gift of God. John v. 30. The same power of working miracles was bestowed upon Moses, the prophets, and apostles.And immediately his leprosy was cleansed, i. e. the leper was cured. The disease is put in the place of the diseased person. The cure being instantaneous was an evidence of a miracle; for when cured by human means, the disorder would have gone off by degrees, and not at once. Jesus 4. See thou tell no man. not only cures him, but seeks to profit him yet further by his advice. Various reasons may have combined in this prohibition. Luther suggests that he may have done it from humility. It was designed perhaps for the moral benefit of the cured. Or to secure to him the advantages of the law, and of being pronounced clean by the priests, which, owing to their opposition to Jesus, they might have been unwilling to have done, had they known who wrought the cure. He enjoins it on him to go his way, to proceed directly to Jerusalem, and obtain the certificate of his cure, before it was published who was the author of it. Again, if he had gone forth proclaiming the deeds of Jesus, it would have tended to arouse the Jews to declare Jesus king, which they attempted to do repeatedly, and which would have excited the jealousy of the Romans, the masters of the country. One or all of these reasons may have induced Jesus, upon this and other occasions, to forbid the proclaiming of his miracles by those upon whom they were performed. If the cure of the leprosy was an evidence of Messiahship according to the Jewish belief, there was the more reason at this time for the command of Jesus, as he evidently did not wish to declare himself 5 the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him 6 a centurion, beseeching him, and saying: Lord, my servant lieth at 7 home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith prematurely, for he would thus bly a garrison of soldiers at Capernaum, a considerable city on the north-west side of the Sea of Galilee. Luke represents the communications from the centurion to Jesus as made through Jewish friends, whilst Matthew introduces the Roman as preferring his request in his own person. As a man is often described as doing a thing which he accomplishes through the agency of another, for example, building a house which he procures done; SO we may, without any violence or wresting of language, suppose that Matthew exhibits the centurion as doing himself what he did in reality by means of his friends. Luke is more minute in his narration. He mentions that the centurion was very much attached to his servant, evincing the benevolence of his feelings even to one of inferior rank. He also describes the elders as strengthening their entreaty by mentioning 5-13. Parallel to Luke vii. 1 that he was friendly to the Jews, 10. The accounts vary in unim- and had built a synagogue for portant particulars, as we might them, thus manifesting his piety to suppose they naturally would, com- God. ing from independent witnesses. Slight differences and discrepances, instead of overthrowing, confirm the fidelity of the narrators, and the truth of the facts. 5. Capernaum. A town on the Sea of Galilee. See note on chap. iv. 13.-There came unto him a centurion. This was a Roman officer who commanded one hundred men. Judea was kept in subjection by troops garrisoned in the principal cities and towns. There was proba 6. Lord. Sir, a title of respect to a stranger.-My servant. Or, slave. Though in this abject and menial condition, the centurion, following the dictates of a good heart, loves him, and cares for him as for a child.-Lieth sick of the palsy. Luke does not name the malady, but says that he was "ready to die." Matthew says he was "grievously tormented." Palsy is not usually attended by excessive pain. But Jahn calls the palsy of the New unto him: I will come and heal him. The centurion answered 8 and said: Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me; and 9 I say to this man: Go, and he goeth; and to another: Come, and he cometh; and to my servant: Do this, and he doeth it. When 10 Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed: Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Testament a disease of very wide import, and supposes that this person had the "cramp, which in oriental countries is a fearful malady, subjecting the patient to exquisite sufferings, and inducing death in a few days." In the present case palsy approximated to apoplexy. 7. I will come and heal him. That was his intention, but a change of circumstances rendered it proper to alter it. The strong faith of the centurion made it unnecessary for him to go to the house; for he believed that Jesus could work a miracle at a distance, and thought himself unworthy of receiving him under his own roof. 8. I am not worthy, &c. The Jews avoided intercourse with the Gentiles as unclean. Acts x. 28. The Roman felt therefore that his house was undeserving of the honor of having a great prophet enter it. He expresses a deep and genuine humility, the fruit no doubt of a tender religious sensibility. How refreshing to find a heathen like him, as it were, a native Christian; a piece of human nature retaining its divine image; a Roman religious; a soldier humane; an officer humble! A bright light shining in a dark place!-Speak the word only. His opinion of Jesus was as exalted as that of himself was lowly. His faith is equal to his modesty. To speak the word only is to give merely a verbal command. His pene trating trust saw at a glance that a miraculous cure could be wrought at a distance as easily as when the worker was present himself. 9. This verse may be thus paraphrased, and the sense will be more prominent: "Although I am myself under the command of superior officers, yet, having soldiers under me, I say to one, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it." The Roman soldiers were under the most rigid discipline. The illustration is a striking and apposite one. It is an argument from the less to the greater. As much as to say, If I, who hold a subordinate office, and am subject to the control of others, receive instant obedience from my soldiers and servants, how much more can you, who have supernatural power, cure disorders by a word. You have but to speak, and it is done. The fitness of the comparison evinces the calm, full confidence of the centurion. 10. Marvelled. He wondered, he deemed the faith of the centurion remarkable. So great faith, no, not in Israel. The kind of faith here spoken of was a belief in Jesus' power to work miracles, and work them too at a distance. The centurion had manifested great confidence in Christ's supernatural gifts, believed that he could not only heal his servant, but could do 11 And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the king12 dom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of 13 teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion: Go thy way, and as thou it without entering the house where he was. This was more implicit and larger confidence than any Jew had reposed in him. Among the chosen people, who were most highly favored with religious privileges, he found none so ripe in his confidence as this foreigner and soldier. He might well marvel and wonder that the last should be first, and the first last. 11. This and the following verses are not in Luke's history of the cure of the centurion's servant, but they occur in another connection, Luke xiii. 28, 29.-East and west, i. e. many from all quarters of the globe, from pagan nations, would enter the kingdom of heaven. Is. xlv. 6. lix. 19. Jesus says that the case of the Roman officer would not be a solitary one, but that multitudes of the Gentiles would become members of the assembly of the just made perfect. This remark would serve to soften the prejudices of the Jews against the Gentiles. It was a kindred declaration to that of Peter, in Acts x. 34, 35.—Sit down. Or, literally, recline with. The oriental posture at table is not like ours, a sitting, but a recumbent one. Those who eat recline on couches. The figure expresses the joys of heaven by a banquet, as spiritual things are frequently imaged forth by earthly things. Reference may be made to the Jewish aversion to the Gentiles, which went so far as to exclude them from their tables. The Gentiles have been held unworthy of the common courtesies of life, but they will be admitted to the heavenly feast with the patriarchs themselves. Or, to drop the figure, the Gentiles will be admitted to the privileges and blessings of the Messiah's kingdom in this world and the world to come; a kingdom which was thought to be the exclusive possession of the patriarchs and their descendants. 12. The children of the kingdom. It is a Hebrew idiom to use the words sons and children in the sense of title, possession, desire. Thus, the sons of death are those doomed to death. The child of Satan, a very bad person. The Jews arrogated to themselves the kingdom of the Messiah to the exclusion of the Gentiles, and are called the children of the kingdom. But Jesus reverses the picture; Jews are lost and Gentiles are saved.-Outer darkness-weeping and gnashing of teeth. Ps. cxii. 10. The metaphor is continued. The kingdom of heaven has been compared to a feast. Allusion is now made to the warm, lighted apartments of great splendor, where it is held, by way of contrast to the darkness and wretchedness without, or to gloomy subterranean dungeons into which slaves and prisoners were sometimes cast. Out of the feast chamber all was dark and cold, and those expelled would weep and gnash their teeth from shame and suffering. Some would read, instead of gnashing, chattering of teeth, as produced by the cold into which they were driven. These expressions describe the aw bast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the self-same hour. And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's 14 mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the 15 fever left her; and she arose, and ministered unto them.- -When the 16 even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils; and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias 17 ful calamities which would descend on the Jews, if they rejected the Messiah. Mat. xxi. 43. 13. As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. As you believe that I can cure one at a distance, so be it done. The temporal blessing, which a confidence in the power of Jesus' working miracles produced, may remind us of the incalculable value of faith in securing to us things of far higher excellence, the growth and peace and salvation of the soul.-Was healed in the selfsame hour. Or, at that instant. The cure was immediate and perfect, which proved that it was miraculous. For when persons recover from the palsy by natural means, the cure is gradual. Jesus wrought the miracle at a distance, and upon a stranger; there could then have been no room for anything but reality and truth. thither for the convenience of fishing, after the marriage of Peter. come. 15. Arose, and ministered. Her being able to rise and entertain them was conclusive proof that the cure was complete, and also miraculous, for no natural restoration would have enabled her at once to resume her ordinary employments. 16. When the even was The heat of the day would have been oppressive to the sick. We learn too from Mark i. 21, that it was the Sabbath day, and the regard of the people for its observance led them to postpone bringing their sick friends until after sundown, Mark i. 32, at which time the Sabbath ended, Lev. xxiii. 32, and the next day began. Luke xiii. 14.-Devils, i. e. demons. See note on Mat. iv. 24.—With his word. a word, by the mere force of his command.-Healed all that were At 14-17. Parallel to Mark i. 29— sick. Which showed that he cured 34. Luke iv. 38—41. 14. Peter's house. Jesus was now in Capernaum. Mark calls it the house of Simon Peter and Andrew, and speaks of James and John going with them to the house. Bethsaida was the city of Andrew and Peter, according to John i. 44, a place lying on the Sea of Galilee, south from Capernaum. It is conjectured that this was the house they occasionally resorted to, belonging to Peter's mother-in-law. Or perhaps they had removed them miraculously, for if he had possessed anything short of divine power, he would have cured some, and been unable to cure others. "The Redeemer, surrounded by crowds of such unhappy people who were bowed down by their physical sufferings, exhibited, in the healing power by which he relieved their external wants, an image of that spiritual energy which he constantly exercises, through the power of his redemption, upon the hearts of men." |