Matthew 8.5-13, Luke 7.1-10.
Luke tells this story after Jesus’s sermon on the plain, and Matthew after his
The story begins with Jesus again returning to his home base of Kfar Nahum, and in Matthew encountering the local centurion; in Luke hearing from local elders about this centurion. Y’might know a
What we do know is this particular centurion had a home in town, and an employee who was either suffering greatly, or dying. Luke calls him a slave who was
So the slave’s illness was enough to bring to the attention of a rabbi well-known for curing the sick.
Matthew 8.5-7 KWL - 5 On returning himself to Kfar Nahum,
- a centurion came to Jesus and encouraged him to help him,
- 6 saying, “Master, my servant has been bedridden in my home, paralyzed by terrible suffering.”
- 7 Jesus told him, “I will come cure him.”
Luke 7.1-6 KWL - 1 When Jesus finished putting all his words in the people’s ears,
- he returned to Kfar Nahum.
- 2 A certain centurion’s slave who had an illness was near dying.
- The slave was highly esteemed by the centurion.
- 3 Hearing about Jesus, the centurion sent him Judean elders,
- asking him, since he’d come, if he might cure his slave.
- 4 Those who came to Jesus encouraged him earnestly, saying this:
- “The one for whom you’ll do this is worthy.
- 5 For he loves our people, and built us our synagogue.”
- 6
A Jesus went with them.
In both cases Jesus had no problem with going to the centurion’s house to cure the slave. Now, compare our Lord’s attitude with that of Simon Peter, who admitted he still thought of gentiles as unclean when the centurion Cornelius called him to Caesarea.
Notice how Matthew describes the centurion and Jesus having a personal conversation, but Luke has the centurion send some of the