Matthew 8:5-13

Rachel Workman: ⁵ When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer^[b] came and pleaded with him, ⁶ “Lord, my young servant^[c] lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”
⁷ Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
⁸ But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! ¹¹ And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. ¹² But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
¹³ Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.
And Jesus was amazed. I can't imagine being the person that amazes Jesus. I know too many times my faith has not been where it should be.

____________________________________________________________________________________

John Burnett:  ⁵ And when ^[e]Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, ⁶ and saying, “^[f]Lord, my ^[g]servant is ^[h]lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” ⁷ Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ But the centurion said, “^[i]Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just ^[j]say the word, and my ^[k]servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith ^[l]with anyone in Israel. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from east and west, and ^[m]recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; ¹² but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³ And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; ^[n]it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the ^[o]servant was healed that very ^[p]moment.  This Roman Centurion understood who Jesus was and the power that he had to heal his servant.  It is sad that Jesus could not find someone with the faith of the Centurion, including his disciples.  Verse 11 and 12 are prophesy that we should be excited about.  Jesus’s millennial kingdom will be in Israel and he is telling the people (mostly Jews) there that many gentiles will be in the kingdom of heaven but there will be Israelites who will be cast into hell because they did not realize He was the Messiah.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Pat Bell:  Even though he was a Roman officer he saw who Jesus was…this speaks to me…I love his faith!
⁵ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶ “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” This centurion could have let many obstacles stand between him and Jesus—pride, doubt, money, language, distance, time, self-sufficiency, power, race. But he didn’t. If he did not let these barriers block his approach to Jesus, we don’t need to either. What keeps you from Christ?

____________________________________________________________________________________

Allen Michaels: Roman soldiers, of all people, were hated by the Jews for their oppression, control, and ridicule. Yet this man’s genuine faith amazed Jesus! This hated Gentile’s faith put to shame the stagnant piety of many of the Jewish religious leaders.

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

⁸ The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Jesus told the crowd that many religious Jews who should be in the kingdom would be excluded because of their lack of faith. Entrenched in their religious traditions, they could not accept Christ and his new message. We must be careful not to become so set in our religious habits that we expect God to work only in specified ways. Don’t limit God by your mind-set and lack of faith.

“The east and the west” stands for the four corners of the earth. All the faithful people of God will be gathered to feast with the Messiah (Isaiah 25:6, 55). The Jews should have known that when the Messiah came, his blessings would be for Gentile’s too (see Isaiah 66:12, 19). But this message came as a shock because they were too wrapped up in their own affairs and destiny. In claiming God’s promises, we must not apply them so personally that we forget to see what God wants to do to reach all the people he loves.

¹³ Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.