Luke 7:1-17
Good morning, RTB’ers!
A couple of days ago we saw the scribes and Pharisees challenging Jesus. Today we see a different Synagogue group, “elders of the Jews” (v. 3) who were members of the Synagogue (v. 5), but clearly not a group wanting to challenge Jesus. Instead, they come to Him with a request from a local centurion, seeking healing from Jesus. What a contrast between these elders and the previous scribes and Pharisees! NOTE: In Matthew’s gospel the centurion himself comes directly to Jesus and makes his request. (Matthew 8:5-13)
When I was growing up with my Catholic roots the centurion’s words were turned into a Communion song:
O Lord, I am not worthy
That Thou should’st come to me,
But speak the words of comfort,
My spirit healed shall be.O Lord, Thou are all holy,
The angels Thee adore.
How ought I then sincerely
My wrongs and sins deplore.And humbly I’ll receive Thee,
The bridegroom of my soul,
No more my sin to grieve Thee,
Nor fly Thy sweet control.
I may not be exact on the words and I believe that there are more verses, but memory fails me and the Internet only gave me some modern renditions of this song.
There are two other cases in the gospels where Jesus raises someone from the dead. What are they? Go and find them and look at contrasts between those incidents and what Luke reports in today’s reading.
Blessings!
What do you make of the centurion’s statement “for I TOO am a man under authority”? What is the centurion saying here? What is he comparing to Jesus?
Anyone feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but I read this as the centurion comparing his ability to give orders to soldiers/servants to Jesus’ authority over everything. I think he was pointing out that Jesus has strong authority and could therefore just speak the word and his servant would be healed, just as the centurion could just speak a word and a soldier would comply.
I agree with Abigail’s reply as to both the centurion and Jesus being authority figures. As to the centurion being “under authority”, clearly he was. As I note below, a centurion was part of a legion, so clearly he was under that higher authority. As to the comparison of Jesus being “under authority”…? Clearly Jesus “emptied Himself” (Philippians 2:6) by coming to Earth and served in obedience to His Father’s will. But how would the centurion have known that?? Not likely! Possibly the centurion just sensed that Jesus must be under someone’s authority to be able to do the miracles that He was doing? A good question, Dick!
I’m not quite sure I understand what a centurion is?
A centurion is a Roman soldier in charge of 80-100 other Roman soldiers. There are typically 60 centurions in a “legion”. We’ll see that word “legion” pop up a few times in the gospels. See very soon Luke 8:26-39, then later Matthew 26:53.