Luke 7:1 Commentary and Bible Study

Looking back just to chapter 6 and verse 19, you see what had happened on those plains just outside Capernaum. The whole multitude sought to touch him, for there went virtue out of him and healed them all. He healed all the sick, probably without exception, out of a vast multitude of people who came to hear him preach and came to hear him heal and see him heal, and the people just poured out of that crowd and he was able at a word to heal them all, and that of course was very well known in Capernaum. But there were miracles performed in connection with the city of Capernaum: the healing of the nobleman's son, the deliverance of the demon possessed man in Capernaum, the healing of Peter's mother-in from a terrible fever, and others also. Now we are going to see a centurion in Capernaum, the general officer commanding the Roman garrison in Capernaum which dealt with the entire region, and he knew all about these healings. Here was this prophet, this healer, who was drawing vast crowds. Well, that could spell trouble. It was his business to know exactly what this man was about, what he was teaching. Was he stirring up difficulty or not? Was he purely a religious teacher and miracle worker? What exactly was he doing? He would have had his officers there and he would have known precisely what was going on.