Luke 7:7 Commentary and Bible Study

He has explained why he is unwilling to have Christ come to his house, and now he explains why he has sent messengers to Christ instead of coming himself. It is not because he considers it below him to come personally when he has servants who can carry the message for him. He has done both things for the same reason: it is because of his profound sense of unworthiness in the presence of Christ. He knows that his testimony about his motive is true and he knows that Christ who reads his heart also knows it is true, but he wants to say it anyway. It sounds an exaggeration, but it is not. This Roman soldier had seen what so many others had failed to see. In spite of Christ’s lowly appearance as a simple carpenter’s son, the centurion had seen the glory and majesty of the Lord, and he knew his true worth was very different to his outward appearance. He knew that this was the Messiah promised in Scripture, who would bring blessing on all the ends of the earth. Faith realises the amazing spiritual power of Christ: ‘But say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.’ First you have to have a sense of need, second you have to realize your unworthiness, but third you must believe in him, in his great power to transform your life and to save your soul, to forgive you and make you a new person. You have to believe in the spiritual power of Christ to take away your sin, to change your heart, to command the powers at his disposal and to perform an operation in your life so that you become a new person and you are totally changed. He has a new view of Christ. He heard of Christ, and sent for him, and he believes he can help him. What does he base that on? On Christ's record. He is a healer, he charges no money, he goes about as a relatively poor man, followed by his disciples, he does astonishing things, the crowds gather, he's not in it for himself, he's not in it for money, he has such character and kindness; this is astonishing, this is amazing. He's pretty amazed at Christ, and he's increasingly sure he can meet his need. He fulfils the prophecies, according to what he has heard from the Jews. All the ancient prophecies – and there are so many of them – predict the coming of the Messiah, what he would be like, what he would do, how he would carry himself, how people would respond to him, and he fulfils them all. Increasingly, the more he heard, the more he had an entirely new view of Christ. ‘And my servant shall be healed.’ The Greek word translated ‘servant’ here is a different word. It isn't ‘slave’, it's ‘boy’. So what he says is, ‘my boy shall be healed.’ So he is a slave boy we discover. Now we are not in favour of boys being treated as slaves, but we're repeating here what was in Roman society. This man had a batman or a servant who was a slave boy and he obviously was concerned about him, so that he treated him more like a son. There were some amazing stories in history about slave boys to Roman centurions and higher officers, who saved their lives, who took the arrow for them, who rushed in the way when a sword thrust was coming at them. Some of these youngsters were very devoted and very plucky. None of that is in favour of slavery, but these are the facts. He was sick, desperately sick. Actually we are told a little more in Matthew's Gospel. His trouble was that he had become paralysed but it was in such a form that he was tormented with pain, so it was a complex condition that he was in and he was ready to die. Some doctors have suggested that this particular paralytic lad was at a stage where he couldn't breathe, and he could almost die at any time and it was tormenting him.