Matthew 8:6 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Matthew 8:6

Comments

Matthew describes the servant as sick of the palsy. He was paralysed by a disease of the central nervous system, a wasting disease which led to tremors, and they had no cure for it. He was grievously or dreadfully tormented. He had this condition for some time, and now he was dying Luke tells us, and they knew it. This was a servant the centurion cared deeply about and who was dear to him. What he had done we don’t know. The Greek for servant is boy, a kind of personal servant, a batman as seen in the First World War. Together they would go through the rigours of battle, and maybe this man had demonstrated peculiar acts of loyalty to protect his master’s life. But now the servant is in a bad way. He was paralysed by an affliction causing severe pain and he was about to die. No doubt he had tried the doctors. That is pretty obvious since he loved this servant and valued him highly. We can assume he had sought all the help he could get, and he was not without means to pay for treatment. But now he who had been a fit man was now dying. This made him feel very small and inadequate. He was a centurion: every whim and command that he gave was obeyed, but here was a situation in which he had no power. Now however he heard of this prophet in the land, and he realised how much he need help from God.Maybe when his servant became ill, it made the centurion think. The experts say that the Romans did not go in for charity. There was very little compassion towards the poor and the sick, and therefore the centurion’s concern for his servant indicates he had begun to read Scripture even before this encounter with the Lord. He was a proselyte to Judaism, and the elders were very fond of him. He reads promises of the Messiah and he heard reports about the Lord’s ministry in Galilee – it was his business to know what was happening in the region. Luke adds that they reported to Christ that the centurion loved their nation and had paid for the construction of the synagogue in Capernaum. This was certainly not something that the centurion would have drawn attention to. His sense of unworthiness made him hide any good works that might count to his credit. This contrasts strongly with what they say about him: he feels so unworthy and they misrepresent him as worthy. This makes a strong contrast between what the Lord meant and what they meant by worthy. If the Lord did not have the eyes of God he could have been quite put off by this misleading testimony.

Application

We come to one who knows us far better than any mere human being. He reads our hearts and knows our true need. He does not accept man’s testimony about man, because he knows all men directly. The sincere seeker wants the Lord to search his heart, because he does not trust himself to search his own heart. God must know the full extent of our sin, and God must provide the solution to sin. Therefore we do not want to bring any mere human testimony to God about our case but to have him pronounce his assessment of us. Nor should we, in evaluating ourselves, pay too much attention to what our fellow man says about us. Human beings are prone to flatter each other, as well as to attack each other, but in neither case is their testimony reliable.

Pride is a killer. It says, ‘You are a good fellow’, and the Jews said this too to the centurion. The world forces us down, then lifts us up, and then crushes us again. It is exactly the opposite of what the word of God odes. The world says, ‘You are nothing, just an animal, an advanced animal. Because there is no right and wrong you are entitled to do as you like. Then it says we need self-esteem: that is the answer to everything; even the doctor says this. The gospel says you are created by God, in his image, and you have the gift of reason and intellect. The world says go and reap the consequences. The world lifts us up into sins increasing mountain of guilt and sin need to ask pardon in order to be saved. And the Jews were the opposite.

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Matthew 8:6 Commentary and Bible Study