A certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and save his servant. When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us.” Jesus went with them. When he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.
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Luke 7:2-6 sits inside this longer paragraph.
After he had finished speaking in the hearing of the people, he entered into Capernaum. A certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and save his servant. When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us.” Jesus went with them. When he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. Therefore I didn’t even think myself worthy to come to you; but say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Parallel Translations
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A certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death.
When he heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and save his servant.
When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to do this for him,
for he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us.”
Jesus went with them. When he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.
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And a certayne Centurions seruaunte was sicke and redy to dye whom he made moche of.
And when he hearde of Iesu he sent vnto him the elders of the Iewes besechinge him that he wolde come and heale his servaunt.
And they came to Iesus and besought him instantly sayinge: He is worthi that thou shuldest do this for him.
For he loveth oure nacion and hath bilt vs a sinagoge
And Iesus went with them. And when he was not farre from the housse the Centurion sent frendes to him sayinge vnto him: Lorde trouble not thy silfe: for I am not worthy that thou shuldest enter vnder my roffe.
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And a certaine Ceturions seruant was sicke and readie to die, which was deare vnto him.
And when he heard of Iesus, hee sent vnto him the Elders of the Iewes, beseeching him that he would come, and heale his seruant.
So they came to Iesus, and besought him instantly, saying that hee was worthy that hee should doe this for him:
For he loueth, said they, our nation, and he hath built vs a Synagogue.
Then Iesus went with them: but when he was now not farre from the house, the Centurion sent friendes to him, saying vnto him, Lord, trouble not thy selfe: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter vnder my roofe:
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Cross-references (53)
- Matthew 8:5 (v3) When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him,
- 2 Chronicles 2:11-12 (v5) Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, “Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over…
- Mark 5:24 (v6) He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides.
- Genesis 24:27 (v2) He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for…
- Genesis 32:10 (v6) I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my…
Show all 53 cross-references
- 2 Kings 5:2-3 (v2) The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.…
- 1 Chronicles 29:3-9 (v5) In addition, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, since I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, I give it to the…
- Matthew 3:11 (v6) I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will…
- Matthew 10:11 (v4) Into whatever city or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy; and stay there until you go on.
- Matthew 10:37-38 (v4) He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. He who…
- Luke 7:6-7 (v4) Jesus went with them. When he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, don’t trouble…
- Luke 8:49 (v6) While he still spoke, one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house came, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t trouble the Teacher.”
- John 4:46-47 (v2) Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at…
- James 4:6 (v6) But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Revelation 3:4 (v4) Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that didn’t defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
- Genesis 24:2-14 (v2) Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh. I will make you…
- Genesis 24:35-49 (v2) Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. Yahweh has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female…
- Genesis 35:8 (v2) Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.
- Genesis 39:4-6 (v2) Joseph found favor in his sight. He ministered to him, and Potiphar made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his…
- 1 Kings 5:1 (v5) Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father, and Hiram had…
- Job 31:5 (v2) “If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit
- Proverbs 29:21 (v2) He who pampers his servant from youth will have him become a son in the end.
- Proverbs 29:23 (v6) A man’s pride brings him low, but one of lowly spirit gains honor.
- Matthew 5:26-27 (v6) Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny. “You have heard that it was said,…
- Matthew 10:13 (v4) If the household is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it isn’t worthy, let your peace return to you.
- Matthew 27:54 (v2) Now the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared…
- Luke 5:8 (v6) But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.”
- Luke 7:4 (v6) When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to do this for him,
- Luke 8:42 (v2) for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes pressed against him.
- Luke 9:38 (v3) Behold, a man from the crowd called out, saying, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.
- Luke 15:19-21 (v6) I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.” ’ “He arose, and came to his father. But while he was…
- Luke 20:35 (v4) But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
- Luke 23:47 (v2) When the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous man.”
- John 4:47 (v3) When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for…
- John 11:2-3 (v2) It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick. The sisters…
- Acts 10:38 (v6) even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were…
- Colossians 3:22–4:1 (v2) Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in…
- Philemon 1:10 (v3) I beg you for my child, whom I have become the father of in my chains, Onesimus,
- 1 John 3:14 (v5) We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who doesn’t love his brother remains in death.
- 1 John 3:18-19 (v5) My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth. And by this we know that we are of the…
- 1 John 5:1-3 (v5) Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him. By this…
- Ezra 7:27-28 (v5) Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify Yahweh’s house which is in…
- Matthew 20:28 (v6) even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
- Luke 8:41 (v3) Behold, a man named Jairus came. He was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’ feet, and begged him to come into his house,
- Acts 10:1 (v2) Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,
- Acts 10:7 (v2) When the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who waited on…
- Acts 22:26 (v2) When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, “Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman!”
- Acts 23:17 (v2) Paul summoned one of the centurions, and said, “Bring this young man to the commanding officer, for he has something to tell him.”
- Acts 27:1 (v2) When it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the…
- Acts 27:3 (v2) The next day, we touched at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly, and gave him permission to go to his friends and refresh himself.
- Acts 27:43 (v2) But the centurion, desiring to save Paul, stopped them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should throw themselves…
- Galatians 5:6 (v5) For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
- James 4:10 (v6) Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–6 2 And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear…
2 And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.
Ver. 2. And a certain centurion’s servant] Piscator thinks that this history is not the same with that Mat 8:5. His reasons may be read in his Scholia on that place.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–6 And a certain centurion's servant,.... The same that Matthew…
And a certain centurion's servant,.... The same that Matthew makes mention of, Mat 8:5; see Gill on Mat 8:5. See Gill on Mat 8:6.
who was dear unto him; to the centurion, being an honest, upright, faithful, and obliging servant; as Tabi was to Rabban Gamaliel, of whom his master said (l),
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"Tabi my servant, is not as other servants, , "he is upright".''
was sick: of a palsy; see Mat 8:6,
and ready to die; in all appearance his case was desperate, and there was no help for him by any human means, which makes the following cure, the more remarkable.
(l) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 16. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v3 Hearing of Jesus - Of his miracles, and of…
Hearing of Jesus - Of his miracles, and of his arrival at Capernaum.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5 Verse 2. A certain centurion's servant] See this miracle…
Verse 2. A certain centurion's servant] See this miracle explained on Mt 8:5-13.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv2, 4 Who was dear unto him - That is, he…
Who was dear unto him - That is, he was valuable, trusty, and honored.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6 This history, though different in some circumstances from that…
This history, though different in some circumstances from that related by St. Matthew, chap. viii., is most likely a relation of the same event, and the apparent discrepancies may be easily reconciled. St. Matthew says it was the centurion’s boy; St. Luke calls him his servant: but in these terms there is no necessary contradiction. And whereas the former says the centurion went himself to Christ, St. Luke mentions that he sent the ancients, or senators, of the Jews. Here, as in other places, we may suppose, that the former evangelist, for the sake of brevity, attributes to the centurion what was done in his name and with his authority; and through the whole narrative he represents our Saviour answering the centurion as if personally present. (Jansenius, concord. Evan.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v5 loved our nation--Having found that "salvation was of the…
loved our nation--Having found that "salvation was of the Jews," he loved them for it.
built, &c.--His love took this practical and appropriate form.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2–5 2. Servant—Luke says doulos, servant; but Matthew has it…
2. Servant—Luke says doulos, servant; but Matthew has it pais, boy. There are three words in the Greek language expressive of the condition of rendering service to a superior or employer, namely, μισθιος or μισθωτος, misthios or misthotos, a hired person; ανδραποδον, andrapodon, a slave owned by a proprietor; and δουλος, doulos, a servant, generically including either of the former two, designating any person performing a subordinate service for any reason whatever; as for hire, for love, from civil office, from religious duty, or from ownership.
The first of these three words occurs in Luke 15 :l7-19; Mar_1:20; Joh_10:12-13. The second never occurs in the New Testament. But its derivative, ανδραποδιστης, andrapodistes, is used in 1Ti_1:10, and signifies an enslaver, whether by stealing a man or capturing him in war, or any other means. In all other cases in the New Testament where the English word servant occurs, the Greek word is doulos.
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The word boy here denotes the same relation as when an English speaker would call his waiter by the terms my boy or my man. The precise nature of the servitude must be learned from other circumstances than the term used. Very probably the boy in the present case was a slave. If so, he was held in absolute Roman slavery, his life being at the perfect disposal of his master. Of course the law of Christ allowed him to exercise no such right. Whether Christ uttered the word or not, (and we do not know that he did not,) the moment the centurion became a Christian he held his boy as a brother, (Phm_1:16,) entitled to all the rights conferred by the golden rule.
Under the Mosaic law all persons were set free by the jubilee every fiftieth year; so that permanent slavery proper had no legal existence, and even involuntary servitude had a precarious footing. Those who wonder why Jesus did not prohibit slavery, must show some reason for supposing that a Jewish slavery existed at all in Palestine. The reverse was probably the fact.
Sick—Of a paralysis. This is not contradicted by the fact that he is said to have been grievously tormented; for paralysis or palsy, with the contraction of the joints, is accompanied with severe pain. United with tetanus, as it sometimes is in eastern countries, extreme suffering and rapid dissolution are often the result.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–6 2. a certain centurion’s servant] Literally, “slave” The word…
2. a certain centurion’s servant] Literally, “slave” The word used by St Matthew (pais) might mean son, but is clearly also used for servant (like the Latin puer). A centurion is a captain; under him is a sergeant (dekadarch), and above him a colonel (chiliarch), and general (hegemon). Jos. B. J. v. 12, § 2. All the centurions in the N.T. are favourably mentioned (Luk_23:47; Act_27:43).
dear] Rather, precious. The love of the captain for his servant was a good example for the Jews themselves, who in the Talmud forbade mourning for slaves.
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sick] St Matthew says, “stricken with paralysis, and in terrible pain” (Luk_8:6). St Luke, as a physician, may have omitted this specification because the description applies rather to tetanus than to the strict use of “paralysis.”
ready to die] Rather, was on the point of death.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–6 (2) A certain centurion’s servant.—See Notes on Mat_8:5-13.
(2) A certain centurion’s servant.—See Notes on Mat_8:5-13.
Was dear unto him.—Literally, was precious, the dearness of value, but not necessarily of affection. St. Luke is here, contrary to what we might have expected, less precise than St. Matthew, who states that the slave was “sick of the palsy.” Had the physician been unable to satisfy himself from what he heard as to the nature of the disease? The details that follow show that he had made inquiries, and was able to supply some details which St. Matthew had not given.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–6 And a certain centurion"s servant; literally, slave. The difference…
And a certain centurion"s servant; literally, slave. The difference is important, as we shall see in the picture presented to us of the centurion"s character. A centurion was an officer in the Roman army: the grade answers to the modem European captain German, hauptmann; the command included a hundred soldiers. Scholars are not agreed respecting the special service of this particular officer. Some consider he was a Greek or Syrian holding a commission under the prince of the country, the tetrach Herod Antipas; others, that he was in the service of the empire, with a small detachment of the garrison of Caesarea, doing duty at the important lake-city, probably in connection with the revenue. It is clear that Roman garrisons at this period were dotted about the various centres of population in these semi-dependent states. At Jerusalem we know a considerable Roman force was stationed, professedly to keep order in the turbulent capital, but really, no doubt, to overawe the national party. Was sick, and ready to die. St. Matthew calls the disease paralysis, and adds that the sufferer was in extreme pain. The disorder was probably some dangerous form of rheumatic fever, which not unfrequently attacks the region of the heart, and is accompanied with severe pain, and proves in many instances fatal. The ordinary, paralysis would scarcely be accompanied with the acute pain mentioned by St. Matthew.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv4, 6 Luk 7:4, Luk 7:6 - Luk 7:7.
Luke
WORTHY-NOT WORTHY
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Luk 7:4, Luk 7:6 - Luk 7:7.
A Roman centurion, who could induce the elders of a Jewish village to approach Jesus on his behalf, must have been a remarkable person. The garrison which held down a turbulent people was not usually likely to be much loved by them. But this man, about whom the incident with which our texts are connected is related, was obviously one of the people of whom that restless age had many, who had found out that his creed was outworn, and who had been drawn to Judaism by its lofty monotheism and its austere morality. He had gone so far as to build a synagogue, and thereby, no doubt, incurred the ridicule of his companions, and perhaps the suspicions of his superiors. What would the English authorities think of an Indian district officer that conformed to Buddhism or Brahminism, and built a temple? That is what the Roman officials would think of our centurion. And there were other beautiful traits in his character. He had a servant ‘that was dear to him.’ It was not only the nexus of master and servant and cash payments that bound these two together. And very beautiful is this story, when he himself speaks about this servant. He does not use the rough word which implies a bondservant, and which is employed throughout the whole of the rest of the narrative, but a much gentler one, and speaks of him as his ‘boy.’ So he had won the hearts of these elders so far as to make them swallow their dislike to Jesus, and deign to go to Him with a request which implied His powers at which at all other times they scoffed.
Now, we owe to Luke the details which show us that there was a double deputation to our Lord-the first which approached Him to ask His intervention, and the second which the centurion sent when he saw the little group coming towards his house, and a fresh gush of awe rose in his heart. The elders said, ‘He is worthy’; he said, ‘I am not worthy.’ The verbal resemblance is, indeed, not so close in the original as in our versions, for the literal rendering of the words put into the centurion’s mouth is ‘not fit.’ But still the evident antithesis is preserved: the one saying expresses the favourable view that partial outsiders took of the man, the other gives the truer view that the man took of himself. And so, putting away the story altogether, we may set these two verdicts side by side, as suggesting wider lessons than those which arise from the narrative itself.
I. And, first, we have here the shallow plea of worthiness.
These elders did not think loftily of Jesus Christ. The conception that we have of Him goes a long way to settle whether it is possible or not for us to approach Him with the word ‘worthy’ on our lips. The higher we lift our thought of Christ, the lower becomes our thought of ourselves. These elders saw the centurion from the outside, and estimated him accordingly. There is no more frequent, there is no more unprofitable and impossible occupation, than that of trying to estimate other people’s characters. Yet there are few things that we are so fond of doing. Half our conversation consists of it, and a very large part of what we call literature consists of it; and it is bound to be always wrong, whether it is eulogistic or condemnatory, because it only deals with the surface.
Here we have the shallow plea advanced by these elders in reference to the centurion which corresponds to the equally shallow plea that some of us are tempted to advance in reference to ourselves. The disposition to do so is in us all. Luther said that every man was born with a Pope in his belly. Every man is born with a Pharisee in himself, who thinks that religion is a matter of barter, that it is so much work, buying so much favour here, or heaven hereafter. Wherever you look, you see the working of that tendency. It is the very mainspring of heathenism, with all its penances and performances. It is enshrined in the heart of Roman Catholicism, with its dreams of a treasury of merits, and works of supererogation and the like. Ay! and it has passed over into a great deal of what calls itself Evangelical Protestantism, which thinks that, somehow or other, it is all for our good to come here, for instance on a Sunday, though we have no desire to come and no true worship in us when we have come, and to do a great many things that we would much rather not do, and to abstain from a great many things that we are strongly inclined to, and all with the notion that we have to bring some ‘worthiness’ in order to move Jesus Christ to deal graciously with us.
And then notice that the religion of barter, which thinks to earn God’s favour by deeds, and is, alas! the only religion of multitudes, and subtly mingles with the thoughts of all, tends to lay the main stress on the mere external arts of cult and ritual. ‘He loveth our nation, and hath built us a synagogue’; not, ‘He is gentle, good, Godlike.’ ‘He has built a synagogue.’ That is the type of work which most people who fall into the notion that heaven is to be bought, offer as the price. I have no doubt that there are many people who have never caught a glimpse of any loftier conception than that, and who, when they think-which they do not often do-about religious subjects at all, are saying to themselves, ‘I do as well as I can,’ and who thus bring in some vague thought of the mercy of God as a kind of make-weight to help out what of their own they put in the scale. Ah, dear brethren! that is a wearying, an endless, a self-torturing, an imprisoning, an enervating thought, and the plea of ‘worthiness’ is utterly out of place and unsustainable before God.
II. Now let me turn to the deeper conviction which silences that plea.
‘I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof, wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee.’ This man had a loftier conception of who and what Christ was than the elders had. To them He was only one of themselves, perhaps endowed with some kind of prophetic power, but still one of themselves. The centurion had pondered over the mystic power of the word of command, as he knew it by experience in the legion, or in the little troop of which he, though a man under the authority of his higher officers, was the commander; and he knew that even his limited power carried with it absolute authority and compelled obedience. And he had looked at Christ, and wondered, and thought, and had come at last to a dim apprehension of that great truth that, somehow or other, in this Man there did lie a power which, by the mere utterance of His will, could affect matter, could raise the dead, could still a storm, could banish disease, could quell devils. He did not formulate his belief, he could not have said exactly what it led to, or what it contained, but he felt that there was something divine about Him. And so, seeing, though it was but through mists, the sight of that great perfection, that divine humanity and human divinity, he bowed himself and said, ‘Lord! I am not worthy.’
When you see Christ as He is, and give Him the honour due to His name, all notions of desert will vanish utterly.
Further, the centurion saw himself from the inside, and that makes all the difference. Ah, brethren! most of us know our own characters just as little as we know our own faces, and find it as difficult to form a just estimate of what the hidden man of the heart looks like as we find it impossible to form a just estimate of what we look to other people as we walk down the street. But if we once turned the searchlight upon ourselves, I do not think that any of us would long be able to stand by that plea, ‘I am worthy.’ Have you ever been on a tour of discovery, like what they go through at the Houses of Parliament on the first day of each session, down into the cellars to see what stores of explosive material, and what villains to fire it, may be lurking there? If you have once seen yourself as you are, and take into account, not only actions but base tendencies, foul, evil thoughts, imagined sins of the flesh, meannesses and basenesses that never have come to the surface, but which you know are bits of you, I do not think that you will have much more to say about ‘I am worthy.’ The flashing waters of the sea may be all blazing in the sunshine, but if they were drained off, what a frightful sight the mud and the ooze at the bottom would be! Others look at the dancing, glittering surface, but you, if you are a wise man, will go down in the diving-bell sometimes, and for a while stop there at the bottom, and turn a bull’s-eye straight upon all the slimy, crawling things that are there, and that would die if they came into the light.
‘I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof.’ But then, as I have said, most of us are strangers to ourselves. The very fact of a course of action which, in other people, we should describe with severe condemnation, being ours, bribes us to indulgence and lenient judgment. Familiarity, too, weakens our sense of the foulness of our own evils. If you have been in the Black Hole all night, you do not know how vitiated the atmosphere is. You have to come out into the fresh air to find out that. We look at the errors of others through a microscope; we look at our own through the wrong end of the telescope; and the one set, when we are in a cynical humour, seem bigger than they are; and the other set always seem smaller.
Now, that clear consciousness of my own sinfulness ought to underlie all my religious feelings and thoughts. I believe, for my part, that no man is in a position to apprehend Christianity rightly who has not made the acquaintance of his own bad self. And I trace a very large proportion of the shallow Christianity of this day as well as of the disproportion in which its various truths are set forth, and the rising of crops of erroneous conceptions just to this, that this generation has to a large extent lost-no, do not let me say this generation, you and I-have to a large extent lost, that wholesome consciousness of our own unworthiness and sin.
But on the other hand, let me remind you that the centurion’s deeper conviction is not yet the deepest of all, and that whilst the Christianity which ignores sin is sure to be impotent, on the other hand the Christianity which sees very little but sin is bondage and misery, and is impotent too. And there are many of us whose type of religion is far gloomier than it should be, and whose motive of service is far more servile than it ought to be, just because we have not got beyond the centurion, and can only say, ‘I am not worthy; I am a poor, miserable sinner.’
III. And so I come to the third point, which is not in my text, but which both my texts converge upon, and that is the deepest truth of all, that worthiness or unworthiness has nothing to do with Christ’s love.
When these elders interceded with Jesus, He at once rose and went with them, and that not because of their intercession or of the certificate of character which they had given, but because His own loving heart impelled Him to go to any soul that sought His help. So we are led away from all anxious questionings as to whether we are worthy or no, and learn that, far above all thoughts either of undue self-complacency or of undue self-depreciation, lies the motive for Christ’s gracious and healing approach in.
‘His ceaseless, unexhausted love,
Unmerited and free.’
This is the truth to which the consciousness of sinfulness and unworthiness points us all, for which that consciousness prepares us, in which that consciousness does not melt away, but rather is increased and ceases to be any longer a burden or a pain. Here, then, we come to the very bed-rock of everything, for
‘Merit lives from man to man,
But not from man, O Lord, to Thee.’
Jesus Christ comes to us, not drawn by our deserts, but impelled by His own love, and that love pours itself out upon each of us. So we do not need painfully to amass a store of worthiness, nor to pile up our own works, by which we may climb to heaven. ‘Say not, who shall ascend up into heaven,’ to bring Christ down again, ‘but the word is nigh thee, that if thou wilt believe with thine heart, thou shalt be saved.’ Worthiness or unworthiness is to be swept clean out of the field, and I am to be content to be a pauper, to owe everything to what I have done nothing to procure, and to cast myself on the sole, all-sufficient mercy of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
And then comes liberty, and then comes joy. If the gift is given from no consideration of men’s deserts, then the only thing that men have to do is to exercise the faith that takes it. As the Apostle says in words that sound very hard and technical, but which, if you would only ponder them, are throbbing with vitality, ‘It is of faith that it might be by grace.’ Since He gives simply because He loves, the only requisites are the knowledge of our need, the will to receive, the trust that, in clasping the Giver, possesses the gift.
The consciousness of unworthiness will be deepened. The more we know ourselves to be sinful, the more we shall cleave to Christ, and the more we cleave to Christ, the more we shall know ourselves to be sinful. Peter caught a glimpse of what Jesus was when he sat in the boat, and he said, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ But Peter saw both himself and his Lord more clearly, that is more truly, when, subsequent to his black treachery, his brother Apostle said to him concerning the figure standing on the beach in the grey morning, ‘It is the Lord,’ and he flung himself over the side and floundered through the water to get to his Master’s feet. For that is the place for the man who knows himself unworthy. The more we are conscious of our sin, the closer let us cling to our Lord’s forgiving heart, and the more sure we are that we have that love which we have not earned, the more shall we feel how unworthy of it we are. As one of the prophets says, with profound meaning, ‘Thou shalt be ashamed and confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy transgression, when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done.’ The child buries its face on its mother’s breast, and feels its fault the more because the loving arms clasp it close.
And so, dear brethren, deepen your convictions, if you are deluded by that notion of merit; deepen your convictions, if you see your own evil so clearly that you see little else. Come into the light, come into the liberty, rise to that great thought, ‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by His mercy He saved us.’ Have done with the religion of barter, and come to the religion of undeserved grace. If you are going to stop on the commercial level, ‘the wages of sin is death’; rise to the higher ground: ‘the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v6 The faith of the centurion:
The faith of the centurion:
v. 6. Then Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying unto Him, Lord, trouble not Thyself; for I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof;
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v. 7. wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee; but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.
v. 8. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
v. 9. When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned Him about, and said unto the people that followed Him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
v. 10. And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.
Strange disagreement! The Jewish elders declare that he is worthy, the centurion says that he is not worthy. They had intimated in their petition that it would be best for Jesus to come, and He, accordingly, went with them. The officer maintains that so much bother and inconvenience on the part of Christ was too much honor for him. When the centurion received the news that Jesus was coming in person, a possibility with which he had not reckoned, the fear of his unworthiness took hold of him. Jesus was even now quite near. Therefore the Roman quickly dispatches other friends to intercept Him, saying that Christ should not bother, should not put Himself out by coming in person. He as the host, and his house as reception-hall for the Most High: that seemed altogether too incongruous to him. For that reason also he had not come in person, but had sent a delegation to plead with the Lord. Note: The argument of the centurion is a model of humility, especially since he does not draw the conclusion, but makes his object so obvious that the effect is all the more overwhelming. He himself was a mere man; Christ was the Lord from heaven. He was a man under authority, in a constant state of subordination; Christ was the King of kings, the Lord of lords. Yet the centurion could give commands which his soldiers and his slave must carry out at once at his bidding, so great was the authority of a mere man. Surely here was a clear case: Speak only in a word, by means of a single word, and the sickness must obey Thy almighty will. He that has the true, living faith in his heart realizes his own unworthiness and weakness before the Lord, and yet he does not doubt, but firmly believes, that the Lord of heaven loves him and will gladly help him. The believer understands what mercy is, and that the mercy of God is intended for those that are without worthiness and merit.
This argument of faith conquered Jesus. He was filled with astonishment; He turned to the multitude that was following Him and said: I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. In the midst of the chosen people, to whom were entrusted the words of the revelation of God, the majority, if not all, should have felt as this Roman officer did, but they were here put to shame by an outsider. And in His joy over this rare find Jesus spoke the word for which the centurion had pleaded. When those that had been sent returned to the centurion’s house, they found the sick servant restored to perfect health. Thus was the faith of this heathen rewarded. Faith at all times takes hold of Christ, the almighty, kind Helper and Savior, and thus it accepts from Christ help, comfort, grace, and every good thing. Faith depends entirely upon the Word, and therefore takes and puts into its own possession all that the Word promises.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2, 6 who was highly regarded by him
who was highly regarded by him
"whom the centurion valued" or "whom he respected"
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asked him earnestly
"pleaded with him" or "begged him"
He is worthy
"The centurion is worthy"
our nation
"our people." This refers to the Jewish people.
translationWords
centurion
servant
precious
elder
Jew
worthy
nation
synagogue
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2, 3, 5, 6 7:2 a Roman officer (literally a centurion): A centurion…
7:2 a Roman officer (literally a centurion): A centurion was in charge of a “century,” approximately 100 soldiers. There were 60 centuries, or 6,000 soldiers, in a Roman legion.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.