After Jesus had finished saying all these things in the hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom he valued highly, was sick and about to die. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and save his servant’s life. So they went to Jesus and begged him repeatedly, “He deserves to have this done for him, because he loves our people and built our synagogue for us.”
So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to tell Jesus, “Sir, stop troubling yourself. For I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. That’s why I didn’t presume to come to you. But just say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I, too, am a man under authority and have soldiers under me. I say to one ‘Go’ and he goes, to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my servant ‘Do this’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found this kind of faith!” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant in perfect health.
Luke 7:1-10
I wonder if you came to the same conclusion as me with regard to whether John 4:46-54 is a parallel to the synoptic account or not. I would say “No”. There are far more differences and there are few similarities. Besides which the Centurion is not mentioned, it is a rather a more general “royal official” in focus. Even more so there is no focus on the faith of this non-Jew that characterizes the accounts of Matthew and Luke. Thus I am not going to include John’s account in this comparison.
The parallel passage here is Matthew 8:1, 5-13 only. If we compare Matthew’s account with Luke’s account we should see some interesting differences. I have coloured in yellow the differences between the stories which are unique to each writer. The similarities are coloured in green. As I have said before I am focused on Luke not Matthew. I am more concerned with the changes in Luke’s account than I am focused on why Matthew has written what he has. That is another issue. I have coloured the similarities and differences between Luke and Matthew to assist you to work out what Luke is doing in his account. What is Luke’s point in arranging things as he has? Comparing it with Matthew’s account helps you to see the changes or the uniqueness of Luke’s story.
Mat 8:1 When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. . . . The healing of a leper . . . [8:2-4]
And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. “For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.
“I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment. (Matt 8:5-13)
I will start you off and give you the link. The first thing to note in comparing Luke with Matthew is the opening of this segment. After Jesus had finished saying all these things in the hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom he valued highly, was sick and about to die as compared with Matthew’s “When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. . . from which Matthew launches straight into the story on the healing of the leper. There is no direct connection between the Sermon to the Centurion.
In Luke there is a strong connection. After He (Jesus) had finished saying X we encounter the Centurion. What is the connection between the Centurion and what Jesus said? What is the X factor? Remember He drew attention to the hearers of the absurdity of claiming He is LORD and not doing what He said. At the heart of the matter is Who is this One we are dealing with? Time for you to take note of the specific differences of Luke’s account and see if you can harmonize them with his purpose in linking the Centurion’s servant story with the sermon on the plat’ain.
There is a wealth of detail in this story that is highly significant. Check it out for yourself. Again I am not going to cover it all in the Gems but see what you can make of it and send me your thoughts if you feel so inclined to discuss it further and I will talk more with you about it. In the next Gem we will continue working out Luke’s purpose. In the meantime have fun.
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When the eagles are silent, the parrots start to jabber?
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Most of us are open to correction… Until we receive it.
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No matter how tall your dad is you’re going to have to do your own growing.
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Most of us are part eagle / part duck; Just make sure you are more eagle than duck.
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