“And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,”
When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him. The second healing involves a Roman centurion — a Gentile military officer with one hundred soldiers under his command. The centurion's approach to Jesus is remarkable both socially (a Roman officer petitioning a Jewish teacher) and spiritually (a representative of the occupying power addressing the one who will announce that the kingdoms of the world belong to God). Luke 7:1–10 provides the fuller version of this story, including the delegation of Jewish elders who vouch for the centurion. Matthew's compressed version focuses on the centurion's astonishing faith.
Church Fathers on Matthew 8:5
The Lord having taught His disciples on the mount, and healed the leper at the foot of the mount, came to Capharnaum. This is a mystery, signifying that after the purification of the Jews He went to the Gentiles.
This centurion was of the Gentiles, for Judaea had already soldiers of the Roman empire.
All these things he recounts with grief, that he is 'sick,' that it is with 'palsy;' that he is 'grievously afflicted' therewith, the more to shew the sorrow of his own heart, and to move the Lord to have mercy. In like manner ought all to feel for their servants, and to take thought for them.
Read all 25 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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