“And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.”
And he said to him, I will come and heal him. Jesus' immediate offer to come and heal is remarkable: a Jewish teacher proposing to enter the home of a Gentile (which would create ritual impurity) to heal a Gentile's servant. Some interpreters read this as a question — will I come and heal him? — expressing surprise at the request. Either way, the centurion's response in verse 8 redirects the offer, and Jesus' eventual word of healing is delivered at a distance.
Church Fathers on Matthew 8:7
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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