Encounter 29 – Centurion and Servant/child

Matthew 8:5-13, Luke 7:1-10

And stepping down from the mountain, great crowds followed Him.

And when He had entered Capernaum, there came to Him a centurion, calling on Him, of whom a slave¹, who was held in honor by him, was sick and was about to die. And hearing about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save his slave², and saying “Lord, my boy³ has been laid up in the house, a paralytic, dreadfully afflicted.” And when they had come to Jesus, they earnestly entreated Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him, for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue.”

And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

And Jesus started on His way with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, answering (and) saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not good enough for You to come under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to You. But speaking with a word, let my boy⁴ be healed. For I am also a man under authority, having soldiers under myself. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave⁵, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

But when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “Truly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone, even in Israel. And I say to you, that many will come from east and west, and sit at the table with Abraham, and 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 your way. Let it be done to you as you have believed.” And the boy⁶ was healed that very hour. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave⁷ [who had been sick]T in good health.

Number of Fish: 2

Total Fish: 36

The Greek words here are παῖς which can mean child, or δοῦλος A servant/slave. Matthew uses παῖς all 3 times. With Luke, while he is narrating the scene uses δοῦλος when referring to the centurion’s child, but when he is quoting the centurion, he uses παῖς to refer to the child, and δοῦλος when the centurion mentions telling his servants what to do. One possibility is the child is like a servant’s child, or an illegitimate child of the centurion as portrayed in The Chosen. In the end, it’s not really that important – the important part is that the centurion (A non-Jew) is asking for his servant child to be healed. And Jesus does it!

Child/son are synonymous as seen in John 4:46-54.

1. The Greek word here is δοῦλος, commonly translated as slave/servant ↩︎
2. δοῦλος ↩︎
3. This Greek word is παῖς, about 50% as child, maid, young man, and 50% as servant ↩︎
4. παῖς ↩︎
5. δοῦλος ↩︎
6. παῖς ↩︎
7. δοῦλος ↩︎