The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
All Commentaries on Matthew 8:8 Go To Matthew 8
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Say in a word only. Meaning, There is no need that Thou shouldst be present to touch my servant; but though Thou art absent, give the command, and my servant will be immediately healed. The centurion therefore believed that Christ was God who is everywhere present, and commandeth and worketh whatsoever He will, or at least, that Christ was an extraordinary prophet, and most dear to God—in other words, the Messiah promised to the Jews, who, in God"s name in Judæa, ordered all things according to His own will.
For I also am a man under authority, &c. If I have authority over a few soldiers, so that they obey my behests, how much more, 0 Christ, who hast power over all things, canst Thou make diseases obey Thee? Or, if I, who am placed under the authority of my tribune and of Csar, can yet give my orders to the soldiers under me, how much more canst Thou, 0 Christ, who art under the power of none, but art God omnipotent and Lord of all, do whatsoever Thou wilt? so that even if absent Thou shouldst say to the disease, I mean my servant"s palsy, Go away, immediately it will depart: if Thou shouldst say, Come, straightway it would come. For diseases are, as it were, Thy ministers and satellites, whom Thou at a nod sendest upon the guilty, and whom, when sinners repent and are suppliant, Thou recallest. S. Jerome commends the faith of the centurion, who, though he was a Gentile, believed that one who was paralytic could be healed by the Saviour; his humility, in that he deemed himself unworthy that He should come under his roof; his prudence, because he beheld the Divinity lying hid beneath Its corporeal veil, for he knew that not that which was seen, even by unbelievers, could help him, but that which was within, which was unseen.
When Jesus heard, he marvelled. Whence Origen says, "Consider how great a thing, and what sort of thing, that was which the Only-Begotten God marvels at. Gold, riches, kingdoms, principalities in His sight are as shadows, or as fading flowers. None of these things therefore in His sight are wonderful, as though they were great or precious. Faith alone is such: this He honours and admires: this He counts acceptable to Himself."
You will ask, could wonder really exist in Christ? I would lay down that in Christ, according to the common opinion of theologians, besides that Divine knowledge which He had as God, there was a threefold knowledge, as He was Prayer of Manasseh 1. Beatific, by which He beheld the essence of God, and in the enjoyment of which He was blessed2. Infused, by which, through the appearances sent into His soul by God, at the very moment of His conception, He knew all things3. Experimental, by which those things which He understood by infused knowledge, He daily saw, heard, and understood experimentally.
I answer therefore, that in Christ wonder did not exist properly and absolutely, as something which flows from the depths of the heart. For wonder arises in us when we see or hear something new. But Christ, by means of infused knowledge, knew all things before they were done. Since therefore He was omniscient, nothing was to Him new, unknown, unexpected, or wonderful. Christ, however, stirred up in Himself, as it were, by experimental knowledge, when He met with anything new or wonderful, a certain, as it were, interior act of wonder, and the outward expression of that wonder, that so He might teach others to marvel at the same. Thus S. Augustine (lib1. de Gen. contra Manichos): "Who indeed, save Himself, had wrought in the man that very faith at which He marvelled? But even if another had wrought it, why should He marvel who had foreknowledge? That the Lord wondered signifies that we must wonder, for whom it is needful as yet that we should thus be moved. But all such movements in Christ are signs, not of a perturbed mind, but of one teaching authoritatively." So also S. Thomas. Very well saith S. Cyprian (Tract. de Spectaculis), "Never will he wonder at human works who has known himself to be a child of God. He has been cast down from the height of his nobility, who is able to admire anything after God."
And he said to them which followed, &c. When Christ says I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel, you must understand Him to speak of the ordinary run of people at the time of His preaching, for there was without doubt greater faith in the Blessed Virgin, in Abraham and Moses, and John the Baptist, and others. Or as S. Chrysostom, I have not found so great faith, that Isaiah , in proportion, for this centurion was a Gentile; those were believing Israelites. The same S. Chrysostom prefers the faith of the centurion to the faith of the Apostles at their first vocation. Hear S. Chrysostom: "Andrew believed, but it was when John said, Behold the Lamb of God. Peter believed, but it was when Andrew had told him the glad tidings of the Gospel. Philip believed, but by reading the Scriptures. And Nathanael first received a sign of Christ"s Divinity, and then offered the profession of his faith." Hear likewise Origen: "Jairus, a prince of Israel, asking in behalf of his daughter, said not, Say in a word, but Come quickly. Nicodemus, when he heard of the Sacrament of faith, answered, How can these things be? Martha and Mary said, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died, as though doubting that the power of God is everywhere present."
But I say unto you, &c. Christ here predicts the calling of the Gentiles, and the rejection of the Jews. He alludes to Isaiah 53:5, &c, where is predicted the calling of the Gentiles from the four quarters of the earth, their grace and glory. Shall sit down i.e, shall rest, says S. Hilary. But the Greek is α̉νακλιθήσονται, i.e, shall lie down as on a triclinium, or couch. They shall feast as guests at a magnificent entertainment. For to this the kingdom of heaven, and the felicity of Christ and His saints, is often compared, because of their perfect joy, security, and satisfaction. There is an allusion to Ps. xvii15 , "When thy glory shall appear, I shall be satisfied" (Vulg.); and Ps. xxxvi8 , "They shall be inebriated with the richness of thine house, and thou shalt give them to drink from the torrent of thy pleasure" (Vulg.)
But the children of the kingdom, &c, i.e, destined and called to the kingdom as being Israelites, as being the progeny of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to whose seed God had promised both the earthly kingdom of Judah, and the spiritual kingdom of eternal glory in heaven. By a similar Hebrew idiom, they are called children of death, of hell, of the resurrection, to whom death or hell is threatened, or to whom the resurrection has been promised.
Into the outer darkness, of hell. Christ still keeps up the metaphor of a feast in the kingdom of heaven, a feast therefore in which was abundance of light. Observe that most of the ancients did not dine, or at least put very sparingly, after the manner of a lunch, but made supper their chief meal, at which they fed heartily, and were hilarious. And this was the time when they made their feasts, because then they had ease and leisure. For they did this, as Horace says, not to break into the day.
Hence the triclinia, where feasts were made, were called supper-rooms. It is plain that this was the custom among the Hebrews from the constant mention in Holy Scripture of supper and, supper chambers, but rarely of dinner. Examples are the supper of Darius (3Esdr. iii1), of Holofernes ( Judith 12:5), of Herod ( Mark 6:21), &c. In the Old Testament there is no mention of dinner except in Tobit 2:1 , Daniel 13:13, and Esther , when the Jews had been carried away to Assyria and Babylon, where they followed the customs of the Gentiles, and ate as those nations did. I except Jeroboam I, king of Israel, who invited the prophet who restored his hand home to dine with him. (1Kg 13:7.) But this king was an idolater, the maker of the golden calves which the Israelites worshipped. So that it is not at all strange that he should affect gluttonous feasts.
Moreover, the first Christians were wont to fast until eventide, as Tertullian shows (lib1de Jejun. c10). Indeed, as late as the time of S. Thomas Aquinas, who flourished A.D1270 , it was customary to fast until three o"clock in the afternoon, when Christ expired upon the cross. And he who took food before that hour was considered not to have fasted, according to a decree of the Council of Cabillon. (See D. Thomas22. qust, 147 , art7 , where, however, Chalcedon has crept in instead of Cabillon.)
Since, then, they did not dine at midday, but supped at night, there was abundance of light at the ancient feasts, as Virgil says:—
"From golden roofs the lamps depend,
And darkness from the guests defend."
With the guests, then, and in the supper-hall, was light, but without was darkness, which is here called the outer darkness—that Isaiah , outside the banquet.
The meaning of the passage is: the children of the kingdom, the Jews, destined, for the sake of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to the kingdom of heaven, on account of their unbelief, in refusing to believe in Christ, shall be excluded from the royal and heavenly feast, and shall be driven into the outer darkness of hell.
Jesus saith unto the centurion, &c. From this it would appear that Christ had not gone into the centurion"s house, nor touched his servant; but in the very place where the centurion met Him, there He healed the sick Prayer of Manasseh , that He might confirm his master in the faith that He was the Messiah—yea, that He might show Himself to be God; for great faith gains great rewards, great confidence gains great things. As much as thou expectest from God, so much shalt thou obtain. Whence S. Bernard (on Ps. Qui habitat, Serm15), explaining tropologically God"s words to Joshua—"Whatsoever place the soles of your feet shall tread upon shall be yours"—says, "Hope in the Lord, all ye congregation of the people; all that your feet tread upon shall be yours; for your foot is your hope."
Let masters learn from this narrative what great care they ought to bestow upon their servants, and how dear they ought to be to them. So dear was this servant to the centurion, that he employed the aid of the elders and his friends to call Christ to heal him. So too, in turn, ought servants to obey their masters with the greatest zeal, love, and reverence. Wisely saith Seneca, although he was a heathen (Epist47), "Are they servants? Still they are men. Are they servants? Still they belong to thy family. Are they servants? Yet they are thy fellow-servants, if thou considerest how both are in the power of fortune." And then he gives examples of servants who had been well treated by their masters, who were prepared to lay down their lives for them, if by so doing they could avert danger from them. Wherefore that common saying is false, " As many servants, so many enemies." "For," saith Hebrews , "we do not have them as enemies, but we make them enemies, by treating them unkindly." Wherefore let all masters and superiors act towards their dependents as this centurion acted towards his servant, especially by bringing them to Christ, to be healed of the diseases of their souls, if not of their bodies.
Mystically, the centurion is every one who rules over his members, senses, and faculties, so that they, as it were soldiers, may fight for and serve God.
And when he was come into Peter"s house, &c. We have here an inverted order of the narrative, for this miracle, and the other works of Christ which Matthew proceeds to relate, as far as the end of chap. ix. took place before the healing of the leper and the centurion"s servant, before, indeed, the Sermon on the Mount, as may be gathered from Mark 1:23 and Mark 1:29, Luke 4:32 and Luke 4:38, and, indeed, from S. Matthew himself. For the Sermon on the Mount was delivered in the hearing of the Twelve Apostles, and therefore of S. Matthew himself. Yet he relates his vocation subsequently to this, in Matthew 9:9. The reason Isaiah , that Matthew wished to give, at the commencement of Christ"s preaching, a summary of His doctrine, and then to relate in order His miracles, both those which He wrought before His sermon, and those which He wrought afterwards, in confirmation of His doctrine. The true order of the narrative Isaiah , then, as follows, as may be learnt by comparing Mark and Luke. After Christ had called Peter and Andrew from their fishing to follow Him, as Matthew relates ( Matthew 4:18), He entered into Capernaum. There He preached in the synagogue, and healed the demoniac. From thence He proceeded to Peter"s house, and healed his mother-in-law. This miracle, therefore, and the others which follow to the end of chap9 ought, according to chronological sequence, to be inserted in chap4, immediately after ver22 ( Matthew 4:22).
Into Peter"s house, which belonged to Peter and Andrew, as we find in S. Mark 1:29. This house, was at Bethsaida, the native place of Peter. (See John i44.) Bethsaida was close to Capernaum, about half-an-hour"s journey. Or it may be that this was Peter"s wife"s mother"s house, and that she lived in Capernaum itself, and that Peter was wont to call in there. For Mark and Luke seem to intimate that this miracle was wrought in Capernaum. The mention of this mother-in-law shows that Peter was called in marriage by Christ, and that he left his wife and a daughter, who in time to come, from her father, Peter, was called Petronilla. None of the Apostles, except Peter, are spoken of in the Gospels as having a wife. Peter"s wife was called Perpetua, says Molanus, although others called her Concordia, and others again, Mary. In after time, when she had been converted to Christ, and was being led to martyrdom for her faith in Him, she was strengthened by S. Peter, who said, "0 spouse, remember the Lord." This is related by Clement of Alexandria (Strom. lib2). Petronilla, on account of her great beauty, was sought in marriage by a nobleman named Flaccus. She asked for three days to deliberate. The term being expired, she received Holy Communion from the priest Nicomede, after which she gave up her soul to God, and is reckoned among the Virgin Saints. Her name occurs in the Calendar on the last day of May, and her relics are still preserved at Rome, in the Basilica of S. Peter.
Sick of a fever; a great fever, says S. Luke. Tropologically, the fever of the soul is the fire of concupiscence, the burning heat of lust, of gluttony, of pride, of envy, &c. Listen to S. Ambrose (lib4in Luc. c4 , ver38). "Under the type of Simon"s wife"s mother, our flesh languishes under the fevers of various spiritual sicknesses, and is tempest-tossed by the varied enticements of immoderate desires. The fever of love, I may say, is no less than of heat. The one inflames the mind, the other the body. Our avarice is a fever, our lust is a fever. Hence the Apostle says "If they cannot contain let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn."" He subjoins the example of Theotimus, who, being told by his physicians that if he married he would lose his sight, exclaimed, "Farewell, dear light."
Christ comes as the heavenly physician to quench the heat of this fever of concupiscence within us by the dew of His grace, that grace which must be incessantly implored by those who are thus fevered in soul.
Whosoever then thou art who labourest under the fever of concupiscence, I do not say that thou shouldst embrace a monastic life, or that thou shouldst macerate thy body by hair shirts or the scourge, or drink nothing but water. I make an easy suggestion; frequently receive Holy Communion, and by so doing receive Christ into the house of thy soul. He is a virgin, and the son of a virgin, and by His own virgin flesh He will extinguish this fire. This assuredly is the most powerful medicine against lust, as Holy Scripture teaches, and the holy Fathers testify, and daily experience confirms. For this is "the wheat of the elect, and the wine that maketh virgins." ( Zechariah 9:17, where see my commentary.)
There are nine correspondences between fever of the body and fever of the soul1. There is fever when noxious moisture and abnormal heat, opposed to the natural heat, affect the heart. Thus too there is fever in the soul when man"s will is steeped in the love of concupiscence, which is contrary to the love of God.
2. As fever takes away the healthy disposition of the secretions of the body, so does the fever of the soul put an end to the due regulation of its passions and affections.
3. As fever is known by a violent pulse, so may the soul"s fever be discerned by excessive cares and anxieties, as it were pulsating in the mind.
4. Fever excites thirst, which those who are in a fever do not quench by drinking, but rather augment, so does the soul"s fever excite a thirst for riches, honours, and pleasures which is not extinguished by the possession of them, but increased.
5. Fever arises from cold, and ends in burning heat. So does the soul"s fever often arise from negligence, ease, and torpor. Hence is the cupidity of luxury and pride kindled and inflamed.
6. Fever vitiates the taste, making sweet things and honey itself appear bitter; so the soul"s fever makes divine things—such as spiritual reading—appear insipid.
7. Fever makes a sound, flourishing, and beautiful body appear weak, pallid, ugly; so too does the soul"s fever make the soul weak, unnerved, deformed.
8. Fever agitates a Prayer of Manasseh , will not suffer him to rest; so does the soul"s fever make a man unquiet, so that he cannot fix his mind, but, ever unstable, he falls into lust after lust.
9. As one fever is apt to produce another, so does one vice beget another and yet another. In short, the heretic labours under a pestilential fever; the slothful man under a hectic and slow fever; the glutton under a daily, and the inconstant man under a tertian fever.
And he touched her hand, &c. S. Luke adds, He commanded the fever. Gr. τω̃ πυÏετω̃, i.e, He rebuked the fever. As Euthymius says, with powerful authority He commanded, and as it were, threatened the fever. Well says B. Peter Chrysologus (Serm18), "Ye see how the fever let go its hold of her whom Christ held. There stood not infirmity where the Author of salvation was present. There could be no approach of death there where the Lifegiver had entered. He took her by the hand, it is said. What need could there be for touching her, when He had the power to command? Christ took hold of this woman"s hand, for life, because Adam from a woman"s hand had received death. He held her hand, that what the hand of presumptuous Eve had lost, the hand of her Maker might restore.
When even was come . . . he healed many that were sick. S. Luke says ( Luke 4:4O), by imposition of hands. For Christ did not disdain, with His most pure and Divine hands, to touch those who had ulcers, running sores, and leprosies, that He might show the power and virtue of His Divine touch, and heal them all.
That it might be fulfilled, &c. These words of Isaiah have a two-fold meaning. The first is concerning diseases of the soul, i.e, sins and their penalty, which Christ took upon Himself, and abolished upon the cross. This was Isaiah"s chief meaning, as appears from what follows, and from the words, He carried. The second meaning concerns diseases of the body, which are at once the types and result of diseases of the soul. These too, Matthew here says, Christ bore: not by actually becoming diseased Himself, but by compassion, and by wholly healing those who were diseased. Hence the Syriac translates, He shall sustain our sickness. Christ bore so many torments, and even the death of the cross, that He might do away with all infirmities, and death itself, either in this life or at the resurrection—in other words, that He might take away sin with all its consequences and penalties. Thus therefore Christ carried our sins, thus also our diseases and punishments. And thus Christ had the power of healing diseases in that He Himself took them upon Himself, by atoning for and expiating them upon the cross. Thus S. Chrysostom and Origen (See my comment on Isaiah 53:4.)
And a certain scribe came to him, &c. This doctor of the Law seeing Jesus preparing to depart, and cross over the lake, and being moved by His preaching and miracles, and the concourse of applauding people, desired to be associated with Him as a disciple with a master.
And Jesus said unto him, &c. Nests; the Greek has κατασκηνώσεις, i.e., shady coverts made by the boughs and leaves of trees. S. Cyprian (lib1. ad Quirinum, c11), and S. Augustine translate the word, inns.
The meaning is—common, worthless, and even noxious animals, such as foxes and birds of prey, have places of rest and shelter; but the Son of Prayer of Manasseh , He who was born of the Virgin, and made Prayer of Manasseh , hath nothing of His own, not a cushion, or a bed, or a bench on which to rest His head.
Christ here detects and uncovers the latent ulcer of covetousness in the Scribe. It is as though He said to him, "Thou desirest to follow Me because thou seest Me pleasing to the people, because of the healing and benefits which I bestow upon them. Hence thou hopest, in following Me, to increase thy possessions, and pick up many gifts, as though I made Me and Mine rich by the Gospel. But thou art mistaken, for I, as it were, the Master of perfection, am poor and a lover of poverty Myself, and such I wish My disciples to be, that being free from the care of things temporal, they may be wholly at leisure for God and preaching." When the Scribe heard this he was silent; and, being disappointed of his hope, withdrew himself from the eyes of Christ, as Matthew tacitly intimates. Thus S. Hilary, Theophylact, Euthymius, and S. Jerome explain. "Why," says S. Jerome, "do you wish to follow Me for the sake of riches and worldly gain, when I have not even one little guest-chamber?"
Let religious, who unite themselves to God by the profession of poverty, imitate this example of Christ, and look for support to His Providence.
This passage also refutes the heresy of those who condemn voluntary poverty, which religious profess.
The originator of this heresy was a certain Lombard, named Desiderius, in the time of Pope Alexander IV, and another called William of Holy Love, in the same age, who are entirely confuted by SS. Thomas and Bonaventura. By an entirely opposite error, other heretics, called Apostolici, have falsely concluded from this passage, as S. Augustine testifies (Hres40), that this absolute poverty is necessary for all men for salvation. From the same passage the Waldenses, or Poor Men of Lyons, and Wickliffe, have falsely argued that it is unlawful for bishops and priests to possess any property, but that they ought to live only on alms, because Christ did so. But Christ did so being perfect, and gave it as a counsel, not as a command necessary to salvation. Hence this error is denounced by many decrees of Councils.
From this passage it is also plain that poverty, and its very marrow and efficacy, consist in this—that a man should possess and affect nothing as though it were his own, but should keep his affections free for God alone, to serve Him. And it is not repugnant to this spirit, but conformable to it, to possess in common things necessary for life. And Song of Solomon , by a decree of the Council of Trent (Sess25 , c3), all religious, except the Franciscans, are allowed to own even real property in common, that they may not be forced to beg, nor be anxious about supplies, nor become burdensome to the faithful. For even Christ and the Apostles had goods in common, of which Judas was the steward and dispenser, as appears from John xii6.
Son of Man. That Isaiah , Man sprung from Prayer of Manasseh , as Christ constantly calls Himself, in His love of humility, because He who was God deigned for our sakes to become incarnate, and be made man.
But of what man is Christ the Son? First, by Prayer of Manasseh , the heathen understood Joseph, whence they contended that he was begotten of Joseph, not conceived by the Holy Ghost, as S. Justin testifies (Qust66 ad Orthodoxos). But this is contrary to Scripture and the Creeds.
2. Theophylact says, Christ is the Son of Prayer of Manasseh , i.e, of the Virgin Mary, His mother; for man is common gender, and may be used of a male or a female, like the Greek α̉νθÏωπος. But the addition in Greek of the masculine article shows that the word is here restricted to signify a male.
3. And more probably, others say, Son of Prayer of Manasseh , i.e, of Abraham, or David; for to them it was promised that of their posterity the Messiah, or Christ, should be born.
4. Others, Christ is the Son of Prayer of Manasseh , i.e, of men, as of the patriarchs and kings, from whom Matthew has deduced his genealogy.
5. And last, Christ is the Son of Prayer of Manasseh , i.e, of Adam, because Hebrews , like all other men, was sprung from Adam. For Adam is called absolutely Prayer of Manasseh , because he was the first Prayer of Manasseh , and the parent of all other men. Hence Adam, in Hebrew, means man. There is a reference to Ezek. ii1. Ezekiel , who is a type of Christ, is called son of Prayer of Manasseh , in Hebrew, ben-adam, i.e, son of Adam. Whence S. Gregory Nazianzen (de Theolog. Orat4) says, Christ is called Son of Adam, according to the Hebrew, not to show that He had a man for His father, but that through the Virgin Mary He derived His generation from Adam. For He willed to be born of Adam, that by this means He might repair the Fall of Adam and his posterity. Hence S. Augustine (lib2de Consens. Evang. c1) says, "He commendeth unto us how mercifully He hath deigned to be of us, and, as it were, commending the mystery of His wonderful Incarnation, He often sounds this title (Son of Man) in our ears."
Son of Man signifies more than Prayer of Manasseh , because man can be created by God alone, as Adam was created; but Son of Man signifies sprung from Adam, the common parent, that first might be set forth the infinite humility of Christ, that He should deign to be sprung from a sinful Prayer of Manasseh , and to receive in Himself his miseries and his mortality in that earthly body which He assumed. For Adam is derived from Adama, the ground, as homo from humus, mortalis from mors, "death." (See what I have said on Ezekiel 2:1.) 2. There is shown the wonderful brotherhood and charity of Christ to men, whereby He willed to he born in Bethlehem, of the same common parent Adam, that He might become the Brother of all men, and akin to them in blood, that He might be closely grafted into human nature, and united to it, even to the whole company of mankind, by human generation and natural birth from Prayer of Manasseh , after the manner which I explained on chap. i18 , according to those words of Isaiah , "Unto us a Son is born, a Child is given." Son of Man therefore denotes the perfect kindness, friendship, and condescension of Christ, and the blandishments of His love, by which He offers Himself to men as the Son of Prayer of Manasseh , as a Child to children, that with Him, as a most sweet Little One, as a most delightsome Brother, they may take delight, and have pleasure, according to the words, "My delight is with the sons of men." (Prov. viii.) Why dost thou fear, 0 Prayer of Manasseh , to draw nigh to Jesus? Lo! He is the Son of Man. Why tremblest thou, 0 sinner, at the wrath of God? Come unto Jesus, the Son of Prayer of Manasseh , made a little Child for thee. In the whole world there is no Child so sweet—no son so dear. For "the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost." And "the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Son of Prayer of Manasseh , therefore, is the proper name of, or rather the name appropriated to Christ. It is the mark of His dignity, and of His love, the wonder of all ages, that the Only-Begotten Son of God should, for men, deign to become the Son of Prayer of Manasseh , and to have His converse with men, that He might teach them the way of salvation, and redeem them by His Cross, and make them happy in heaven.
