Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.
Read Chapter 7
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
But having finished His teaching, He rightly instructs them to follow the example of His precepts. For straightway the servant of a Gentile centurion is presented to the Lord to be healed. Now the Evangelist, when he said that the servant was about to die, did not err, because he would have died had he not been healed by Christ.
Which certainly He did not do, because He was unable to heal when absent, but that He might set them an example of imitating His humility. He would not go to the son of the nobleman, lest He should seem thereby to have respected his riches; He went immediately here, that He might not seem to have despised the low estate of a centurion's servant. But the centurion laying aside his military pride puts on humility, being both willingto believe and eager to honor; as it follows, And when he was not far off, he sent to him, saying, Trouble not yourself: for I am not worthy your For by the power not of man, but of God, he supposed that health was given to man. The J...
The servant of a Gentile centurion is immediately brought to the Lord for healing; this represented the people of the nations who were held in the bonds of worldly slavery, sick with deadly passions, to be cleansed by the Lord’s blessing. The Evangelist did not err in saying that he was at the point of death, for he would have died if Christ would not have healed him. He fulfilled the rule with heavenly love, he who so loved his enemies that he snatched them from death and admitted them to the hope of eternal salvation.
Here we must understand that He did not enter before He had ended these sayings, but it is not mentioned what space of time intervened between the termination of His discourse, and His entering into Capernaum. For in that interval the leper was cleansed whom Matthew introduced in his proper place.
How then will that: be true which Matthew relates, A certain centurion came to him, seeing that he himself did not come? Unless upon careful consideration we suppose that Matthew made use of a general mode of expression. For if the actual arrival is frequently said to be through the means of others, much more may the coming be by others. Not then without reason, (the centurion having gained access to our Lord through others,) did Matthew, wishing to spear; briefly, say that this man himself came to Christ, rather than those by whom he sent his message, for the more he believed the nearer he came.
But herein they show, that as by a church, so also by asynagogue, they were wont to mean not only the assembly of the faithful, but also the place where they assembled.
He says that he though a man subject to the power of the tribune or governor, yet has command over his inferiors, that it might be implied that much more is He who is God, able not only by the presence of His body, but by the services of His angels, to fulfill whatever He wishes. For the weakness of the flesh or the hostile powers were to be subdued both by the word of the Lord and the ministry of the angels. And to my servant, Do this
But who had wrought this very faith in him, save He whomarveled? But supposing another had done it, why should He marvel who fore knew it? Because then the Lord marvels, it signifies that we must marvel. For all such feelings when they are spoken of God, are the tokens not of a wonder-struck mind, but of a teaching master.
But he speaks not of Patriarchs and Prophets in times farback, but...
Although that centurion was strong in battle, and the prefect of the Roman soldiers, yet because his particular attendant lay sick at his house, considering what wonderful things the Savior had done in healing the sick, andjudging that these miracles were performed by no human power, he sends to Him, as to God, not looking to the visible instrument by which He had intercourse with men; as it follows, And when he heard of Jesus, he sent to him
And the elders of the Jews indeed demand favors for a small sum spent in the service of the synagogue, but the Lord not for this, but a higher reason, manifested Himself, wishing in truth to beget a belief in all men by His own power, as it follows, Then Jesus went with them.
It was not immediately after he had spoken the preceding words that Christ entered Capharnaum, for in the interim he healed the man afflicted with the leprosy, according as St. Matthew related it in its proper place. (St. Augustine)
How again does Matthew tell us that the centurion said, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, while Luke says here, that he beseeches Him that He would come. Now it seems to me that Luke sets before us the flatteries of the Jews. For we may believe that when the centurion wished to depart, the Jews drew him back, enticing him, saying, We will go and bring him. Hence also their prayers are full of flattery, for it follows, But when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying that he was worthy. Although it became them to have said, He himself was willing to come and supplicate You, but we detained him, seeing the affliction, and the body which was lying in the house, and so to have drawn out the greatness of his faith; but they would not for envy reveal the faith of the man, lest He should seem some great one to whom the prayers were addressed. But wherein Matthew represents the centurion to be not an Israelite, while Luke says, he has built us a synagogue, th...
Or in another way. The centurion must be understood as one who stood foremost among many in wickedness, as long as he possesses many things in this life, i.e. is occupied with many affairs or concerns. But he has a servant, the irrational part of the soul, that is, the irascible and concupiscent part. And he speaks to Jesus, the Jews acting as mediators, that is, the thoughts and words of confession, and immediately he received his servant whole.
Or in another way. The centurion must be understood as one who stood foremost among many in wickedness, as long as he possesses many things in this life, i.e. is occupied with many affairs or concerns. But he has a servant, the irrational part of the soul, that is, the irascible and concupiscent part. And he speaks to Jesus, the Jews acting as mediators, that is, the thoughts and words of confession, and immediately he received his servant whole.
