And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
He sent to him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. S. Luke ascribes the request of the Jews to the Centurion himself, because they asked in his name; but the Centurion sought not that Christ should come unto him, but only that the Lord should be told, "My servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented." S. Matthew 8:6-8 The Jews asked therefore that which they knew the Centurion desired, although he was too humble-minded to seek it.
"That he would come," i.e, would give up everything else, and apply himself to the healing of the servant. An expression equivalent to the Hebrew word πΰ, ba, come.
Thus God came to Abimelech, Gen. xx; to Balaam, Num. xxii.; and to the Hebrews , Deut. xxxiii, when He appeared to them and gave them the Law. So it is said of the Baptist. John came, shewed himself, neither eating nor drinking. The force of the passage lies therefore in the word "heal," that he would heal his servant, whether he ca...
When St. Luke says that the centurion begs of our Lord to come to him, he must not be supposed to contradict St. Matthew, who says, that the centurion objected he was not worthy to receive him under his roof. St. Luke seems here to relate the words of the Jews, who most probably would stop the centurion as he was going to Christ, and promise to intercede with our Lord for him. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xxvii. in Matt.)
Some pretend that the centurion, after having sent to Jesus, went himself; but there is no necessity for such a supposition. We see in another case, that the petition of the sons of Zebedee, made by them to Jesus Christ, according to St. Mark (x. 35.) was made to him by the mouth of their mother, according to St. Matthew xx. 20. And this the old adage also teaches: qui facit per alium, facit per se; what a man does by another, he does by himself.
In order to praise the centurion more, the Jews said to the Lord, “It is right that you should help him, for he is a lover of our nation, and he himself has built us a synagogue.” If one who has constructed a place where Christ is always denied is visited with heavenly mercy, how much more to be visited is one who has built a tabernacle where Christ is daily preached! The Lord did not approve the work that the centurion had done but the spirit in which he accomplished it. If he eagerly built a synagogue at a time when there were as yet no Christians, it is understood that he would all the more eagerly have built a church had there been Christians. He still preaches Christ even though he builds a synagogue.
