This case, while affording another valuable illustration of the
Master's willingness and power to save, differs in several important
points from the first, so that the lesson is widened. First and
chiefly, the application was from a Gentile; next, it was not on his
own behalf that the centurion made it, but on behalf of another, and
that other his servant; and, further, it was a request to heal a
patient out of sight, out of knowledge even, as it would seem. Each of
these particulars might suggest a doubt. He has healed this Jew; but
will He listen to that Gentile? He has responded to this man's own
cry; but will He respond when there is no direct application from the
patient? He has cured this man with a touch; but can he cure a patient
miles away? The Saviour knew well the difficulties which must have
lain in the way of this man's faith. He has evidence, moreover, that
his is genuine faith, and not the credulity of superstition. One could
readily imagine an ignorant person thinking that it made no difference
whether the patient were present, or a thousand miles away: what
difference does distance make to the mere magician? But this man is no
ignorant believer in charms or incantations. He is an intelligent man,
and has thought it all out. He has heard of the kingdom of heaven, and
knows that this is the King. Reasoning from what he knows of the Roman
kingdom, how orders given from a central authority can be despatched
to the outskirts, and be executed there with as great certainty as if
the Emperor himself had gone to do it, he concludes that the King of
the spiritual world must in like manner have means of communication
with every part of His dominion; and just as it was not necessary,
even for a mere centurion, to do personally everything he wanted done,
having it in his power to employ some servant to do it, so it was
unreasonable to expect the King of heaven Himself to come in person
and heal his servant: it was only necessary, therefore, that He should
speak the word, and by some unseen agency the thing would be done. At
once the Saviour recognises the man's thoughtful intelligence on the
subject, and, contrasting with it the slowness of mind and heart of
those of whom so much more might have been expected, "He marvelled,
and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not
found so great faith, no, not in Israel."
The thought of this immediately suggests to Him the multitudes that
shall exercise a similar faith in ages to come, and in lands far off;
and, as on the mount, when He looked forward to the great future, His
heart yearned over the mere hearers of the word shut out at last; so
here He yearns with a great yearning over His unbelieving countrymen,
whose exclusion at last from the heavenly kingdom would be felt with
all the sharper pain that such multitudes from far less favoured lands
were safe within--at home with the patriarchs of the chosen
nation--while they, the natural heirs of the kingdom, were exiles from
it for evermore. Hence the wail and warning which follow His hearty
appreciation of the centurion's faith: "And I say unto you, that many
shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: but the sons
of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness: there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
How fared it with the centurion's appeal? Was it any hindrance that he
was a foreigner, that he made it not for himself but for a servant,
and that the patient was so far away? None whatever. As he rightly
judged, the King of heaven had resources in abundance to meet the
case. Without the least hesitation, Jesus said to the centurion, "Go
thy way: and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his
servant was healed in the selfsame hour."