'The centurion answered and said: Lord, I am not worthy that Thou
shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my
servant shall be healed. 9. For I am a man under authority, having
soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go! and he goeth; and to
another, Come I and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this; and he
doeth it.'--MATT. viii. 8-9.
This miracle of the healing of the centurion's servant is the second of
the great series which Matthew gives us. It is perhaps not accidental
that both the first and the second miracles in his collection point out
our Lord's relation to outcasts from Israel. The first of them deals
with a leper, the second with the prayer of a heathen. And so they both
contribute to the great purpose of Matthew's Gospel, the bringing out of
the nature of the kingdom and the glory of the King.
My object now is to deal with the whole of the incident of which I have
read the most important part. We have in the story three things: the man
and his faith; Christ's eulogium upon the faith, and declaration of its
place in His kingdom; and the answer to the faith. Look, then, at these
three in succession.