Chapter 8
Jesus heals a leper,
cures the centurion’s servant and others, stills the tempest, and casts out
devils—The devils enter a herd of swine.
1 When he was come
down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
2 And, behold, there
came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me
clean.
3 And Jesus put forth
his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his
leprosy was cleansed.
4 And Jesus saith unto
him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and
offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Jesus ended the sermon on the mount and came down. Large
groups continued to follow Him.
A leper came and worshipped Him. He said, “Lord, if thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean” (Matthew 8:2). Jesus touched Him, telling him
to be clean. He was immediately healed.
He was commanded to tell no one about this. He was to go to
the priest, show himself to the priest, and offer the required gift. Here, we
see Jesus respected the law of Moses had not been fulfilled, and expected the
law to be respected and followed.
“The Savior, our great Exemplar, always faced His Father. He
loved and served His fellowmen but said, ‘I receive not honour from men’ (John
5:41). He wanted those He taught to follow Him, but He did not court their
favor. When He performed an act of charity, such as healing the sick, the gift
often came with the request to ‘tell no man’ (Matthew 8:4; Mark 7:36; Luke
5:14; 8:56). In part, this was to avoid the very fame which followed Him in
spite of His efforts to eschew it (see Matthew 4:24). He condemned the
Pharisees for doing good works only to be seen of men (see Matthew 6:5).”[1]
5 And when Jesus was
entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
6 And saying, Lord, my
servant [GR child, servant, son] lieth at home sick of the palsy [GR paralysis],
grievously tormented.
7 And Jesus saith unto
him, I will come and heal him.
8 The centurion
answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy [GR fit, qualified] 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, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth
it.
10 When[2]
Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto
you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
11 And I say unto you,
That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
12 But the children of
the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
13 And Jesus said unto
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.
When He entered Capernaum, a Roman centurion came to Him. He
told Him his servant was ill. “Although the KJV indicates the miracle concerns
the centurion’s servant, the Greek word pias
can be translated as ‘son.’ The latter is preferred because in Matthew 8:9,
the centurion uses a different Greek word (doulous)
for servant.”[3]
Jesus told him he would come and heal him. The Centurion told
Him he was not worthy for Him to come to his home. He said if He would “speak
the word only and my servant shall be healed” (Matthew 8:8).
“The centurion seems to have reasoned in this way: He
himself was a man of authority, though under the direction of superior
officers. To his subordinates he gave orders which were obeyed. He did not find
it necessary to personally attend to the carrying out of his instructions.
Surely One who had such power as Jesus possessed could command and be obeyed.
Moreover, the man may have heard of the marvelous restoration of the nobleman’s
dying son, in accomplishing which the Lord spoke the effective word when miles
away from the sufferer’s bed. That the centurion’s trust and confidence, his
belief and faith, were genuine, is not to be doubted, since Jesus expressly
commended the same. The afflicted one was healed. Jesus is said to have marveled
at the centurion’s manifestation of faith, and, turning to the people who
followed, He thus spake: ‘I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no,
not in Israel.’ This remark may have caused some of the listeners to wonder;
the Jews were unaccustomed to hear the faith of a Gentile so extolled, for,
according to the traditionalism of the day, a Gentile, even though an earnest
proselyte to Judaism, was accounted essentially inferior to even the least
worthy of the chosen people. Our Lord’s comment plainly indicated that Gentiles
would be preferred in the kingdom of God if they excelled in worthiness.”[4]
The twelve were with Him when this happened. They “witnessed
miraculous demonstrations of God’s power, which they, as Apostles, would
exercise themselves.”[5]
Jesus admired his faith, “Verily I say unto you, I have not
found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (Matthew 8:10). He told the Centurion
to depart. “[A]s thou has believed, so be it done” (Matthew 8:13). His son was
healed.
[1] Which
Way Do You Face, Elder Lynn G. Robbins, October 2014 General Conference.
[2] And when they
that followed him, heard this, they marveled. And when Jesus heard it, he
marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not
found so great faith, no, not in Israel (JST Matthew 8:9).(
[3] The Life and Teachings of Christ – From the Transfiguration
Through the Triumphal Entry, Jesus and the Gentiles, Dr. Gaye Stratheran.
[4] Jesus the Christ, Elder James E. Talmage, Chapter 18.
[5] From Bethlehem to the Sermon on the Mount, Galilee
and the Call of the Twelve Apostles, Erick D. Huntsman.
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