Do not read past the word centurion too quickly. To us it is an old military term, but to the crowd around Jesus it named the face of the enemy. A centurion was a Roman officer, the backbone of the army occupying their land, a man who could ruin a Jewish family on a...
Step back and see the whole scene. In four short verses Matthew has begun to answer the question that will echo through the chapter until the disciples finally shout it in the storm, What sort of man is this? He is a King with authority to speak cleanness into a...
The last verse surprises us. We might expect Jesus to parade this man from town to town as living proof of his power. Instead he says, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest. Say nothing? If we had healed a leper in front of a crowd,...
There is a lifetime of good news packed into this verse, and it begins with the order. Before Jesus heals the disease, he answers the doubt. The man asked, in effect, two things. Are you able, and are you willing. Jesus goes straight for the willing. I will, he says....
Desperation has a way of overruling the rules. This man breaks every regulation written about him and walks straight into the crowd. People stumble backward and pull their children away, and at the center of their fear he falls on his knees before Jesus. Then he...
