Matthew 8:5-7 - Shall I come and heal him?

8:5

Matthew’ gospel is sometimes called the Jewish gospel because of its emphasis on how Jesus is the fulfilment of the Law, and how it all ties in with the Law. Ie the gospel is not a departure from the Law and the Prophets, but the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets. At the same time we should note that Matthew is also aware and delights in how the gospel breaks out into the whole world, and goes beyond the “limits” of the Law. I use “limits” here in a very loose sense (if that isn’t an oxymoron!). God’s plans were always for the whole world (eg Gen 12:2,3), but in the Old Testament the emphasis is very much on Israel. So the first healing saw a leper coming into the kingdom, the genealogy at the beginning of Matthew had a variety of characters in it. Now we will see a gentile being praised. Sometimes we might wonder why there are three gospels that are very similar, the synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke. Obviously there are various incidents that are only recorded in one gospel, or one adds extra details, but essentially they cover the same ground. But they do this with different emphases, or looking at them from different angles. The reason is that the same Messiah, the same gospel, is for all peoples.

8:6,7

The centurion would be in charge of about a 100 soldiers and his servant is seriously ill, being paralysed. By the way, we should note that there is no demon possession in this incident. Sometimes there is demonic involvement, and sometimes there isn’t, and the people of the day did not put everything down to demonic activity. Jesus asks the man if He should come and heal the servant. Jesus knew what would happen next, but He was drawing faith out of the man. Note also that the man must have cared for his servant. Good character and faith can go together.