Authority

Setting and Overview
After the healing of the leper, Matthew 8 continues with two more healings: the centurion’s servant and Peter’s mother-in-law. There are several themes that run through all healings, such as crossing traditional boundaries, but perhaps no theme is as pivotal as that which we see declared explicitly in the middle of the section: the authority of Jesus. What we hear the centurion proclaim is also what we see revealed in each of the miracles, and also what calls us to faith and response.

Exposition
Luke 7:1-10 also preserves for us the healing of the centurion’s servant, and also provides a few details for us not revealed in Matthew. A centurion was an important figure in the Roman military, each commanding around 100 men and forming the backbone of the army as they maintained discipline and executed orders. Centurions were usually uneducated but could become quite wealthy, one of the reasons that they tended to be despised by the populace. Luke makes it clear that this centurion is different, however, as he also makes it clear that the centurion doesn’t actually come directly to Jesus but sends Jewish intermediaries (Matthew condenses the narrative in order to emphasize his point.) When the centurion objects to Jesus coming into his house, he makes an illuminating statement about authority. As one who is under the authority of the emperor, he is able to command those under him to obey with just a word, since that word carries the weight of the emperor himself. Therefore, he recognizes that Jesus must surely have the authority to heal from a distance with just a word. In that admission, he is acknowledging the power of God, that Jesus is acting in obedience and in the interests of God, and that God will support and affirm Jesus’ actions.
Jesus responds to the faith of the centurion with a reference to a banquet, likely referring back to Isaiah 25:6-9. The Jewish people used that text to point to a time when the Jewish people would feast together with their ancestors in God’s presence, but Jesus proclaims that many of them will be cast out because of their lack of faith, and that many from other nations would be present instead. Isaiah 25 indicates as much, but that fact was largely ignored in rabbinic writing and would have been deeply unsettling for them to hear.
The next healing is of Peter’s mother-in-law. Little detail is given here, but a couple of points are made clear. Jesus heals her immediately, confirming His power and authority, and she also immediately gets up and serves. This confirms the completeness of her healing, but also her eagerness to respond in gratitude to it. Matthew then concludes the section by stating that Jesus was fulfilling Isaiah 53:4. While at first glance this can be puzzling as the Servant Song is a referent to Jesus bearing our illnesses and pain Himself, Matthew seems to be recognizing the connection between His healing and His sacrificial death on the cross. Disease is, directly or indirectly, a result of sin. Here, Jesus is beginning to roll back the effects of sin which point forward to His final victory over sin at the cross.

Examination and Application
The centurion models faith for us here, but even he only knew part of the truth that he spoke. What does that mean for us who are able to see it more fully? Jesus refers to the authority that He has received before giving us the great commission in Matthew 28:19-20. The centurion would have been familiar with such commissions, recognizing that he could go out in power and boldness with the might of the Roman Empire behind him. How much more so should we take the Gospel to the nations with confidence, knowing that we are acting on the command of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit? John 14:10-11 reminds us of the great authority that we are under as we carry out our commission, and the boldness with which that should fill us as we go out to all nations.