NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE!
Thank you for joining me in this study! I hope your review of Matthew 8:5-13 with Questions 6, 7, and 8 has yielded much treasure. Mine certainly has!
Last Week’s Work
Here are my Scripture-study sheets with my markings for Question 6 (repeated subjects) and Question 8 (special statements). I also found four comparisons (Question 7), which I’ll tell you about below.
Remember, it’s okay to compare your answers to mine, but often I see others’ attention drawn to aspects of the study text I barely noticed. When that happens, our answers may not be exactly the same, but that’s not a problem. Our goal isn’t to make sure we have all the “right” answers, it’s to work with the Holy Spirit to see everything God intends for us to observe in this passage. In these studies, different answers only mean the Spirit is using the same truth to help us learn individual lessons only our Divine Teacher can instruct!
Question 6 (Repeated Subjects)
I found three repeated subjects this week.
First, I noticed come in Jesus’s statement in v7 when He [God!] volunteered to go (presumably out of His way) to heal this nameless centurion’s servant! But the centurion protests: I’m not worthy to have you come under my roof (v8)! Just speak the word and my servant will get better. After all, the centurion knows if he commands his subordinates to go, they must go, or come, they must come (v9): one-word commands that indicate the superior’s will.
And what does Jesus do when He heals the servant? He begins by issuing a one-word command, go (v13)! It makes me wonder if He meant that as a personal message to the centurion, a way of telling him what He was doing before He announced to all, let it be done as you have believed.
Next, I marked heal and healed with a green plant figure circled in blue in vv7, 8, and 13. From these, I observed:
- Jesus (not the centurion) suggested He come and heal the servant (v7).
- The centurion said Jesus didn’t need to go there, He could simply speak the healing into existence where He was (v8).
- True to the centurion’s belief, Matthew reports the servant was healed the same moment Jesus spoke (v13).
Finally, it was no surprise Matthew referred to the centurion’s faith frequently, as I’ve also seen in previous studies in this series. First, I put an upward-pointing green triangle next to verse 8 because I believe this statement of the centurion, …only say the word and my servant will be healed, is a testament to his faith.
I also marked faith in v10 when Jesus marveled that the centurion’s was better than that of His countrymen (Israel); and I marked believed in Jesus’s statement in v13.
If you’ve been studying with me this year, you might remember I noted a pattern of prayer and belief in the miracles I’ve examined so far. But here Jesus said only, let it be done for you as you have believed. That made me revisit my Mark 9:14-29 and John 11:28-44 studies (links coming soon, I promise!), to compare those requests to this one.
In Mark, I noticed the father’s request for healing included a statement of wavering belief: … if [Jesus] can do anything… (Mark 9:22). I didn’t research the father’s nationality, but if he were Jewish, this would certainly square with Jesus’s observation in here verse 10 that the centurion had more faith than he’d found in Israel!
In John, I found in 11:22-23 Martha (Lazarus’s sister) told Jesus if He’d been there, Lazarus wouldn’t have died. Yet she believed—even days after his death—God would grant whatever Jesus asked. Martha’s “prayer” there seems a lot like the centurion’s in this study: both are absolutely sure Jesus can command healing from afar (Matthew 8:8), or ask the Father for anything, even the restoration of life in one dead for days (John 11:22).
Question 7 (Comparisons)
I found four qualitative contrasts:
- The centurion compared himself to Jesus first in v8, where the centurion humbly says he’s not worthy of a visit from Jesus.
- Then, in v9, he finds common ground between the two because they both can issue commands that are obeyed. But there’s a difference: the centurion has power over men of lower rank. But Jesus’s authority extends beyond people to command wellness!
- Jesus contrasted the centurion’s faith in Him to that of His own countrymen (v10): the centurion’s faith was superior.
- Jesus contrasted future treatment of many… from east and west who will be allowed to dine with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the descendants of those three men (sons of the kingdom) will be locked out in … the outer darkness… where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (vv11-12).
Question 8 (Special Statements)
Finally, I marked special statements in five verses:
- Jesus’s promise: I will come and heal him (v7).
- The centurion’s commands: go, come, do this (v9)
- Jesus’s promise of reward for many from east and west (v11)
- Jesus’s curse that the sons of the kingdom will be cast out (v12)
- Jesus’s healing commands: go, let it be done… (v13)
Again, I’m drawn to the fact Jesus used the exact same command the centurion mentioned: Go. In addition to my thoughts under Question 6, I realize He’s often told me the same thing: Go, step out in faith. Pursue that dream I put in your heart. Amen!
Dig In Challenges
For next week, start with prayer, then:
- Solve Question 9: What Lists does the Passage Contain? by labeling the list(s) you find and numbering each item in it (them) on your study sheet; or recording the list(s) in your study notes.
- Answer Question 10: Why do Certain Things Happen? by noticing connectors and identifying the actions and explanations Matthew provided with each; and then
- Respond to Question 11: How do Certain Things Happen? by noting the methods and conditions included in this passage.
Have a great week!